The East-West Metro will have sound barriers on some stretches in Salt Lake where the tracks run cheek by jowl with residential buildings and hospitals.

The stretches where residents have complained to the railway authorities about noise pollution during trial runs are in DL Block, around City Centre and near Sector V.

East-West Metro will connect Salt Lake Sector V with Howrah Maidan when trains will run on the entire 16.6km route. A 500m stretch will run under the Hooghly.

In the first phase, likely to be functional by the end of June, trains will run between the Sector V and Salt Lake stadium stations.

“The sound barriers to be installed along the tracks will be made of micro-perforated stainless steel sheets, to be imported from Taiwan,” said an official of Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC), the implementing agency of the project.

The balcony of Dipali Das’s flat in DL Block, a stone’s throw from the East-West Metro tracks Picture by Gautam Bose

“The stainless steel sheets are expected to bring down the noise level by at least 20 decibel. They will be installed on the stretches where buildings are within 30m of the tracks.”

The perforated sheets are expected to absorb the noise to be produced by the movement of trains. “There are some noise barriers that reflect the sound back to the source. But experts told us those are not very effective,” the official said.

The installation, he said, will start in about 15 days and should be over around the time commercial run will start.

Delhi Metro has sound barriers on several stretches.

The Central Road Research Organisation, a central government agency, conducted a four-day study last month along the Metro tracks in Salt Lake to measure the noise level during the trial runs. The report is expected by next week.

At least three hospitals are within shouting distance of the East-West Metro tracks. ILS Hospitals near City Centre and Anandalok Hospital in Karunamoyee are just a few metres from the viaduct on which the tracks have been laid.

Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, on EM Bypass, is around 75m from the tracks.

Residents of several blocks in Salt Lake have complained that the East-West Metro trials were causing problems.

The Metro tracks are barely nine feet from the house of Hemendra Kumar Bagchi, 70, in DL block. The Bagchis stay on the top floor of a four-storey building, opposite Wipro, where the tracks turn left towards Sector V.

“The whistle of the trains, especially at night, are a constant source of irritation,” said Bagchi, a retired civil engineer.

ILS Hospitals in Salt Lake, a few metres from the East-West Metro tracks Picture by Gautam Bose

Dipali Das, who lives in an adjacent building, echoed Bagchi. “The frequency of trial runs has increased many times over the past few days. We can barely sleep at night,” she said.

The bedroom window and the verandah of Das’s house is a stone’s throw from the viaduct. She fears the walls of her flat might crack because of the vibration produced by the movement of trains.

Residents of ED block voiced similar concerns. “The trains always blow horn before entering the Karunamoyee station, irrespective of the time,” said Soham Chakraborty, a resident of the block.

“At night, when the sound of traffic is much less, the sound of the train and the horn becomes very jarring.”

In front of City Centre, too, the tracks pass by several houses in DB block.

Residents said Metro officials had assured them that the trains would not make much sound. But the reality is different.

Partha Saha, 38, who lives on the top floor of a four-storey building in DB block, said the sound of a train could be heard from at least 500m away.