RESIDENTS in Royal Wootton Bassett were left sleepless and bleary-eyed after the noise from railway works continued until dawn.

Network Rail workers fired up their tools at around 1.30am on Tuesday, the New Road residents said.

The noise continued until around 4am, as workers continued their “piling” works – creating deep foundations – as part of the electrification of the railway line.

Heather Wannell, 47, a resident of two years, said: “It was horrendous. The house was vibrating.

“I had a friend staying and he thought we were being broken into. He came to stay to break a journey down to Dorset and to have a rest.

“When I looked up and down the street there were lights on in almost every single house.”

Heather, who works as a probate lawyer, said she hoped the lack of sleep would not affect her work the following day.

“I can’t make mistakes,” she said.

Her husband, Charles, was not in the house at the time – having travelled down to a Dorset steam festival.

“It was probably a darned sight quieter there,” she said.

Heather has lodged a formal complaint about the noise with Network Rail.

She added: “I think Network Rail needs to have a bit more consideration for the neighbours.”

Maria Pryor, 64, and her husband were also woken up by the work. The pair have lived in their New Road home, which backs onto the railway, since 1983.

She said: “It woke us up with quite a fright. The whole house started to judder – everything was just vibrating really badly.

“I do worry for the foundations of the house.”

She said that, despite searching through letters, she could not find any notification from Network Rail.

“At least I could sleep in,” she said. “ My husband still had to get up and go to work at quarter-to-six this morning.

“I went online this morning to try and make a complaint. I was also on the phone for 15 minutes but had to give up.”

This week’s works are the most recent – and apparently the noisiest – in a string of works to prepare the way for the electrification of the London-Bristol line.

“It’s just been a nightmarish couple of years,” said Maria.

NETWORK Rail has apologised to residents in Royal Wootton Bassett following the noise this week while overnight work was taking place.

“As part of our Railway Upgrade Plan to electrify the railway from London Paddington to Cardiff we are erecting electric overhead line equipment between Swindon and Royal Wootton Bassett overnight for the next three nights,” a spokesman said yesterday.

“This involves putting large steel foundations into the ground (piling) to hold the overhead equipment and these works can be noisy.

“We have distributed 45,000 leaflets and nearly 6,000 letters to residents to inform them that may be affected by this work and outlining a timescale for when these works are likely to take place.

“In addition to these letters we seek to place specific timings of works once they are known on our website.”

However Network Rail has acknowledge that its website was not up to date when residents tried to access it on Tuesday morning.

“ We apologise that yesterday the website was not up to date and as a result residents were not able to see if these works were taking place near their homes,” said the spokesman.

“This has now been updated and residents can find the latest information on the electrification foundation piling works in Wiltshire here: www.networkrail.co.uk/running-the-railway/our-routes/western/great-western-mainline/wiltshire-swindon/

“We recognise that these works are noisy and we make all efforts to inform residents in advance as much as possible. Those who live near to the railway will of course directly benefit from these works as they will enable us to run electric trains which are much quieter and cleaner.”