Tube Lines, the company responsible for rebuilding the Tube’s busiest lines,
has issued its second annual environment report. The company reports on
environmental performance throughout the year, but is today highlighting
progress in several areas including its recycling scheme and its success in
reducing noise and vibration. As part of its efforts to minimise its environmental impact Tube Lines
recycled over 1300 tonnes of waste in 2005-06, more than halved the levels of
noise and vibration caused by trains in certain areas and built the largest
single membrane green roof in London on the new Northern Line Control
Centre. The new Northern Line Control Centre, built on a former railway depot
adjacent to Highgate Woods in northwest London, is key to the installation of a
new signalling system that will improve journey times on the Northern line by
20%. Tube Lines worked closely with local community members to ensure the
building presents the best possible environmental design practices and that the
wildlife in the area is not adversely impacted. The building incorporates the largest extensive green roof in London and is
covered with a horticultural planting medium to provide further habitat
opportunities for local flora and fauna. The plant species have been selected
because of their drought resistance and will permit the roof to remain green
despite any shortage of water. Recycled vegetation from the wooded areas
surrounding the site has also been incorporated in order to help kick start
this growth and intensify the opportunities for wildlife colonisation. The implementation of network wide recycling programmes meant that in
2005-06 over 22% of waste was recycled, an increase of 2% from last year.
Recycling of newspapers left on trains by passengers generated 527
tonnes. Promoting recycling at Tube Lines’ head office helped contribute
62 tonnes to the recycling programme. Rags used to clean up oil drips
during overhaul works are also being recycled. Engineers have used innovative approaches to reduce noise and vibration of a
section of Piccadilly line track running underneath the residential streets of
South Kensington ending decades of asset noise nuisance. Using 18mm pads
cushioned under the rails Tube Lines has more than halved the levels of noise
and vibration, and in some places it is down to about a third of previous
levels. Charlotte Simmonds, head of environment at Tube Lines said:
“Our ‘Go Green’ environment programme helps us better understand
our environmental impacts and make changes which are sensible and sustainable,
not knee jerk reactions. Our work on one of London’s largest green roofs
and the success of our network-wide recycling scheme are just some of the
landmarks identified in our latest report and demonstrate that we have set the
foundations for a sustainable approach. We will continue to focus on this in
order to deliver a greener tube for London”
The Internal Communications team at Tube Lines has won a corporate social
responsibility award for its “Go Green” communications campaign to encourage
employees to show more consideration to the environment. Awarded by the British
Association of Communicators in Business (CiB), the prize recognises
outstanding internal and external communication strategies which engage,
enthuse, inspire, inform or excite an organisation's people. Tube Lines was the
overall class winner of the Corporate Social Responsibility category and fought
off competitors including HBOS. Go to www.tubelines.com/environmentreport
to find out more about how Tube Lines is going green. The report is web
based to reduce paper waste and the design of the report is in html so it is
easy to navigate and accessible to all.
ENDS
For further information, please contact:
Notes to Editors
Press office, Tube Lines: 020 7088 4848 / 07843 551 589
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