Assessment of Railway Activity and Train Noise Exposure
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ASSESSMENT OF RAILWAY ACTIVITY AND TRAIN NOISE EXPOSURE: A TEANECK, NEW JERSEY, CASE STUDY By Craig B. Anderson A thesis submitted to the Graduate School-New Brunswick Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Graduate Program in Atmospheric Science written under the direction of Dr. Barbara J. Turpin and approved by ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ New Brunswick, New Jersey October 2009 ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS Assessment of Railway Activity and Train Noise Exposure: A Teaneck, New Jersey, Case Study by CRAIG B. ANDERSON Thesis Director: Dr. Barbara J. Turpin Three train tracks run through Teaneck, NJ, a suburban city, unimpeded by road crossings; the tracks are as close as 7 meters to residential properties. In 2000, trains began idling in Teaneck for extended periods of time (up to 54 hours), exposing residents to persistent, elevated sound levels, as well as diesel emissions, and generating complaints. The goals of this study were to characterize the time-activity patterns of passby and idling trains; idling locations; and the sound emission levels of passbys, idling locomotives, and train horns over a one-year period. From October 2006 through November 2007, source sound levels were measured continuously with a Norsonic 121 sound-level meter and WAV files of actual sounds were recorded during train events. Concurrently, research staff visually noted train activities 24 hours/day, every third day, for three consecutive weeks each season, including train direction, track, idle location, locomotive-to-meter distance (idles), and other identifying information. Specific source characterization measurements of individual locomotives were made at measured distances with a hand-held Quest 2900 sound-level meter. Over this time period: ~1.2 trains passed per hour (1.1 daytime; 1.4 nighttime, 10 p.m.-7 a.m.); average passby ii duration was 2.8 minutes; and passbys were most frequent during the midnight hour. Trains tended to travel southbound during the day and northbound at night, resulting in horn blowing behind homes, while people slept, as the trains approached a grade crossing on Teaneck’s northern boundary. Idles averaged 87.2 minutes in duration, with the longest lasting ~36 hours. Idle events occurred equally in southern and northern Teaneck, but average idle durations in southern Teaneck were 2-3 times longer than all other locations. Train(s) idled in Teaneck for a total of ~10.7 hours/day, or 44.6% of the time. Average sound levels at 30.5 meters (100 feet) were: 78.1 dBA (peak: 84.9 dBA) for passby trains; 65.0 dBA (68.5 dBA) for single, idling locomotives; and 104.3 dBA (109.0 dBA) for train horns. Ambient sound-level measurements in neighborhoods had an Ldn of ~50 dBA. Sound emissions from train activity produced moderate-to-severe noise impacts in areas within 152 meters (500 feet) of the railway, especially during non- summer nights. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS .......................................................................................... ii LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................ v LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. vi 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Motivation ............................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Background ............................................................................................................. 8 1.3 Objectives ............................................................................................................. 10 2. METHODS ........................................................................................................... 12 2.1 Field Sampling ...................................................................................................... 12 2.1.1 Equipment ..................................................................................................... 15 2.1.2 Long-term Monitoring .................................................................................. 18 2.1.3 Long-term Meter Deployment ...................................................................... 25 2.1.4 Intensive Monitoring Periods ........................................................................ 28 2.1.5 Ambient Sound Level Measurements ........................................................... 33 2.1.6 Data Time Standards ..................................................................................... 35 2.2 Data Processing and Storage ................................................................................. 35 2.2.1 Train Study Database .................................................................................... 35 2.2.2 Long-term Meter Data .................................................................................. 40 2.2.3 Hand-Held Meter Data .................................................................................. 47 2.3 Model Setup and Development ............................................................................. 47 2.3.1 Base Layers ................................................................................................... 48 2.3.2 Model Inputs ................................................................................................. 49 2.4 Quality Assurance and Quality Control ................................................................ 53 2.4.1 Monitoring Equipment .................................................................................. 53 2.4.2 Train Study Database .................................................................................... 55 2.4.3 CadnaA Model .............................................................................................. 57 3. RESULTS ............................................................................................................. 60 3.1 Passby Trains ........................................................................................................ 60 3.2 Idling Trains .......................................................................................................... 64 3.3 Train Horns ........................................................................................................... 73 3.4 All Trains .............................................................................................................. 75 3.5 Ambient Sound Level Measurements ................................................................... 78 4. MITIGATION STRATEGIES.............................................................................. 81 4.1 Train Activity Adjustments ................................................................................... 81 4.2 Sound Barriers ...................................................................................................... 82 4.3 Auxiliary Power Units .......................................................................................... 83 4.4 Wayside Horns ...................................................................................................... 84 5. CONCLUSIONS................................................................................................... 86 6. IMPLICATIONS .................................................................................................. 88 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................. 91 Appendix A ....................................................................................................................... 93 Appendix B ..................................................................................................................... 103 Appendix C ..................................................................................................................... 109 Appendix D ..................................................................................................................... 115 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1 Aerial photo of the rail corridor in northern Teaneck during the 1930s .......... 3 Figure 1.2 Aerial photo of the rail corridor in southern Teaneck during the 1930s .......... 4 Figure 1.3 Teaneck rail corridor with the current configuration of three tracks. ............... 5 Figure 1.4 An idling locomotive at the south end warehouse (facing west) ...................... 7 Figure 1.5 An idling locomotive at the north end business park (facing west) ................. 7 Figure 2.1 Map of the various long-term meter locations (red circles) and “township- approved” idle locations (green triangles) ........................................................................ 14 Figure 2.2 Sound analyzer and deep-cycle batteries ........................................................ 16 Figure 2.3 Satellite image of warehouse region on the south side of Teaneck, annotated with location numbers for assigning train idling position and track letters; a train was idling at location #10 on the day this image was taken. ................................................... 32 Figure 2.4 Map of ambient sound level measurement locations. .................................... 34 Figure 2.5 Data entry form within the train