RESIDENTS are planning to take action after being kept awake by rail line maintenance.

One couple with three small children said the noise, at rail lines running through Eaglescliffe, near Stockton, was so disruptive that they moved into a hotel for an overnight stay, and contractor Jarvis Rail paid the bill.

Other nearby neighbours have resorted to wearing earplugs on a weekend, when work goes on opposite Railway Terrace.

They said that Jarvis gave residents no warning of the work, which is being carried out until June.

Now Eaglescliffe residents are holding a meeting tomorrow to decide what action to take.

One resident, Jean Orton, said: "I am all for taking direct action, finding out where the directors live and ringing them up at 2am and asking how they like to be awake at that time.

"Basically, the meeting is to see how people want to pursue this. It is a democratic process; we have to find out what everybody wants and what makes them feel safe.

"There are a lot of people who are very cross.

"The first weekend it started, it was constant background noise. The weekend before Easter, I was woken up at four o'clock in the morning by a constant thud, thud, thud; a mechanical noise.

"I do not need stress when I come home from work. And at night, noise carries more.

"I want someone to sort something out. It is the 21st Century and there must be the technology to screen or mask the noise."

Another neighbour, who did not want to be named, said: "It is horrendous on a Saturday night. It is loud, but if you have a house next to the railway, you must accept it.''

The work is part of Network Rail's maintenance and renewals programme. A spokesman for the group said: "This work necessarily generates a level of contractor noise that can sometimes be irritating to our lineside neighbours.

"We try to keep the noisier aspects of our work to times of the day least intrusive, although this is not always possible."

A spokesman for Jarvis Rail said: "This is necessary to ensure the continuing safe running of the railway. Due to the nature of the work, to ensure the safety of the travelling public and our workers, it must be done while trains are not running.

"We do everything we can to keep it to a minimum. We are working to an agreed code of practice which requires us to take all reasonable measures to control noise."

Liberal Democrat ward Councillor John Fletcher said he would be looking into the matter.