This small grey box may become the friend of many people in Melbourne living near tram tracks.  During the  Metro Tunnel work for the new Anzac (Domain?) Station, new tram tracks were installed that had a terrible squeal – after a lot of debate and numerous studies, a solution has been found.

It involves applying a ‘friction modifier’ onto the tracks.  During August, tests were carried out by manually ‘painting’ this emulsion on the tracks and it made a significant difference.  But the only issue is that it needs to be applied every 15 minutes or thereabouts.

Hence the grey box – when complete by early next week, it contains the gear (and tank) to spray the emulsion on the wheels of passing trams.  The one above is in St Kilda Rd, near Toorak Rd.  The photo below is the site of the one that will capture southbound trams and is in St Kilda Rd, near Park St.  That should be completed on Sunday night

Why is it good news for all??  It seems if this works well then it can also be deployed on other noisy sections of tram track around the network.