Background
Since the start of the London Underground offering a 24 hour service at weekends there has been a massive increase in the noise (shrieking) of the tubes on the tracks. For the unfortunate people who live directly above the troublesome spots this noise can be heard in their homes. Those who are worst effected hear noise that is over 50dB. To put this into context if this was a noisy neighbour the council can act if noise is over 35dB. As the tube is an essential service it is not possible to ask it to stop, so way to remedy this is to fix the track so that it is quieter. For many years PGRA, FREDA, local councillors, MP's etc have all got involved to try to get maintenance carried out on the tracks to minimize the noise.
The issue is the rubbing of the wheels on the track as the track bends on it's southbound exit from Victoria Station. This can be dealt with in the short term with grinding the tracks down to reduce the friction. The long term solution is to put rubber buffers on the track as has happened on the northbound track . This will allow the rails to flex more when the train travels along and will reduce the friction and sound. The problem is that the southbound sleepers are wood not concrete and as such cannot have rubber buffers added. To properly minimise the noise the sleepers will need to be replaced and buffers added. This makes it a much bigger proposition for London Underground.
The latest installment is at the top.
November 2020
The track was re-ground between 27-30th October. London Underground have said that they would re-grind every 6 months. In 2018 London Underground promised new tracks in 2020, however, London Underground is badly in debt and has recently asked the Government for a £4.7 billions bail out. That being said it has come to the attention of FREDA that London Underground has set aside £75m for the mitigation of noise - so the discussions will continue!
September 2018
At the last FREDA meeting it was reported that LU had not resolved the acute, mounting and illegal noise limits suffered by residents living close to the southbound track from Eccleston Square down to the Moretons. LU has cancelled two regrinds of this curved section, one which was scheduled for last August. The latest one, scheduled in March, was aborted by LU with the excuse of ‘poor ventilation in the tunnel’. After a piece by BBC’s Gareth Furby on 26 April, some hand-grinding was undertaken immediately underneath 57-59 Warwick Square which regrettably had little effect.
Subsequently, the Leader of WCC, Cllr Aiken, wrote to the Mayor about this problem but she has still not received a response from him, although three months have now elapsed.
Following the Secretary’s email of 31 May to Mike Brown, the Commissioner for Transport for London, LU immediately undertook the re-railing of 54 metres underneath 57-59 Warwick Square. According to LU’s follow-up measurements, this has resulted in an almost indiscernible improvement in the noise. The technical reasons for this are still unclear. The Secretary agreed to continue to try to resolve the noise issue for residents.
February 2018
Most of you may be unaware of this issue, but since the Victoria line went 24 hours at the weekend the extra work load has taken it's toll on the tracks and they currently screech as they go round the bend from Pimlico to Victoria. It's pretty horrific for those affected. The northbound tracks have been silenced by rubber buffers, but these can't be put on the southbound tracks as they are wooden not concrete. The good news is that, after a lot of meetings led by Virginia, last week the rails were ground down, which should temporarily solve the issue. TFL have said that they will grind on a regular basis and that in 2020 they will replace the wooden tracks with concrete.
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