Now that the pay and conditions of the drivers has been sorted out, the problem of the extra noise that it’s going to create has taken over as the main headline.
Local residents have voiced concerns that there are areas of noisy track, which is currently producing noise ‘as loud as a jet engine’. This noise, they say, is bearable during the day but at night will prevent people from sleeping.
The Transport for London (TfL) risk assessment has also gone as far as to say that the noise will results in a significant reduction in Londoners’ quality of life and, for some, drive them to ‘threats of suicide’. Mayor of London Boris Johnson is being encouraged by those in his team and also others within the Conservative Party to look at putting measures in place to replace noisy tracks before the service starts later in the year.
The Labour party have called for a team of ‘noise busters’; to be created, a group who will monitor noisy tracks and push through quick fire maintenance when a problem becomes obvious.
Here at Echo Barrier we have been working closely with the Track Partnership to provide temporary noise reduction solutions whilst track replacement work has been going on. We know the hard work that the teams have been putting in and we know how hard a job it is, when you have to fit maintenance in around a service which has trains running every two minutes for 19 hours per day.
However, as noise experts, we have seen first hand evidence of the damage that exposure to excessive noise can have on the quality of life of those living nearby. From tinnitus to insomnia, stress to heart disease, we hear stories on a regular basis from people who are at breaking point. Sadly, often we hear too late and noise that could have been silenced with the use of a few Echo Barriers has plagued people’s lives and caused illness and stress.
So, we are joining the fight and urging Boris Johnson and his team to do whatever he can to combat the noise problems that this fantastic service is going to cause. And we’ll be happy to help. Boris, give us a call!