London Underground: Tube noise complaints on the rise

The Northern and Victoria lines received the most complaints about noise on the Tube in the last three years

More than 1,000 complaints about noise on the Tube were made in the past three years, City Hall has said.

Figures show the majority of the noise complaints, made to Transport for London (TfL), happened on the Northern Line (282) and the Victoria Line (256).

They also show complaints have been increasing, with 301 made to TfL in 2021 - up from 243 the previous year and from 204 in 2020.

London's mayor said alleviating Tube noise "remains a top priority".

TfL advises that noise coming from tracks can be from normal wear and tear, track faults or misaligned joints.

Inspections are carried regularly and around £150m is spent each year on track improvements, it said.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan explained in an answer to a mayor's question from Liberal Democrat Caroline Pidgeon, that TfL understood the "importance of minimising noise levels" for staff, customers and its neighbours by monitoring noise and vibration levels.

He said: "Despite its financial challenges, TfL continues to invest in London Underground track renewal and maintenance, including a continuous programme of rail-grinding and track modernisation.

"In the last six months, TfL has undertaken around 15,000m of rail-grinding that works to address Tube noise by smoothing corrugated rails, which is the principal cause of track noise."

The mayor added that TfL had successfully trialled the replacement of a track fastening product, which showed it reduced noise inside tunnels.

In 2018, a UCL academic told BBC London that parts of the Tube network were "loud enough to damage people's hearing".

Dr Joe Sollini, of UCL's Ear Institute said at the time the Victoria Line service was on average the loudest while other noisy sections of the Tube equated to "being at a rock concert".

Parts of the Northern and Jubilee lines were so loud they would require hearing protection if they were workplaces, he said.

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