Issue: Overnight Train Noise
Recent Forum on this Topic
- Saturday, 1 November 2025, from 10:00 to 11:30 AM
- Rockport Public Library Brenner Room and Zoom
OneRockport has been working with transportation noise researchers from the Boston University School of Public Health for several months. The team put up noise monitors around the train station in Rockport and presented their findings. Researchers also showed participants how to get the NIOSH phone app to monitor train noise and share data collection methods. There was time for Q&A.
Here are the Zoom recording and the presentation slides:
Videos of Trains Unplugged and Plugged
Four electrical panels were installed in Rockport in 2017 after the MBTA agreed in a 2010 Consent Decree with the US Justice Dept/EPA that the MBTA was excessively idling trains at terminus stations like Rockport. The panels allow a train to plug in and not have to idle its engine for electricity. The panels seem to be used sporadically and MBTA/Keolis has not stated when asked what their policy and/or procedures are for plugging in the trains.
Video credits: Soula Stefanopoulos and Alan MacMillan
New Report Measures Noise Levels
Note: The dBA measurements in this report discount the low-frequency noise of an idling train engine.
BU-School-of-Public-Heath-Rockport-Study-June-2025Police Report Documents Trains Idling Overnight
JAN-2024-Rockport-Police-Report-on-Train-IdlingFurther Analysis of the Police Report
Idling Occurrence
Percentage of times Rockport police reported that at least one train engine was idling when they surveyed train yard every hour on the half hour:
12:30 am — 72%
1:30 am — 64%
2:30 am — 38%
3:30 am — 38%
4:30 am — 46%
5:30 am — 71%
6:30 am — 41%
Each chart shows the number of engines idling at a given time over the days monitored.
The following chart shows the number of trains idling at each overnight observation in the police report.
Residents Petition to the Rockport Board of Health
Documents Related to the Consent Decree
If you made it this far down the page, you might want to take a deep dive into the legal documents related to the 2010 consent decree. Download the ZIP file and dive in!