'Horrendous smell' of idling trains leave Dorset residents fuming

The "horrendous smell" of idling diesel trains is reportedly blighting the lives of residents in Weymouth, Dorset.

A report by the BBC says that the residents of Princes Drive in Weymouth have to put up with trains stopping with their engines running for up to five hours on a Saturday.

The houses on the street back onto the mainline track to London Waterloo.

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Residents say that idling trains can often sit at Weymouth Station from around midday to 5pm on a Saturday.

Peter Yarwood, who has lived on Princes Drive for 15 years, told the BBC: "We quite enjoy the trains passing but to have one parked outside your house for five hours on a Saturday is not very nice."

He said that he could no open his windows or sit in the garden because of the fumes, and also noted the "constant droning noise" as a frustration.

Other residents said that while the noise was bad, the smell was "horrendous".

A Great Western Railway spokesman said that they were doing everything they could to solve the problem, explaining that A GWR spokesman said "engines need to run to provide and maintain the air supply for the doors and brakes systems to work".

He added that safety checks also need to be carried out before the trains go into service and these "require the engine to be running".

Meanwhile, it has been reported that train times between Weymouth and London could be slashed by almost an hour if a new multi-million pound project to develop a new route gets go ahead.

The Dorset Echo reports that there are possible plans for a new route that would go to London from Weymouth, via Yeovil and Salisbury, and would take two hours and 15 minutes.

As part of the plans, the line between Weymouth and Yeovil would be upgraded to accommodate a fast train, which would take approximately 30 minutes.

The paper added that the idea of a new route via Yeovil and Salisbury has been a response to the fact the current route to London from Weymouth, which goes through Bournemouth and Poole, is already full to capacity and the track "does not have enough electricity to power a fast train".