Analysis of Noise Effects from Railway Transport

Abstract

The railway plays a prominent role in passenger and freight transport, and its importance is expected to continue to grow in the coming years. At the same time, noise pollution from traffic causes complex and ongoing environmental protection problems today. The different noise effects appear as an environmental burden along the railway lines and can even be interpreted as a source of operational noise in traffic junctions. In this article, we present an investigation of the latter effect with the contribution and professional support of GYSEV Zrt. through the characterization of the railway marshalling yard of the county town of Sopron and the nearest residential street as a direct impact area, vehicle fleet and traffic conditions. To quantify the parameters (Leq, Imax and SEL) describing the noise emission of the trains, measurements were taken during the day (between 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m.) and at night (between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.) in parallel with the registration of vehicle movements. After that, by evaluating the data series, it became possible to determine the source positions occurring at the railway station and quantitative description. In the future, the results can be used to examine the characteristics of noise sources (sound power, noise spectrum, time function) and to analyse the environmental damage and probability of load occurrences.