CargoVibes: human response to vibration due to freight rail traffic

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present an overview of the research concerning human response to vibration conducted in the EU FP7 CargoVibes project. The European Union-funded project CargoVibes involved 10 partners from 8 nations and ran from April 2011 to April 2014. The project was concerned with railway-induced ground-borne vibration affecting residents close to freight lines, with one work package that investigated human response to vibration, including sleep disturbance, community annoyance and the production of a best practice guide for evaluating response. Laboratory trials at the University of Gothenburg were used to measure the effects of vibration on sleep. Physiological and psychological impacts of vibration exposure were found. TNO led a meta-analysis (N = 4129) to determine exposure–response relationships for railway vibration, with existing data for community response supplemented with field studies in the Netherlands and Poland. The University of Salford led production of a guidance document that presents the state of the art regarding vibration measurement and assessment. Specific topics in the guide include human perception, evaluation methods, annoyance, sleep impacts and non-exposure factors. The outcomes presented in this paper represent a significant advance in the understanding of the human response to railway vibration and a step towards much needed harmonization of assessment methods.