Long Valley is the largest remaining fresh water wetland in Northern New Territories.

The habitat supports a high diversity of birds as well as flora and fauna. With its high ecological value, therefore, when the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC) proposed the alignment of the Spur Line traversing the Long Valley, hot argument against the proposal arose. While much emphasis has been put on the ecological impacts on the Long Valley that the project would possibly bring, the issue of pollution that would likely be created seemed to have been overlooked. In this report, we are going to analyze the air and noise pollution problems associated with the Spur Line proposal within the Long Valley area. Pollution Problems In the following paragraphs, discussion on the air and noise pollution problems will be divided into two main parts, namely the construction phase and the operational phase. It is worth noticing that during the construction phase, air pollution would be of greater concern over noise pollution, whereas for the operational phase noise pollution problems would dominate instead. Air Pollution Construction Phase In general, for most types of construction works, construction dust is the major problem contributed to air pollution. However, this is not the case for the Spur Line project in the Long Valley since the earth within this wetland area is of high moisture content. Therefore, dust impacts associated with excavation works would be relatively insignificant. However, dust nuisance may be caused by vehicles entering and leaving the construction site. Dust particles may attach to the tyres and undercarriages of the vehicles and be carried away from the site, which then become deposited on public roads outside the construction area. Vehicles carrying refuse, earth, construction debris, etc. may also give rise to particulates contributing to air pollution problems both in and out of the construction site. Operational Phase No major adverse impact is anticipated due to the operation of the Spur Line as the trains are operated by electricity which leads to no atmospheric emission. However, minor air-related impact may arise during operation. Minute metallic particles would be produced during wheel/rail interaction. These fine particles are liable to be carried away and dispersed by wind, and would finally settle in the Long Valley area (atmospheric deposition). This may pose health risk on the birds as the metallic particles may dissolve in water or become mixed with birds feed and thus ingested, resulting in poisoning of birds. Besides, as metals are non-biodegradable, they would accumulate in the birds body. Excessive bioaccumulation of metals is liable to have adverse effects on birds including mortality and deformities as well as changes in reproduction.

Noise Pollution Construction Phase

Table 1 Noise Level caused by Various Construction Equipments

Construction Equipments Adopted Dump Trucks Bulldozers Water Pumps (Electric) Generators, silenced

Sound Level (dB) 117.0 112.0 92.8 103.0 118.0 115.0 106.0 108.0 100.0 114.0 100.0 108.0 112.0 117.0

Site Formation for Temporary Works Area

Total: Bore Piling Machines & Oscillators Concrete Lorries Wood Saw Generators, silenced Vibratory Pokers Welding Machine Batching Plant Gantry Hoist Total:

Alignment Construction

During the construction period of the Spur Line, two construction activities, namely the site formation and the alignment construction, are expected to have potential construction noise impacts to the Long Valley. In particular, construction processes of concrete delivery and the

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concreting activities, which would adopt a large number of Power Mechanical Equipments (PME) such as dump trucks, bulldozers, bore piling machines, vibratory pokers and gantry hoist etc., are of major concern. The sound levels caused by various construction equipments are listed in the above table (Table 1). However, the overall noise impact is anticipated to be acceptable owing to the fact that the duration of such noisy activities is relatively short (usually within a month) with the introduction of some mitigation measures. Operational Phase The potential noise impacts due to the operation of the Spur Line include the airborne noise originating from the propulsion system and wheel/rail interaction, structure radiated or reradiated noise resulting from wheel/rail interaction (which is transmitted through the viaduct structure), and the noise from the roof-mounted air-conditioning system on the top of the carriage. Such noise pollution is liable to have adverse effects on the birds inhabiting in the Long Valley, especially the sensitive species like flock-feeding water birds. Birds, as a result of the operational noise impacts imposed by the Spur Line, may be driven away from the vicinity of Long Valley, which is therefore comparable to habitat loss. It is also suspected that noise may also interfere with breeding behavior of birds.

Mitigation Measures In order to reduce the pollution problems caused, mitigation measures should be incorporated. The following are some suggested mitigation measures: Air Pollution Construction Phase Tyres and undercarriages of vehicles should be washed and cleaned before leaving the site. A paved wash bay could be constructed for such purpose. However, washings from the wash bay should be directed to pass through a silt trap to filter out the silt in order to prevent water pollution. Vehicles carrying refuse, earth, construction debris, etc. should be covered completely before they leave the construction site. Spraying water over the loads may also help reducing the possible dust nuisance. Noise Pollution Construction Phase Noise mitigated machines should be adopted. Devices such as silencers, mufflers and acoustic shields should be incorporated to reduce the noise generated. Noise barrier of minimum height of 2.5 m should be provided around active parts of the construction site as well. If possible, avoid operating too many machines at the same time. Regular maintenance of construction equipments should be carried out. Operational Phase Floating Slab Track (FST) could be installed to reduce vibration transmitted to the viaduct structure, thereby reducing the structure radiated noise involved as trains pass. Regular lubrication should be carried out in order to minimize the squealing noise produced at the wheel rail interface at tight curves, points and crossings. Barrier walls with sound absorber should be installed in order to minimize the spreading of noise.

Construction of Spur LineJustified or Not? At present, as claimed by the KCRC, the average number of cross-border passengers at Lo Wu is 250,000 on weekdays and exceeds 300,000 on holidays, with an annual growth of 18 to 20 per cent since 1996. Such a high volume of commuter flow is about to stretch the operation of Lo Wu to its limit. In order to ease the border congestion problem at the East Rail crossing to the Mainland at Lo Wu, the KCRC therefore proposed the construction of the Spur Line. Besides relieving the congestion problem, the Spur Line also aims at providing a second rail crossing into the Mainland as well as providing access to rail transport for the proposed Kwu Tung Strategic Development Area. If decision was to be made by only considering the possible air and noise pollution problems, we believe that the construction of the Spur Line is justified, provided that suitable and adequate mitigation measures are incorporated during both the construction and operational phases.

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