Swiss railway field laboratory: analysis of two years' data collection

Abstract

Since May 2022, a 1 km long section of the regular train network of Switzerland between Lucerne and Olten has been equipped with a variety of sensors and microphones. The superstructure of this test track was renewed in December 2019 and consists of ballasted track with concrete sleepers, in part with and without stiff under sleeper pads, respectively. Since June 2022 the sensors and microphones have continuously recorded pass-by data for sound, vibration and track dynamics for every passing train. This long-term measurement installation allows studying different environmental influences on noise and vibration. The very large amount of data enables both statistical analysis and building statistical models. Furthermore, the railway field lab can be used determine the influence of different track components. In this paper, we report on our statistical analysis of the data gathered since June 2022 including statistical models of the influence of the environment and of different rolling stock on sound and vibration. Furthermore, we present the results of a novel high damping rail pad tested at the railway field lab. Based on these results, we present a proposal and discuss our thoughts on the best practice for measuring acoustic quantities.