Noise from Cross River Rail night construction leaves annoyed residents sleep-deprived
Brisbane residents say they are being left sleep-deprived by middle-of-the night noise from Cross River Rail construction, but their complaints are falling on deaf ears.
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Loud, late night jackhammering and other noise from the Cross River Rail construction project has been sending some city residents “around the twist.”
A sleep-deprived Anthony Clarke claims complaints about the “after hours” noise lodged with the Brisbane City Council, Queensland Police, local politicians, and the company managing the Cross River Rail (CRR) project have continued to fall on deaf ears.
“We are now down to five hours broken sleep throughout the night,” he said.
Mr Clarke, 66, said he and wife Karen, 64, had lived in the 27-storey Mantra Midtown building on Charlotte Street for eight years, so they were no stranger to construction projects changing the city landscapes.
But for the past couple of months, Mr Clarke said jackhammer-like noise had been going up until, or past, 10pm on some nights, and on some occasions had even woken them from their slumber between 2am and 3am.
“Noise from the Cross River Rail construction is sending us around the twist,” he said.
“We’ve been putting up with this noise for a couple of years now.
“During the day time it’s OK, but not when it’s going to 10pm at night or waking us up at 2am.”
The Cross River Rail will be a 10.2km north-south rail line from Dutton Park to Bowen Hills, which includes 5.9km of twin tunnels under the Brisbane River and the CBD.
New underground stations are being built at Boggo Road, Woolloongabba, Albert Street and Roma Streets, while the Exhibition Railway Station and other stations between Fairfield and Salisbury will be refurbished.
In one of several videos of the night construction work sent to the Courier Mail throughout March, April and May, Mrs Clarke states she was woken about 3am by the unexpected noise.
“Woken early house this morning by noise. Video taken at 3.12am. This is getting out of control,” she wrote in the April 20 email.
“Closing all windows and doors still doesn’t block out the noise.”
In another email, a frustrated Mrs Clarke extended an invitation for state government officials to visit their home to experience the noise disruptions for themselves.
“I invite the people who approve the CRR time frame to my apartment to view the situation,” she wrote.
A Cross River Rail Delivery Authority (CRRDA) spokesman told the Courier Mail the Authority was aware of the complaints and that work hours for the CRR project were imposed by Queensland’s independent Office of the Coordinator-General.
“In response to their complaint, a detailed audit of work activities was undertaken by the contractor and Independent Environmental Monitor,” he said.
“This audit showed that construction activities undertaken to date at Albert Street comply with the project requirements set by the Coordinator-General.
“Given the sheer scale of Cross River Rail and the nature of the work involved, including 24-seven tunnelling operations underground, it is not unusual for critical work to take place outside of standard construction hours if required.”
A Courier Mail request for a phone interview with Coordinator-General Toni Power was denied Tuesday.
Several questions then emailed to the Coordinator General were not answered, including about noise complaints, with a spokeswoman instead returning a short, written response while referring other questions to the Department of Transport and Main roads (DTMR).
“The Coordinator-General’s role is to evaluate the project and to set the appropriate conditions to manage the effects of the project,” she wrote.
“The conditions establish the environmental management framework for the project.
The Coordinator-General and the Department of Transport and Main Roads monitor the performance of the Cross River Rail Delivery Authority.
“As part of the environmental management framework an independent Environmental Monitor and Community Relations Monitor also monitor the performance of the Cross River Rail Delivery Authority.”
The spokeswoman said there were 23 conditions for the CRR project, with the Coordinator-General being responsible for three conditions and the Chief Executive of the Department of Transport and Main Roads (DTMR) being responsible for 20, but she did not elaborate.
“The relevant matters are within DTMR’s responsibility: hours of work, construction and vibration,” she wrote.
A DTMR spokesman referred the Courier Mail back to the Office of the Coordinator General and the CRRDA.
“There is nothing we can add to the statements already provided by Cross River Rail and the Coordinator-General’s office,” he said.
The CRRDA spokesman said the community was kept up to date with construction activities via emailed works notices, letterbox drops, face-to-face meetings, text messages and newsletters.
“The construction contractor has continued to inform local residents of upcoming site activities and continuously engages with individual residents to discuss any ongoing concerns in further detail, and can do so in this case,” he said.
In March, Mr Clarke told the Courier Mail the couple were signed up to receive the regular notifications advising when construction noise from the CRR could be expected in the area, but those emails only stated work would be carried out between 6.30am and 6.30pm.
“There is no mention of jackhammering or of whatever they do, at night,” he said.
Mr Clarke said excessive and “unbearable” night-time noise came from “Lot one” – or the Albert Street station site – numerous times, but specifically on January 8 (despite it being the first day of Brisbane’s three-day lockdown), March 15, 16 and 23 as well as April 15 and 20 and about 12.50am this morning.
On March 15, he said the noise continued up until 10pm, before starting again between 2am and 3am the following morning.
“Between 2am and 3am we were woken by loud scraping noises, like metal on metal,” he said.
“Then, about 7am the jackhammering or rock breaking recommenced.”
Although information about “Upcoming night work” at the Albert Street site – sent in email alerts to those who register for CRR work updates and viewed by the Courier Mail – was mentioned in the alerts prior to March 6, there was no mention of specific dates, times or the type of night work that would be carried out.
Only dates covering a window of about a week was provided each time.
By the April 30 alert, the CRR email now contained more specific information about night work, including time frames and the type of work that would take place after hours during that week.
“Every effort will be made to keep disruption to a minimum for neighbours and access into local properties will be maintained throughout this work,” the alerts also now state.
Both Grace Grace, the Member for McConnel and a spokesman from the Brisbane City Council referred questions from the Courier Mail to the Cross River Rail Delivery Authority (CRRDA).
Previously, the CRRDA had forwarded the Clarkes’ complaint onto CPB Contractors, Bam, Ghella and UGLA Joint Venture (CBGU), who were appointed to design and construct the tunnel and stations package of the CRR project.
In a March 22 email, Area Stakeholder Engagement Manager for CBP Contractors, Natasha Lumley, told Mr Clarke the project works were carried out at the Albert Street station sites in accordance with the conditions of approval imposed by the Coordinator General of Queensland.
“Work practices and processes are proactively in place by CBGU to ensure activities continue to adhere to project requirements, including environmental monitoring and in particular, noise monitoring,” she wrote.
“Some work activities will be completed outside of standard construction hours due to vehicle and foot traffic restrictions.”
The Coordinator General’s ninth Change report on the CRR project, released in April, states extra work would need to be carried out at times in order to limit disruption to, and lengthy closures of, existing train services at some of the work sites.
“Undertaking the Southern Portal Area Works as detailed by the CRR Delivery Authority will require periodic rail possessions causing intermittent suspensions to rail services during construction,” it states.
“The CRR Delivery Authority has indicated that the proposed changes will require longer rail possessions at the Southern Portal Area than previously envisioned.
“Across all work zones in the rail corridor, the CRR Delivery Authority estimates that up to 40 days of continuous rail possessions will be required to undertake cut and cover construction activities.”
The findings states noise and vibration from the construction work has been monitored well by the CRRDA overall, but also finds that sleep disturbance of some residents is anticipated.
“Noise levels emitted during rail possessions are unlikely to cause sleep disturbance for the full 40 days,” the Coordinator-General wrote in the report.
“The CRR Delivery Authority has advised noisier works would be scheduled primarily during daytime work hours, with less intensive works scheduled at night-time between 10pm and 6:30am.
“The highest potential for construction noise to cause sleep disturbance is during a shorter five-day period where piling and earthworks would occur concurrently.”
The rail project is in its second year of construction with work expected to be finish in 2024.
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