FOI request detail

London tube noise complaints

Request ID: FOI-1305-1920
Date published: 07 August 2019

You asked

Please can you let me have the number of complaints that have increased the most in the last year for the top three London boroughs for tube noise. So these would be official complaints lodged by London residents about tube noise - so screeching on the tracks, not noise from passengers. But I don't need the whole of London. Just the three London boroughs where complaints have increased the most in the last year. So for example it would look like this: (The highest increase in complaints first) 1. Camden town : year to 31st July 2019 200 complaints up from 100 complaints the year before (year to 31st July 2018). 2. City of London : year to 31st July 2019 100 complaints up from 50 complaints the year before (year to 31st July 2018.) 3. Westminster: year to 31st July 2019 100 complaints up from 75 complaints the year before (year to 31st July 2018.)

We answered

TfL Ref: FOI-1305-1920

Thank you for your email of 31st July 2019 asking for information about complaints TfL has received over the last year in relation to noise on the London Underground.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.

Specifically you asked:

Please can you let me have the number of complaints that have increased the most in the last year for the top three London boroughs for tube noise. So these would be official complaints lodged by London residents about tube noise - so screeching on the tracks, not noise from passengers. But I don't need the whole of London. Just the three London boroughs where complaints have increased the most in the last year.

So for example it would look like this:

(The highest increase in complaints first)

1. Camden town : year to 31st July 2019 200 complaints up from 100 complaints the year before (year to 31st July 2018).

2. City of London : year to 31st July 2019 100 complaints up from 50 complaints the year before (year to 31st July 2018.)

3. Westminster: year to 31st July 2019 100 complaints up from 75 complaints the year before (year to 31st July 2018.)”

I can confirm that we hold the information you require. However, to provide it would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of £450 set by the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.

Under section 12 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to comply with a request if we estimate that the cost of determining whether we hold the information, and then locating, retrieving or extracting it from other information, would exceed the appropriate limit. This is calculated at £25 per hour for every hour spent on the activities described – equivalent to 18 hours work.

There is no easy way for TfL to locate the information you have requested. Over the last year we have received over 1,200 complaints relating to the London Underground logged against the code “Noise Pollution”. In order to determine how many of these specifically related to the noise made from trains on the tracks – as opposed to other forms of noise - we would need to locate, retrieve and review each and every case. We estimate that this in itself would exceed the cost threshold (it would need to be achieved at a rate of more than one per minute). Even then, to answer your question we would need to also source the equivalent data for the previous year so that the requested year-on-year comparison could be made, and then sort the relevant complaints by borough and carry out the analysis required to determine which three boroughs had seen the biggest increases, adding even more time.

To help bring the cost of responding to your request within the £450 limit, you may wish to consider narrowing or reframing its scope so that we can more easily locate, retrieve and extract the information you are seeking.

Notwithstanding the above, we are aware that a number of the complaints relating to noise on the Underground will relate to that produced by the wheel-rail interface. TfL undertakes 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 with corrugation (high rail roughness), and therefore the rolling contact between train and track may cause higher levels of noise. We maintain a rail grinding programme to address areas of highly corrugated track, but this can only achieve temporary improvements. One particular effect of corrugation on the rail is that the energy created causes noise that can be heard in residential properties (which they experience multiple times throughout the day). To address this we have used a track dampening system which has significantly lowered the noise levels recorded in local homes (but has created noise that is being experienced by customers as a result).

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

Yours sincerely,

David Wells

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

Back to top

Want to make a request?

We'll email you the response within 20 working days.


We'll publish the response online without disclosing any personal information.