Residents living near the Victoria Line are “disheartened” at Transport for London (TfL) plans to launch a night tube service – before […]By Waltham Forest Echo
A Victoria Line platform at Walthamstow Central Station
Residents living near the Victoria Line are “disheartened” at Transport for London (TfL) plans to launch a night tube service – before resolving ongoing noise pollution.
After a series of delays TfL announced that it would be introducing a 24-hour service on the Victoria Line on Fridays and Saturdays, starting from August. But people in Walthamstow who have been affected by loud rumblings since last summer, when a new track layout was built, say this doesn’t leave enough time to address their concerns.
A leaked TfL report listed “reduction in quality of life through disturbed sleep” as a high-risk impact of the night tube service, but Walthamstow residents claim they are already suffering from such effects.
Somers Road resident Zoe Green set up the Tube Noise Action Group last year to raise awareness of the issue but says little progress has been made.
After a recent meeting with TfL officials Zoe said: “Unfortunately they didn’t know what caused the louder trains and had tried pretty much everything they could to solve it.
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“We are quite disheartened as we had a lot of ideas about what they could do, but they said they would continue to monitor it and didn’t really agree to much more. We’ve asked them to pay for an independent investigation to figure out a solution.”
The Victoria Line is one of only two lines, along with the Jubilee, that will start running all-night weekend services this summer.
In a statement TfL say: “We are sensitive to the potential of additional disturbance. We are carrying out a thorough assessment of noise issues alongside local environmental health officers.
“Once the night tube is operational, we will continue to work with residents to investigate any issues regarding noise.”
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