A new addition in parts of CCK Town has a ‘dampening effect’ — and residents couldn’t be happier.

The completed railway sound barriers along the tracks at CCK and Bukit Gombak MRT stations have reduced railway noise levels by some 5 to 10 decibels.

Commenting on the improvement since the barriers have gone up, CCK estate resident David Er said: “In the past, if we were listening to the news on TV when a train passed by, the newscaster would get drowned out and we would miss the most important news point. That was frustrating.”

Such an occurrence, fortunately, is a problem of the past, solved by the installation of the railway noise barriers.

In fact, David, a CCK estate resident for almost three decades, feels the noise barriers have reduced the sound of passing trains by up to 60%.

He explained that residents like him who live near sections of the MRT track that curve have had to live with more noise than normal because the trains have to brake to slow down, hence creating more sounds.

His family coped with the higher decibels by taking measures such as closing the windows during nap times when his three children were younger. When the kids grew up, they would head out to the library when studying for their exams.

He laughingly said that everyone in his household had grown so used to the noise that it felt strange not to hear the trains so clearly when the noise barriers first went up. Ultimately, they are grateful for the noise reduction.

David is one of many residents across Singapore who has benefited from the Land Transport Authority’s (LTA) noise barrier programme for elevated sections of the North-South and East-West MRT Lines.