Guidance for new policy developments on railway noise and vibration

Eulalia Peris, James Woodcock, Gennaro Sica, Calum Sharp, Andy T. Moorhouse and David C. Waddington

Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 2016, vol. 85, issue C, 76-88

Abstract: Noise and vibration are two 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 railway 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 traffic 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, railway noise exposure and railway vibration exposure. This was achieved using data from case studies comprised of face-to-face interviews (N=931), internal vibration measurements (N=755), and noise calculations (N=688) collected within the study “Human Response to Vibration in Residential Environments” by the University of Salford, UK. Firstly, the implications of neglecting vibration in railway noise policies are investigated. The findings suggest that it is important to account for railway induced vibrations in future noise and transport policies, as neglecting vibrations results in an underestimation of people highly annoyed by noise. Secondly, implications of neglecting different types of railway sources are presented. It was found that the impact of noise and vibration form maintenance operations should be better understood and should be taken into account when assessing the environmental impact of railways in residential environments. Finally, factors that were found to influence railway vibration annoyance are presented and expressed as weightings. The data shows that factors specific to a particular residential area should also be taken into account in future vibration policies as the literature shows that attitudinal, socio-demographic and situational factors have a large influence on vibration annoyance responses. 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.

Keywords: Vibration annoyance; Noise annoyance; Railway; Exposure–response relationships; Human response to vibration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2016.01.004

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