Illustration: Matt Golding A group of final-year University of Melbourne engineering students may have come up with a way of easing this aural assault taking place on the city's streets. The solution: self-lubricating wheels. It's not quite a can of WD40 – the engineering answer to most problems, along with duct tape – but it's close. Group leader Ben Kaufman recently undertook a year-long internship with Yarra Trams, as well as their head company in France, where he was given the task of solving the problem of the squeaky wheels. Under the project devised by the group, a system squirts a small amount of lubricant onto the side of the wheel as it hits the bend. They had to make sure it sprayed the right amount of oil, at the right time.

"We developed a controller so it can automatically detect the turn so it thinks 'OK, I need to spray the lube now," Mr Kaufman said. ABOVE: The sound of trams taking a bend at Domain Interchange. By lubricating the wheels automatically, the tram can run smoother over the turn, reducing friction and wear, as well as eliminating the loud shrieking noise. Mr Kaufman said newer trams, such as the sleek and modern E-class found on route 96, didn't make much noise when going around a bend.

But many of the older ones do, with systems that are unreliable and have been decommissioned. The group's main target was the C-class tram found on route 109, which runs from Box Hill to Port Melbourne. The solution they came up with was developed to fit the first of Melbourne's low-floor trams. "But the system that we design can function as a standalone, it can be adapted on to other tram classes in the future," Mr Kaufman said. Yarra Trams gave the group full access to their depots and design schematics, he said, and have expressed interest in the project now that it has been finished. The group displayed their project at this week's Endeavour Design Expo, the University of Melbourne's showcase of engineering and IT design projects.

Mr Kaufman said that it was exciting to be part of the exhibition and see all the different projects his fellow students had been working on. There are no guarantees the group's system will be used down the track but they plan to present it at a meeting with Yarra Trams later this year. If that happens, Mr Kaufman said the city's streets will be noticeably quieter: "Everyone in Melbourne will appreciate that there's a bit less screeching on the roads," he said.