Clarissa and Roger Baldwin

NOISE from the Underground is travelling up into people’s houses and regularly disturbing scores of residents in Barnsbury.

Roughly every 30 seconds between 6.30am and 9am, Roger and Clarissa Baldwin hear the rumble and screech of the north and southbound Northern and Victoria lines from their kitchen table in Cloudesley Square – as they have done for the past eight years.

“It really feels like they are coming to join us for breakfast,” Ms Baldwin said.

“We get used to it, I suppose, but it’s very annoying. If you’re having a lunch party or something it’s quite difficult to talk to each other.”

Mr Baldwin, 88, added: “You almost find yourself waiting for it. It affects normal conversation – it really does get that loud.”

The tubes were no bother to the Baldwins when they moved into their house 20 years ago, but by 2016 the underground racket was audible from their basement and has continued to get worse.

The only respite came during the pandemic when there were fewer tubes running, as well as six “glorious” weeks of quiet last summer thanks to Transport for London grinding the rails underneath Barnsbury.

Rail grinding is a process that removes “corrugation” – ridges or grooves on the rail surface that can increase noise and vibrations.

The Baldwins and their neighbours – there are up to 100 people on an email list concerning the issue – have met and written to the London Mayor’s office, TfL and MP Emily Thornberry repeatedly over the past eight years or so, but to no avail.

“The mayor says it’s a priority, but nobody seems to know what to do about it,” said Ms Baldwin, whose home has twice been monitored for noise by TfL – staff who arrive with Ghostbusters-style equipment – only for them to later admit that the data they had gathered was flawed.

It’s increasingly noisy under ground, too. In October, unions representing tube drivers, Aslef and RMT, raised concerns about the wellbeing of their members, with Aslef’s union organiser saying noise levels were the worst they have ever been.

TfL admitted that extreme noise levels on the Victoria line exceeded the legal limit.

Emily Thornberry told the Tribune that she had been supporting her constituents with the issue of tube noise for several years, including liaising with the Greater London Authority and the London Mayor’s office.

Since the end of the pandemic, she said she has resumed enquiries with TfL to see if a longer-term solution to the noise can be found – other than grinding the track.

A TfL spokesperson said: “We understand the importance of minimising noise levels for our customers, staff and neighbours.

“We continue to invest significantly in track renewal and mainten­ance, including a continuous programme of rail grinding and track modernisation, which is our primary tool to tackle the main cause of noise and vibration. We have undertaken a significant amount of noise and vibration-related rail grinding in the last six months and will continue to carry out other targeted interventions.”