These days, when Moo Bishop measures the noise from passing Mattapan Trolley trains, the din outside her Bushnell Street home reads between 60 and 70 decibels on her RadioShack noise meter.
Loud? Sure. But it’s been better since the MBTA installed a friction-reducing sprinkler system and sound-deadening blankets.
“That’s still not that tolerable, but it’s better than 100 [dB],” Bishop said.
“But I don’t want them to have to waste water for the next 100 years. Everyone agrees that’s not a long-term solution.”
Flummoxed for two years, T neighbors want to know when noise levels will return to what they were before 2007, when refurbished trolleys from the 1940s restored service on the historic line between Mattapan and Ashmont station.
MBTA GM Rich Davey said the T is looking into long-term solutions that will take six months to a year to implement, including spraying the tracks with liquid that won’t freeze in the winter and installing rubber wheels to absorb some noise.
“This is probably about as good as it gets for the time being,” Davey said. “We’re committed to seeing other solutions implemented to reduce noise level as much as possible.”
