Guidance for new policy developments on railway vibration

Abstract

Vibration is one of the main problems associated with railways in residential areas. To ensure quality of life and well being of inhabitants living in the vicinity of route paths, it is important to evaluate, understand, control and regulate railway noise and vibration. Much attention has been focused on the impact of noise from railway but the consideration of railway-induced vibration has often been neglected. This paper aims to provide policy guidance based on results obtained from the analyses of relationships estimated from ordinal logit models between human response and vibration exposure. This was achieved using data from case studies comprised of face-to-face interviews and internal vibration measurements (N=755) collected within the study "Human Response to Vibration in Residential Environments" by the University of Salford. Firstly, the implications of neglecting vibration in railway noise policies are presented. Secondly, the main factors that were found to influence railway vibration annoyance are presented and expressed as weightings. This work will be of interest to researchers and environmental health practitioners involved in the assessment of vibration complaints, as well as to policy makers, planners and consultants involved in the design of buildings and railways.