Existing Noise Level at Railway Stations in Malaysia

Shahiron Shahidan,Noorwirdawati Ali,Mohamad Zulkhairi Md Maarof,Nurul Izzati Raihan Ramzi Hannan

doi:10.1051/matecconf/201710309012

Shahiron Shahidan, Noorwirdawati Ali + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201710309012

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Abstract

Railway transportation known as one of the most environmental friendly transportation mode. However, the significance problems of railway transportation are noise pollution and negatively impact the wellbeing of the whole community. Unfortunately, there has been lack of public awareness about the noise level produce by the railway transportation in Malaysia. This study investigates the noise level produced by railway transportation in Malaysia specifically by Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB). Methods of collecting existing noise level at railway stations in Malaysia are briefly discussed in this study. The finding indicates that the noise level produced by the railway transportation in Malaysia which is by KTMB is considered as dangerous to human being and also exceed the noise limit that has been assigned by Department of Environment Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Malaysia. A better noise barrier and improved material should be developed to mitigate the existing noise level produced by railway transportations in Malaysia.

Highlights

Unnecessary noise is the most cruel abuse of care which can be inflicted on either the sick or the well [1]
The aim of this paper is to investigate the existing noise level produced by all Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) railway services such as intercity train services, komuter services, Electric Train Services (ETS) and freight train
This shows that increase in distance between noise source and the receiver or if there is any presence of barrier between noise source and the receiver will significantly reduce the noise level received by the receiver [18,19]

Summary

Introduction

Unnecessary noise is the most cruel abuse of care which can be inflicted on either the sick or the well [1]. The noise pollution reported as a primary cause of sleep deprivation [1]. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than 1 million healthy life years are lost every year in western Europe due to noise exposure [4]. Railway noise causes much nuisance to the residents near the railway tracks [5][27]. With the growth of cities, societies is increasingly questioning these problems and people living in the proximities of railway tracks consider noise the most serious environmental problem [6]. Research on cardiovascular disease has explored the hypothesis that exposure to transportation noise increases the risk for ischemic heart disease (IHD) [7]. Night-time freight train noise and vibration can accelerate heart rate during sleep which may in turn be linked to cardiovascular disease (CVD) []. The difference in dose-response relationships for railway and road traffic noises between western and eastern countries was ascribed to the distance between railways and houses, the position of the balcony and the attitudes of the residents toward the source of the noise [9,10,11]

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