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Living in London, you’ll know that riding the tube can be deafeningly loud sometimes. It’s not pleasant, and it could actually be damaging our ears. Now, the Victoria line has officially been named as the loudest tube line. But why exactly is it so bad?
How loud is the tube?
A recent test carried out by the BBC found that at the loudest part of the Vicky line – between Finsbury Park and Highbury and Islington – the volume was louder than a concert. They measured noise peaking at 112.3 decibels (dB), when a concert typically reaches 110 dB. For more context, a chainsaw operates at 120 dB. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), being exposed to anything over 80 dB for a prolonged period of time can be dangerous to our hearing. The WHO recommends using ear protection for anything over this level.
Why is the tube so loud?
The screeching of the underground, or the ‘rail squeal’ as it’s technically called, is created by metal wheels grinding against curves in the track.
This is a saga that’s been going on for a while. The tube was first identified as being louder than a rock concert by a UCL study back in 2018. And TfL is getting more and more complaints about tube noise every year: between 2018 and 2022, the Northern and Victoria lines recieved 282 and 252 complaints about noise respectively.
Then in 2023, hearing experts warned the London Assembly about Londoners repeatedly being exposed to ‘hazardous’ noise levels on the Underground.
So, when do we say enough is enough?
Last week (October 18), tube drivers announced that they are going to reduce their train speed on some parts of the track in protest to the noisy Underground.
Finn Brennan, Aslef’s district organiser on the London Underground, told the BBC that the noise levels on the line are currently the worst they have ever been.
‘London Underground have admitted that on the Victoria line, it exceeds the legal limit that people should deal with in a working shift,’ he said. ‘And they have had to issue ear defenders to drivers. But that’s simply a sticking plaster. The underlying problem needs to be dealt with and at the base of the issue is a lack of maintenance.’
What’s being done about the noise on the tube?
TfL is trialling new technology that would decrease the racket created by the rail squeal. As a potential solution, they are testing new track fastenings which reduce the vibrations and noise from the track on the Jubilee and Northern lines, but it’s not been confirmed if or when these fastenings would be rolled out across the whole network.
A TfL spokesperson told the BBC: ‘We regularly measure noise levels across the network, and recent results identified an increase in the level of noise exposure that Victoria line train operators are exposed to during the course of their shift.
‘We have put plans in place to address this through further improvements to the infrastructure and as a short-term measure, we have provided ear protection to train operators to further protect their hearing and reduce train operators' exposure to noise levels below the occupational exposure levels set by the Health & Safety Executive.’
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