Our Ref:         FOI-0026-1920

Thank you for your request received on 1 April 2019 asking for further information about the number of complaints lodged by London residents in the last three years concerning London Underground noise.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. I can confirm we do hold the information you require.

The London Underground supports nearly 5 million passenger journeys per day, and over 1.3bn journeys a year. As previously advised, we continuously take noise readings and review the track condition to assess what works can be done to reduce noise. There are various engineering initiatives which we are trialling/aim to trial in an attempt to reduce noise. We are currently installing softer pads throughout our resilient track fastening sites to reduce the airborne noise experienced by passengers. Our loudest sites have already been completed and we are currently measuring the reduction in noise. Additionally, we are also trialling other rail damping technology and a recent installation has been carried out on the Jubilee line. We aim to have reduced the airborne noise in tunnels by the end of 2019.

Please find the requested information below:

Year Total Received
2016 (from April) 269
2017 307
2018 262
2019 (to March) 45

Please note that there is a discrepancy between the figures above and those provided to you in our last response. Our centralised database was set up in April 2016. Some complaints predated the creation of this spreadsheet and were recorded on separate lists, these complaints were included in the previous figure provided but we are unable to include these in the broken down statistics above as we are unable to report on these older figures in the same way.

If this is not the information you are looking for please feel free to contact me.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.

Yours sincerely

Gemma Jacob
Senior FOI Case Officer
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London

[email protected]