TfL Ref: 1176-1920

Thank you for your request received by us on 23 July and clarified on 12 August 2019 asking for information about noise levels on the Northern Line.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Environmental Information Regulations and our information access policy. I can confirm that we hold the information you require. You asked for:

the noise levels on the Northern Line between Camden Town and Kentish Town in both directions as well as between Camden Town and Euston on the Bank branch again in both directions. The include the noise levels should average decibels and also the loudest readings on between both points.

After seeking clarification for the period of time that this information should cover you responded with:

The noise in the tunnels between the points I included appears to be very loud and therefore I would the decibel readings for these points. The period of time can be anywhere between May 2019 and now and the problems seemed to become worse at this time perhaps due to track renewal.

Passengers now have to cover their ears whilst travelling through these points due to the deafening screeches.

We are committed to doing everything we can to make sure that the Tube is a safe environment for our staff and our customers.

We are aware of issues with in-carriage noise on our network, including this section of the Northern line and are currently trialling methods of reducing in-carriage noise, which includes under-rail pads and a rail damping system at priority sites. Further installation work is due to be carried out from autumn 2019, including between Camden Town and Kentish Town. We are also looking into carrying out rail grinding in this area later this year, which we hope will reduce in-carriage noise levels.

We are also trialling a new product from Delkor, which we believe could deliver benefits in terms of both in-carriage and residential noise levels.

We undertake assessments on specific track sections where noise levels are reported as a concern, and wherever possible completes appropriate noise-reducing works. There are sections of track on the Northern line with corrugation (high rail roughness), and therefore the wheel-rail interface rolling contact may cause higher levels of noise. We maintain a rail grinding programme to address areas of highly corrugated track. Additional funding has been made available to implement a number of immediate and longer-term solutions to reduce in-tunnel noise. This includes the implementation of an enhanced programme of rail grinding, which triples the volume of grinding at prioritised sites including the section between Camden Town and Kentish Town. Rail grinding in this location will be completed by the end of November this year.

While customers travelling on our network can experience noise, higher volumes tend to be for short periods of time. Noise limits set out by the Health & Safety Executive are based on exposure over an eight-hour period so Tube customers would need to spend much longer than the average journey on the Tube network in order to reach these thresholds – as long as six hours continuously on the Northern line per day. Health & Safety Executive guidance suggests Tube noise is highly unlikely to cause any long-term damage to customers’ hearing.

Please see the following table for noise levels recorded in decibels (dB A) on16 July 2019 taken in the centre of the third passenger carriage, which had light to moderate passenger loading throughout the train.

Location Decibels (dB A) weighted average between stations dB C peak instantaneous between stations
Euston to Camden Town northbound (NB) - Bank Branch 95.5 119.7
Camden Town to Kentish Town NB 98.1 121.4
Kentish Town to Camden Town SB 97.2 120.2
Camden Town to Euston southbound (SB) - Bank Branch 95.5 121.4

Please note these are recordings of the in car noise levels and not the HSE daily noise exposure values.

If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for any reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.

Yours sincerely

Jasmine Howard
FOI Case Officer
Information Governance
Transport For London