Upgrade to Hong Kong’s tram tracks is music to the ears of residents

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.