Sounds | Irene Jaakkola from Espoo says that her home is full of noise that takes away her health

Saturday 21/10/2023. An alderman of its date Irene Jaakkola remember, because that’s when the express tram line 15 running from Keilaniemi to Itäkeskus started operating.

Since then, Jaakkola has had to endure the noise caused by the tram almost every day at home. Jaakkola lives about ten meters from the tracks of the light rail line.

Jaakkola could be described as a church activist – although he himself does not subscribe to the characterization. At least weekly, he is in contact from the church with, for example, city traffic managers and Espoo’s health and environmental authorities. He has also raised the issue with the environmental council.

It frustrates him that the noise has not been taken seriously enough.

“Sometimes I feel like the whole church of Leppävaara is on my shoulders”, Jaakkola laments.

In June Jaakkola asked a health inspector to his home to measure the noise.

The apartment inspection revealed that the sound level from the church was a maximum of 48.6 decibels, i.e. above the permitted decibel limits. According to the Housing Health Ordinance, the noise level of the apartment may not exceed 33 decibels at night.

HS has seen the relevant report.

Express trams run in the directions of Keilaniemi and Itäkeskus every six minutes during the day. In Leppävaara, the tram stops for the first time on weekdays before five in the morning and stops running at nine in the evening. From Wednesday to Sunday, trams run until around half past two in the morning.

According to Jaakkola, the trams run teaching runs and transfer runs at night, so he doesn’t get a break from the noise even then.

Jaakkola says that she wears earplugs at home at night and sometimes during the day so that she doesn’t have to listen to the church. He feels that his quality of life has suffered.

“It’s an unbridled stress level that comes from that church. I would describe it as the kind of church hell where people live there now. Home should be a place of relaxation, so now this is like going to a castle of horrors.”

City traffic head of the department for large urban rail projects Artturi Lähdetie aware of the problems caused by the church. Urban traffic has received several feedbacks about them.

“We don’t have an exact idea of ​​how many noise feedbacks have come to other operators, but it seems that there are more of them during the summer,” states Lähdetie.

According to Lähdetie, the noise caused by trams is stronger in the summer, because then the tracks are drier. People also keep the windows of their homes open then, so the noise disturbs more.

HS reached Lähdetie after the monthly meeting of the Urban Transport Service. The palaver discussed the sound of the tracks and the feedback from it.

Most It angers Irene Jaakkola that Urban Transport does not seem to take the matter seriously enough.

“It seems that the authorities are avoiding their responsibility. That’s why I’ve had to turn to the environmental council too,” says Jaakkola.

He has filed a criminal complaint for breach of domestic peace and an environmental crime. HS has seen the document on that too. In the notice, Jaakkola demands money from Urban Transport as compensation for his suffering.

According to his story, as a result of the church, Jaakkola has lost sleep at night and had to miss work due to fatigue and stress.

Jaakkola is also concerned about the well-being of the tram drivers, who have to listen to the church every day at work.

To the noise there should be a change already this week, the Urban Transport Lähdetie promises. According to him, the flange lubrication system that greases the wheels of the trams will be returned to the trams at the end of the week.

In September, the wheels and rails of tram line 15 were greased less than normal, when the tracks were polished to reduce creaking. Grinding was also loud.

The noise problems of Tram 15 came as a surprise to Lähdetie. During the planning phase, it was not known that the fleet of new trams would not be compatible with the tram line.

Lähdetie states that Urban Transport regularly reviews tram traffic noise with the environmental authorities of Helsinki and Espoo. So far, the public transport company has not been informed about the church exceeding the decibel limits dictated by the Housing Health Ordinance.

“Until now, we have not received any information that the noise caused by the bending noise has exceeded the standards related to housing health.”