THE horns on South West Trains' new rolling stock are blighting the lives of many Buriton residents because they are "far too loud".

The new horns sound at 110 decibels (dbs), which is comparable to the volume of sound generated by a jet aircraft taking off. The threshold of pain, when sound is so loud it hurts, is 120 dbs.

Train drivers are sounding the horns as they approach the Buriton tunnel.

John Blair, who lives in Buriton High Street, told The Herald: "The running noise on the new trains is wonderful - they just whisper past - but the horns are absolutely dreadful.

"I believe the volume of the sound is unnecessarily high. If there was an amenity in the area creating that amount of noise there would be an outcry.

"We never had any problems with the horns on the old slam-door trains but the new ones are a totally different proposition.

"The legislation says that the horns should be heard 400 metres in front of the train, but these can be heard for miles across the South Downs. The effect on people living in the village is excessive.

"We have no wish to compromise safety in any way but I cannot believe horns need to be this loud.

"This village is in the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is set to become part of the proposed South Downs National Park. The horns are an unnecessary noise pollution in such an environment."

Lady Christine Vincent lives about 500 yards from the line, and finds the new horns just as bad as Mr Blair does.

She is regularly woken by a train horn at about 5-30 am, and hears them at 2 am and 3 am, when horns are not supposed to be sounded at all.

"I am urging villagers to call National Rail and South West Trains to complain," said Lady Vincent. "Apparently they've been inundated with calls, but it is imperative that callers ask to have their complaint logged otherwise they will not get a reply and the authorities might not get the full statistics as to the number of unhappy people there are."

The number for National Rail is 0845 7484950, and 0845 6000650 for South West Trains.

MP Michael Mates, responding to a complaint about the horn levels from another part of his constituency next to the Portsmouth-Waterloo line, has already written to South West Trains.

Michael Cavanagh, a spokesman for South West Trains, said: "We are currently in discussion with the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) about whether the level of sound from the horns can be lowered while still maintaining the safety standards. Hopefully we can resolve this.

"The other matter is when the horn is sounded. For tunnels it was standard practice to sound the horn before entering, in the middle if long, and after when out.

"A new group standard is coming into effect for tunnels, and this will be rolled out from next month.

"It is proposed that the horn will, in future only be sounded when the train has actually entered the tunnel, and then only if there are clear indications of work taking place inside the tunnel, and on approaching the exit from the tunnel, between 8 am and 5 pm, if the driver cannot see that the line immediately ahead of the tunnel is clear of people working.

"With regard to footpaths and public rights of way, people use them to cross the line and the horn must be sounded at the whistle boards.

"These are new trains and we acknowledge that people are being disturbed by the new horns. We are looking at the level of this sound."