“Everything is shaking in our apartment”: these local residents can no longer stand the noise pollution caused by the Montpellier tram

Rebecca Brocardo: “As soon as the first train passes at 5 a.m., we wake up and can't get back to sleep.” Midi Libre – JEAN-MICHEL MART

Move along, there's nothing to see here. That's the impression local residents have about the TaM when they warn them about the nuisances the tram causes in their daily lives.

“As soon as the first train passes at 5 a.m., we wake up and can't get back to sleep. Everything shakes in our apartment, day and night. It's like a clap of thunder“, explains Rebecca Brocardo, tenant, with her partner, since October 2022, of an apartment located on the 1st floor of an old building, directly overlooking the rue du Pont de Lattes.

“I have the vibrations in my body and in my head”

The couple is at their wit's end, angry too, no longer able to live peacefully at home. “We are considering moving, because it is no longer sustainable. The noise is very intrusive and I have vibrations in my body and in my head“, confides the young woman.

If, in fits and starts, they had held up until now, the situation has worsened, according to them, since TaM intervened for maintenance work last November. “We contacted the TaM services to report the problem and also to tell them that, in our experience, when the tram was running more slowly, the vibrations were less. So we asked if it was possible to reduce the speed. We still don't have an answer“, Quentin gets annoyed.

Another tram line, another neighborhood, same problem. Marine Simi was very happy when she bought her apartment on Boulevard Louis Blanc in September 2022. “When I visited the apartment, I didn't feel any vibrations when the trams passed. But when they did some work on the track a few months later, the vibrations increased dramatically. We've all been on edge“, confides the young photographer.

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“We should reduce the speed of the tram”

So, with one of her neighbors, they bombarded TaM with emails to report the problem. In mid-2023, the latter intervened on the track. The co-owners did not see any improvement and got back on track. “They came back several times, but it didn't change anything. The problem is still not solved“, notes Marine.

And like Rebecca and Quentin, she can't stand being woken up every morning at 5 a.m. and not being able to fall asleep before the last tram passes. “Morally, we are all exhausted. We have not had any feedback from TaM since last June following the assessment carried out by the Vibratec company, sent by TaM in May. From experience, what we have observed is that when the tram runs more slowly, the vibrations are reduced. We should therefore reduce its speed“, she says.

Would speed reduction be enough to reduce noise pollution?? Are there other causes besides speed?? Moreover, can they all be resolved?? Finally, what exactly does TaM do when it intervenes??

TaM's explanations

“Overall, when we receive a report, we send a technical team to draw up an on-site report. You should know that the rail is alive all year round with the constant circulation of trams and that deformations of the rail occur, particularly during emergency braking and sudden acceleration“, explains Johann Servignat, technical director of offers and projects at the TaM. To remedy this, material reloading and grinding operations are undertaken.

In relation to the noise pollution caused by contact between the rail and the wheel, due to wear, excessive speed or other causes, a greasing operation is carried out on the rails, but this is not always sufficient, because “there may be combined problems that are not always easy to define“, he indicates.

Regarding speed, reminders to drivers are given regularly. “But it's not necessarily the speed that is always the cause. In this case, we have to dig into other subjects“, comments the technical director.

Finally, for vibrations, “it's measurable, but knowing where it's at play is more complicated. That's why we commissioned Vibratec, an expert in structural dynamics in noise and vibrations. But it can take time to find the origin of the problem, as is the case in all the other cities in France that have a tramway.” For those who haven't understood, patience is required.

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