As part of our on-going efforts to reduce the impact of railway noise near residential areas, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) will be calling tender today to install an additional 10km of railway noise barriers at 20 new locations on the elevated MRT tracks along the North-South and East-West Lines. Please refer to Annex A for the details of these new locations.
2 This is the second phase of the railway noise barriers programme, and LTA targets to award the tender by the third quarter of this year. Following design and off-site fabrication works, on-site installation is expected to begin from mid-2018, and would be completed by 2020. When completed, the noise barriers are expected to reduce railway noise levels by 5 to 10 decibels so residents living near these MRT tracks can look forward to an improved living environment.
Updates on Phase 1 of the Installation Works
3 LTA has already completed installing about 8.5km of railway noise barriers at 16 locations across the island under Phase 1 in end-2016. Installation works of another 3km of barriers, along nine other locations, are ongoing and expected to complete by 2018.
4 The installation of the railway noise barriers is a complex process which involves extensive retrofitting of existing railway structures (refer to Annex B for details on the installation process). To minimise inconvenience to commuters, the noise barrier installation has to be restricted to after passenger service hours and coordinated with other ongoing maintenance and improvement works during that time. LTA therefore prioritises stretches along elevated railway tracks where noise levels exceed the National Environment Agency’s recommended guideline of 67 decibels averaged over an hour.
5 LTA has also been working with train manufacturers and operators to mitigate railway noise in other ways. These include fitting trains with noise-dampening wheels, using ballast and concrete sleepers on the tracks enabling better absorption of noise, and servicing the train wheels and tracks more frequently.
