Noisy tube in the news

On the BBC:

Click to go to the article

Prudential Ride London 2019 - 3rd & 4th Aug

See the flyer and the map of the City for how to join in (or avoid!):

Click to read the flyer

Click to see the City map

Tube Work - Jul 12th - 15th

Next week TfL are working on the tube lines which run beneath the Barbican.  Residents who live directly above the lines will no doubt be hoping that the new track will be laid upon something which absorbs sound.

click to read the whole notice

TfL Transport Forum: 29th Nov

From the BEO:
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Transport for London - City of London Residents’ Transport Forum

Transport for London are hosting their first City of London Residents’ Transport Forum on Thursday 29 November at the Guildhall, Committee Rooms 2-3 from 6:15pm to 8:00pm. The forum will be chaired by Councilman Marianne Fredericks and will be an opportunity for residents and other key stakeholders from across the City to discuss key transport issues relating to Transport for London.

The agenda is being finalised but Barbican noise and vibration issues will on the agenda. If you would like to attend, then please email Ciaran McCartan at ciaranmccartan@tfl.gov.uk or Abbas Raza at abbasraza@tfl.gov.uk so they can confirm your place.

RideLondon 30-31 July: Road Closures

On Saturday 30 and Sunday 31 July, there will be significant impact to travel as a result of the weekend of Prudential RideLondon cycling events. Certain roads and river crossings in east, central and south-west London and Surrey will be closed to traffic.

Roads

There will be extensive road closures on and around the routes; roads will be closed from early morning and will re-open when it is safe to do so. Pedestrian access to properties will not be affected. A number of bridges in London and Surrey will be closed at times over the weekend. Road users are advised to avoid areas near the event route wherever possible.

Public transport

Most of the network will be open with services running as normal, but please check before you travel as some essential upgrade works are taking place. While we will try to maintain a good service, many buses will be on diversion or will stop short of their destination, and some may be affected by traffic displaced by road closures.

For full details, including event information and road closures, and to know your travel options in central London, please click here

Click to read the leaflet

Barbican Station Temporary Closure Survey

From the BEO for the BA and TfL: 

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Consultation on TfL's planned temporary closure of Barbican Station

TfL is planning a major upgrade of Barbican station. This will take place towards the end of 2016 or more probably in 2017. This is likely to involve the complete closure of Barbican Station for a period of several months. TfL has said that the complete closure will enable it to carry out noisy works during normal working hours. Other works will continue before and after the closure which might involve closing the station at weekends. No noisy works will be carried out during the weekend closures.

TfL has asked, through the BA, for the views of Barbican residents as to the best time for this closure to occur. The BA has set up a survey to canvass resident's opinions.

It should only take a minute or two to complete as it consists of three quick questions and an opportunity to leave a comment.

TfL has said that it will try to consider residents' opinions in planning the works, but due to the challenges of carrying out the project on a working railway and coordinating with Crossrail TfL may not be guided by them.

The BA has been asked to reply to TfL by next week, so please respond to this survey by this Friday, 20th May, to be sure that your opinions are included.

Click here to complete the survey

Bus route 153

TfL have decided to permanently change the 153 route.  The route used to go down Silk St past the entrance to the arts centre but was 'temporarily' rerouted along Chiswell St while the Heron Tower was being built and associated road works carried out.  During planning for the tower and road layout changes the City and TfL assured people that the route change would be temporary and the new road layout would comfortably accommodate the 153 busses.  In the end it seems that turns were too tight for the busses, just as residents has said they thought they would be, and so now we have a permanent change which looks like this:

Permanent after all

Here is the letter from TfL which came via the BA. 

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Dear Sir or Madam

Between June and August 2015 we consulted on proposals to make the routeing via Chiswell Street for route 153 permanent. Thank you for your patience in waiting for our response.

We received 59 responses to the consultation. 57 responses were from members of the public and 2 were from stakeholders. The majority of responses supported our proposals.

We have carefully considered all of the responses and have decided to proceed with our proposal.

For more details including a full consultation report and our responses to issues raised, please go to tfl.gov.uk/buses/route-153

Yours faithfully

Keith Elliott
Consultation Team
Transport for London

Consultation: closure of Barbican tube station

From the Barbican Association via the BEO:

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Dear Residents

Below is the text of an email sent to the Barbican Association seeking residents' views on options for the closure of Barbican tube station while it is being refurbished.

The timescale for consultation is very tight (comments by 12 noon on 30 November). The BA sought an extension to the time for consultation and also sought a meeting to find out more about the works.

The BA's London Underground working party met London Underground this week  to find out more and has recommended to the BA General Council that it formally responds in support of Option 3. This is full closure of the station for a shorter period. 

The refurbishment is a cosmetic one to surfaces and lighting (no structural changes); we are told that noise and light spillage after the works are done should be reduced.

The work is likely to start around May 2016 and LUL have undertaken to protect against noise (as with any construction site).

The BA has not made a decision on its recommendation yet (it meets tomorrow), but in the interests of getting this out to everyone, we are circulating the options and the email address to respond to Barbican residents now. We have no idea what weight London Underground will put on residents' views.

I personally think it is clear that residents on the west side of the estate who can hear noise from the station would be well advised to opt for option 3, to minimise the noise of works during the night.

Best wishes
Jane

Jane Smith

Chair, Barbican Association

From London Undergound

I am writing to inform you of some essential improvement work due to be carried out at Barbican station next spring. Upon completion, passengers will benefit from a complete refurbishment of the station. As well as a brand new entranceway, passengers will see new wall, floor and ceiling tiles, along with resurfaced platforms. The station canopy will also be upgraded and new lighting installed throughout the station. New wider ticket barriers will be introduced in the ticket hall, improving the overall usability and ambience of the station . In addition to the front-of-house work, we will also be improving the back-of-house systems and software to maintain the efficient operation of the station. We are currently considering several options in relation to how we carry out the work and what impact this will have on users of the station and local residents. The work to be carried out will generate noise, however the actual impact will depend on the option chosen. We would like feedback from local residents to help inform our decision.

There are fouroptions currently being considered for undertaking work at Barbican station. I have given a brief description of each option below:

1.     Engineering Hours only - working between 1am and 5am only

·         Under this option work would be being carried out during the night,between 1am and 5am, while trains were not running

·         The total duration of the project with this option would be 90 weeks

·         The station would remain open to passengers

·         All noisy work will be carried out during the night 

2a  Partial closure

·         Under this option work would be carried out in a combination of the following:

o   Work taking place between10pm and 6am

o   10 weekend full stationclosures which are planned to coincide with pre-planned track closures through the station

o   10 weeks of non-stopping trains. 4 weeks in the Westbound direction and 6 weeks in the Eastbound direction

·         The total duration of the project with this option would be 68 weeks

·         The station would remain open, however passengers would be affected for the 10 weeks when services are non-stopping Westbound (4 weeks), then Eastbound (6 weeks), and during the 10 weekend station closures

·         Westbound and Eastbound non-stopping will be planned to coincide with periods of lower passenger demand, such as during summer holidays

·         Most noisy work activities would be carried out during the day when non-stopping and during the weekend closures, but there will still be some residual noisy activities at night

2b 

·         This option is a variant of option 2. instead of having non-stopping trains for 10 weeks, the station will be fully closed for up to6 weeks during work. This short full station closure is the only variation from option 2. All other work will be carried out as detailed above.

·         Noise impacts would be reduced from those above, as a large amount of noisy work could be carried out during the short full station closure

 

3.    Full station closure

·         The station would be fully closed for the duration of the work (36 weeks)

  ·         The noisiest activities would be carried out while trains were running (although not stopping at Barbican station)

As I'm sure you can appreciate, there are different benefits to be realised from each of the options detailed above. I would be happy to discuss these with you in more detail if you would find that helpful.

 We would like to collect feedback from as many residents as possible. Any comments or feedback will need to be sent to 12pm on Monday 30 November to Ben Thomas (ben.thomas@tube.tfl.gov.uk).

 

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