Author: Richy

Hong Kong’s double-decker trams will tiptoe through busy neighbourhoods and spare residents the usual screeching when upgrades to the tracks are completed over the next three years.

Affectionately nicknamed “ding dings” by locals for their bell sound, the trams generate a less desirable noise when they negotiate sharp bends or junctions.

Operator Hong Kong Tramways said work was now under way to replace the noisiest sections of the tracks with a design that was 16 decibels quieter.

“Don’t underestimate this number – for every two decibels we reduce, it translates to a 50 per cent noise reduction to the human ear,” senior engineering manager Steven Chan Si-yiu said.

The new design, featuring a rubber coating made up of recycled tyres, was successfully tested along a 100-metre stretch near the Shau Kei Wan terminus in 2016.

“Some residents nearby asked if services had been suspended because they could not hear the trams pass through anymore,” Chan said.

Additional benefits over the traditional concrete-lined tracks include better durability and shortened repaving time. But the upgrades come at a hefty price – each metre can cost up to HK$18,000, 40 per cent more than the current method.

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying offered a much-needed financial boost in his policy address on Wednesday, promising subsidies to cover 2.4km of track.

Managing director Emmanuel Vivant estimated this grant would help them save HK$20 million. He revealed that four 90-degree bends around the Kennedy Town loop would be the first section to be upgraded, with other busy junctions in the pipeline.

In a separate development, the operator confirmed that more 10 air-conditioned trams would join the fleet next year after a pilot scheme last summer received overwhelmingly positive feedback.

A “cooler tram” has been in operation since June, picking up around 300,000 passengers and receiving a 98 per cent satisfaction rate.

The goal is to retrofit air-conditioning systems into 30 to 40 trams, subject to government approval as well as the capacity of the electricity grid.

The fares would be “different” from normal trams, but the management would not reveal details at this stage.Source

(ECNS)–A silent night is a luxury for 25 percent of Chinese cities, according to a report by China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection.

Among 308 Chinese cities that measured noise levels last year, about 92 percent were within limits during the daytime, but 74 percent were too loud at night, the report said.

Provincial capitals had better readings than lower level cities, according to the report.

A women surnamed Zhang from Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, has long been bothered by the food market below her window.

“The noise usually lasts from around 8 p.m. till 2 a.m. the next day. Every night I can barely sleep,” said Zhang.

The report said the ministry received some 354,000 complaints about noise nationwide last year, accounting for 35 percent of all pollution complaints -falling only behind air pollution.

Among the complaints about noise, half concerned construction work, 30 percent were related to social and commercial activities, 16.9 percent came from industrial production and 12 percent from transportation.

Experts at the Shandong Academy of Environmental Sciences said noises measuring 40 to 50 db are enough to break deep sleep. Long-term exposure to noises over 60 db can affect hearing and may lead to deafness.

Noise and poor sleep can also aggravate tinnitus and heart problems, the experts added.

In 2015, China published nine national and local standards for noise control. Local governments also rolled out eight related laws and regulations to tackle the problem.

Gan Hui, an associate professor at Fujian Normal University, said noise pollution is usually overlooked because it is invisible.

Cheng Mingkun, a researcher from the Institute of Acoustics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said the ambiguity of regulatory responsibility contributes to the weak effort to control noise pollution.

He added that government departments should clarify their liabilities and step up coordination to tackle the problem.

Other experts suggested measures such as better city planning and severe punishments for violators.

Source