Abstract
A focus of the railway industry over the past decades has been to research, find and develop methods to mitigate noise and vibration resulting from wheel/rail contact along track infrastructure. This resulted in a wide range of abatement measures that are available for today’s engineers. The suitability of each method must be analysed through budget and timeframe limitations, which includes building, maintenance and inspection costs and time allocation, while also aiming at delivering other benefits, such as environmental impact and durability of infrastructure. There are several situations that need noise and vibration mitigation methods, but each design allocates different priorities on a case-by-case basis. Traditionally, the disturbance caused by railways to the community are generated by wheel/rail contact sound radiation that is expressed in different ways, depending on the movement of the rolling stock and track alignment, such as rolling noise, impact noise and curve noise. More specifically, in special trackworks such as turnouts (or called “switches and crossings”), there are two types of noise that can often be observed: impact noise and screeching noise. With respect to the screeching (or flanging), its mitigation methods are usually associated with curve lubrications. In contrast, the impact noise emerges from the sound made by the rolling stock moving through joints and discontinuities (i.e., gaps), resulting in various noise abatement features to minimise such noise impact. Life cycle analysis is therefore vital for cost efficiency benchmarking of the mitigation methods. The evaluation is based on available data from open literature and the total costs were estimated from valid industry reports to maintain coherency. A 50-year period for a life cycle analysis is chosen for this study. As for the general parameters, an area with a high density of people is considered to estimate the values for a community with very strict limits for noise and vibration.
Highlights
In previous years, the railway industry has spent special attention towards urban issues with respect to such environmental impacts as noises and vibration, wastes, air pollution along the rail corridor, etc
It has developed various methods to mitigate noise and vibration resulting from wheel/rail contact along track infrastructure
This has resulted in a wide range of abatement measures that are available for the professionals of the industry today
Summary
The railway industry has spent special attention towards urban issues with respect to such environmental impacts as noises and vibration, wastes, air pollution along the rail corridor, etc. It has developed various methods to mitigate noise and vibration resulting from wheel/rail contact along track infrastructure. This has resulted in a wide range of abatement measures that are available for the professionals of the industry today. There are many options in the market, their practical implementations depend upon general and physical constraints that affect the feasibility of most technological applications in the fields. The progression of these technologies have enabled the choices of more adequate methods for each best case scenario, but further studies ought to Environments 2016, 3, 34; doi:10.3390/environments3040034 www.mdpi.com/journal/environments. Every solution must be analyzed through budget and timeframe limitations, which includes construction, maintenance and inspection costs and time allocation, while aiming to meet other values, such as environmental impact, damage and wear to the whole infrastructure [1]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
