• What occurred 18 months ago that caused noise levels to increase on the Southbound Victoria Line between Victoria Station and Pimlico Station? • What efforts have been made to find the cause of the noise and rectify the problem? • When and how often have the tracks and tunnels been investigated and inspected to find out the cause of the increased noise levels? • Why has the increase in noise only been apparent over the past 18 months? • Is it a question of cost with regards to the time taken to remedy this problem? • Has any cause been found which could possibly be the source of the noise increase? • I would like a detailed list of all complaints made regarding the Victoria Line Southbound Service, between Victoria Station and Pimlico Station. The number of complaints made, the frequency of these complaints and the vicinity in which these complaints come from.

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Date: 17 November 2017                   

TfL Ref: 2004-1718

I am writing further to the letter we received on your behalf from _____ concerning noise levels on the Southbound Victoria Line between Victoria Station and Pimlico Station on 20 October 2017.

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 some of the information you require. You asked:

What occurred 18 months ago that caused noise levels to increase on the Southbound Victoria Line between Victoria Station and Pimlico Station?

I can advise that there has been no significant degradation of track. However, corrugation of the rails has developed further on one rail in particular, leading to an increase in noise.

What efforts have been made to find the cause of the noise and rectify the problem?

We are now aware of the root cause. Although methods for controlling corrugation growth are difficult and complex, work is being undertaken in an effort to tackle this. For instance, we plan to grind the tracks by hand in the coming weeks and evaluate accordingly.

When and how often have the tracks and tunnels been investigated and inspected to find out the cause of the increased noise levels?

The track is inspected twice a week visually, and on a daily basis by using an automatic track measurement system.

Has the increase in noise only been apparent over the past 18 months?

Whilst this cannot be quantified, there has been no significant degradation to the track or changes to the track configuration.

A small increase in peak trains, with a small speed increase began on 21 May 2017.

Is it a question of cost with regards to the time taken to remedy this problem?

No, the issue has been in developing effective long-term technical solutions. The costs of all work must be balanced against the potential benefits to ensure they are proportionate.

Has any cause been found which could possibly be the source of the noise increase?

As mentioned previously, we are now aware of the root cause. However methods for controlling corrugation growth are difficult and complex to achieve. We are trying to tackle this through various work streams such as the aforementioned grinding of tracks, which will then be evaluated.

I would like a detailed list of all complaints made regarding the Victoria Line Southbound Service, between Victoria Station and Pimlico Station. The number of complaints made the frequency of these complaints and the vicinity in which these complaints come from.

Please find enclosed a list of 31 complaints from 16 May 2017 to 31 October 2017, extracted from our Customer Services database.

As no specific time period was stated in your request, the reporting period chosen was from 16 May 2017, as this was the date we transitioned to our new Customer Services reporting system. Consequently, the data and coding used to retrieve these results are consistent, thereby producing an accurate summary of results.

Please note that our reporting system is unable to restrict complaints by southbound Victoria line only. The closest we can achieve is by filtering results by the following stations: Brixton, Pimlico, Stockwell, Vauxhall, Victoria.

Please note that to provide details of every single complaint ever reported in this regard 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, locating and retrieving it and 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.

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

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