A New South Wales community group is taking statistics into their own hands, conducting its own monitoring of particle pollution and the dust from coal train carriages.

The Coal Terminal Action Group will conduct its monitoring program after the release of study by the Australian Rail Track Corporation, which claimed coal trains cause no more pollution than regular trains.

The Action Group have criticised the Track Corporation’s report, saying the results were modified before being released, and an independent review has since found the study had major flaws.

Coal Terminal Action Group spokeswoman Fee Mozeley said they would be watching trains passing through Beresfield and Hexham, “using industry standard equipment, community groups will measure the particle solution concentrations of loaded and unloaded coal wagons as they pass through our suburbs... to establish what we call a pollution signature of coal trains.”

The group has enlisted independent expert advice to analyse the data collected this week. They say their data and methods will be available to all for further analysis and scrutiny, as soon as they are confident in the process and results.

The Coal Terminal Action Group has been keeping a running account of their progress online.