The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has called a tender to install about 5.5km of railway noise barriers at 16 new locations along elevated railway sections of the North-South and East-West Lines (NSEWL) to reduce noise levels from passing trains by about five to 10 decibels.
The authority stated in a press release on Friday (14 November) that this is the third phase of the railway noise barriers programme and expects to award the tender in July 2019.
Following design and off-site fabrication works, on-site installation works are expected to begin in the third quarter of 2020 and be completed around 2023, the ministry noted.
Below are the details of the new locations:
The authority stated that it prioritises stretches along elevated railway tracks where railway noise levels exceed NEA’s noise criterion of 67 decibels averaged over an hour, noting that the implementation of Early Closures and Late Openings along the NSEWL since December 2017 has enabled LTA to speed up the installation of railway noise barriers, while pressing on with other maintenance and improvement works.
According to the authority, installation works for Phase 1 of the railway noise barriers programme have been completed. Meanwhile, on-site works for Phase 2 commenced in September 2018 and are expected to be completed by 2020.
When Phase 3 is completed in 2023, about 27km of noise barriers would have been installed across the island, the authority noted.
In the meantime, the authority stressed that it will continue working with the train operators and manufacturers to mitigate railway noise in other ways, which include fitting trains with noise-dampening wheels, using ballast and concrete sleepers on tracks for better absorption of noise, and servicing the train wheels and tracks more frequently.
