Campaigners are celebrating victory after a lengthy battle to silence noisy train horns that kept them up at night.

People living in Milton Regis, Sittingbourne, have had to put up with the issue of trains loudly sounding their horns since January last year when modern rolling stock was introduced and the noise levels changed.

Drivers had been sounding the klaxon every half an hour between 6am and midnight to issue a warning as carriages headed near a pedestrian track crossing from the back of Middletune Avenue to the fields behind, and a maintenance access point at the junction of Volante Drive and Atlee Way.

Graham Pask, who had lived in Eclipse Drive for 12 years before the change was put in place, said it had meant the decibel of the horns had increased and, as a result, they were waking children up and interrupting adults’ sleep.

However, almost two years on, Mr Pask said the remaining whistle boards had finally been removed – much to residents’ delight.

“It’s great news for all the residents in the area,” the 65-year-old said. “We’ve been campaigning hard to get the boards taken down. The first whistle board was taken down about a year ago, and now they’ve taken the second down; it’s great news.

“The trains were keeping us awake; especially on a Sunday morning when, at 6am, the horns would be sounded and it would wake everyone up.

“Even though they were only able to sound a two-second blast, that felt like an eternity when you were asleep.”

Mr Pask, who has four children and five grandchildren, said he and his neighbour Robert Day started putting leaflets out to residents to raise attention last year.

“The number of people that started writing to Network Rail and Southeastern trains, to councillors and MP Gordon Henderson as a result, it made people listen,” he said. “It wasn’t just one or two people complaining, it was a couple of hundred. It’s a case of people power wins the day.”

When asked how it had been since the removal, Mr Pask said: “It’s been bliss. There’s still an occasional horn because the driver might have seen someone or because of another safety reason, and there’s no issue with that but having to deal with a regular shrill sound was awful.

"We're all very happy now."

He added: "I would love to thank everyone who took the time to get involved with this campaign. It's great all the residents got behind us and now it's better for everyone in the area."

Mr Pask said, however, that residents would still like to see the pedestrian crossing – that will link the Middletune Avenue estate with the new one under construction in Quinton Road – replaced with a footbridge.

He said: "That foot crossing is going to get busier with all the new houses and two schools also being built. With the whistle boards now gone, how safe is it going to be?

"That crossing needs to be closed completely and a footbridge needs to be put in; it would be much safer for all users."