VTI rapport 559A www.vti.se/publications Published 2006
Noise emission from railway traffic
Mikael Ögren
Utgivare: Publikation: VTI rapport 559A
Utgivningsar:˚ Projektnummer: Dnr: 2006 12547 2005/0574-24
581 95 Link¨oping Projektnamn: Bulleremission fr˚an sp˚arburen trafik
Forfattare:¨ Uppdragsgivare: Mikael Ogren¨ VTI
Titel: Bulleremission fr˚an sp˚arburen trafik
Referat (bakgrund, syfte, metod, resultat) max 200 ord: I Europa ¨onskar man ¨oka andelen gods och personer som transporteras p˚aj¨arnv¨ag i f¨orh˚allande till v¨ag och om det lyckas s˚akommer problemet med buller fr˚an sp˚arburen trafik att ¨oka. Det ¨ar sedan tidigare k¨ant att ˚atg¨arder direkt p˚ak¨allan ¨ar effektivare ¨an indirekta ˚atg¨arder som byggnation av bullersk¨armar eller byte av f¨onsterglas i bost¨ader, ¨aven om dessa ˚atg¨arder ocks˚ahar en viktig funk- tion. Denna rapport ¨ar en litteratur¨oversikt ¨over hur bullret genereras och hur olika ˚atg¨arder vid k¨allan kan minska bulleremissionen. Rapporten beskriver ocks˚akortfattat vilka gr¨ansv¨arden och regler f¨or bulleremissionen som g¨aller nu och kommer att g¨alla den n¨armaste framtiden inom EU. Dessutom diskuteras de ber¨akningsmodeller som anv¨ands f¨or att ber¨akna ljudniv˚an i olika mottagarpositioner (immissionen) utifr˚an de olika sp˚arfordonens emission.
Nyckelord: T˚agbuller, bulleremission, buller˚atg¨arder ISSN: Sprak:˚ Antal sidor: 0347–6030 Engelska 37 Publisher: Publication: VTI rapport 559A
Published: Project code: Dnr: 2006 12547 2005/0574-24 SE-581 95 Link¨oping Project: Noise emission from railway traffic
Author: Sponsor: Mikael Ogren¨ VTI
Title: Noise emission from railway traffic
Abstract (background, aims, methods, results) max 200 words: European authorities hope to be able to increase the volume of freight and passengers that are trans- ported on railway systems compared to those transported on roads. If that policy is successful the problem of noise from railway traffic will increase. It is known from previous research that measures against the noise are more efficient if applied directly at the source itself rather than using indirect measures such as noise barriers and increased window insulation. This report is a literature survey on how the railway noise is generated, and to what extent different measures at the source can reduce the noise emission. The report also briefly describes what limits and recommendations on noise exposure are enforced now and in the near future. Furthermore the methods used for calculating the noise level at different receiver positions (noise exposure) from the noise emission are discussed.
Keywords: Railway noise, noise emission, noise measures ISSN: Language: No. of pages: 0347–6030 English 37 Preface This project started in September 2005, and has been funded by VTI.
I appreciate the valuable contributions and comments by Lennart Folkeson (VTI), Ulf Sandberg (VTI), Bertil Hyl´en (VTI), Krister Larsson (SP The Swedish National Testing and Research Institute) and Karin Blidberg (Banverket).
G¨oteborg, September, 2006
Mikael Ogren¨
Cover: Gray X40 train, Leif-Erik Nyg˚ards Red noise barrier, VTI/ Hejdl¨osa bilder Quality review Review seminar was carried out on 12 December 2005 where Krister Larsson (SP Swedish National Testing and Research Institute) reviewed and commented on the report. Mikael Ogren¨ has made alterations to the final manuscript of the report. The research director of the project manager Lennart Folkeson examined and approved the report for publication on 26 October 2006.
Kvalitetsgranskning Granskningsseminarium genomf¨ort den 12 december 2005 d¨ar Krister Larsson (SP Sveriges Provnings- och Forskningsinstitut) var lekt¨or. Mikael Ogren¨ har genomf¨ort justeringar av slutligt rapportmanus. Projektledarens n¨armaste chef Lennart Folkeson har d¨arefter granskat och godk¨ant publikationen f¨or publicering den 26 oktober 2006. Table of contents
Listoffigures ...... 5 Listoftables...... 6 Summary ...... 7 Sammanfattning...... 9 1 Introduction...... 11 1.1 Railwaynoise ...... 11 1.2 Annoyance and health effects of railway noise ...... 11 1.3 Scopeofthisreport ...... 13 2 Noisesources...... 14 2.1 Rollingnoise...... 14 2.2 Wheel/railroughness...... 17 2.3 Curvesqueal...... 19 2.4 Aerodynamicandsecondarysources ...... 19 3 Measures ...... 20 3.1 Addressingthesource...... 20 3.2 Wheel/railmeasures ...... 20 3.3 Summaryofreductionpotential ...... 22 4 Determiningrailvehiclenoiseemission ...... 24 4.1 Soundpowerandsoundpressure ...... 24 4.2 Maximumandequivalentlevel ...... 24 4.3 ISO3095...... 25 4.4 TWINS...... 26 5 European limits, targets and calculation methods...... 28 5.1 Noiseemission...... 28 5.2 Noiseexposure...... 28 5.3 Standardisedcalculationmethods ...... 29 6 Discussion...... 31 6.1 Increasing traffic volumes and noise exposure ...... 31 6.2 Railaccesscharges...... 31 6.3 Whoisresponsiblefortherollingnoise? ...... 32 Glossary...... 33 References...... 35 List of figures
1.1 Polynomial approximation of percentage of subjects highly annoyed by transportationnoise...... 12
2.1 Sketch of wheel-rail interaction and the track including sleepers and pads. . 14 2.2 Power flow from the contact patch that connects wheel and rail...... 14 2.3 Illustration of the effect of wheel rotation on the mechanical waves in the wheel propagating away from the contact patch...... 15 2.4 Typicaltrackstructure...... 16 2.5 Sketch of the mechanical components of the track in the vertical direction. 17 2.6 Examplesofcalculatedmodesonarail...... 17 2.7 Sketch of wheel-rail interaction and the track including sleepers and pads. . 18 2.8 Rail roughnessamplitudeandwavelength...... 18
3.1 Railgrinding...... 21 3.2 Illustration of screens both on the vehicle and close to the track in com- bination...... 22
4.1 Noise emission vs. exposure and sound power level Lw vs. sound pres- sure level Lp...... 24 4.2 Illustration of sources on a train that contribute to the maximum sound pressure level at different distances...... 25 4.3 Sound pressure level as a function of time during train passage...... 26 4.4 FlowchartoftheTWINSmodel...... 27
5.1 Illustrationof emissionand exposure...... 28 5.2 Harmonoiseprojectstructure...... 30 List of tables
3.1 Noisereductionpotentialofmeasures...... 22
VTI notat 53-2004 Noise emission from railway traffic by Mikael Ogren¨ VTI (Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute) SE-581 95 Link¨oping
Summary
European authorities hope to be able to increase the volume of freight and passengers that are transported on railway systems compared to those transported on roads. If that policy is successful the problem of noise from railway traffic will increase. It is know from previous research that measures against the noise are more efficient if applied di- rectly at the source itself rather than using indirect measures such as noise barriers and increased window insulation. This report is a literature survey on how the railway noise is generated, and to what extend different measures at the source can reduce the noise emission. The report also briefly describes what limits and recommendations on noise exposure are enforced now and in the near future. Furthermore the noise propagation methods used for calculating the noise level at different receiver positions (noise expo- sure) from the noise emission are discussed.
VTI rapport 559A 7 8 VTI rapport 559A Bulleremission fran˚ sparburen˚ trafik av Mikael Ogren¨ VTI SE-581 95
Sammanfattning
B˚ade gods- och persontransporter v¨antas ¨oka inom j¨arnv¨agssektorn. F¨orhoppningen fr˚an det Europeiska j¨arnv¨agsforskningsr˚adet (ERRAC) ¨ar att passagerar- och godsvolymerna skall tredubblas fram till 2020. Om detta besannas kommer problemen med buller fr˚an j¨arnv¨agstrafik att stadigt ¨oka i framtiden. Det ¨ar v¨alk¨ant att det ¨ar effektivast att ˚atg¨arda bullret vid k¨allan, dvs att angripa ljudet som str˚alar ut fr˚an hjul och r¨al snarare ¨an att bygga bullersk¨armar eller ¨oka fasadiso- leringen hos n¨arliggande bost¨ader. Denna rapport ¨ar en kunskaps¨oversikt ¨over olika s¨att att angripa bullret direkt vid k¨allan, t.ex. via vibrationsd¨ampare och slipning av hjul och r¨al. De grundl¨aggande processerna hur ljudet genereras och utbreds g˚as ocks˚aigenom, samt hur dessa modelleras exempelvis i mjukvaran TWINS, som har utvecklats inom ett flertal europeiska forskningsprojekt p˚aomr˚adet. En viktig slutsats ¨ar att b˚ade r¨alen och fordonen bidrar till det utstr˚alade ljudet, vilket inneb¨ar att ansvaret f¨or bullret inte vilar enbart p˚aBanverket eller t˚agoperat¨oren, utan p˚ab˚ada. Rapporten beskriver ocks˚af¨orh˚allandet mellan riktv¨arden f¨or bullerniv˚an hos boende i n¨arheten (immissionen) och f¨or den k¨allstryka som varje fordon representerar (emis- sionen). I Sverige finns inga riktv¨arden f¨or emissionen annat ¨an de som g¨aller f¨or hela EU via de s˚akallade TSI-dokumenten, som anger de specifikationer som j¨arnv¨agsfordon m˚aste uppfylla f¨or att f˚atrafikera det gemensamma europeiska j¨arnv¨agsn¨atet. F¨or im- missionen d¨aremot finns klara riktv¨arden, vilket skapar en obalans i hur ˚atg¨arder f¨or att minska bullret s¨atts in. Eftersom f˚aeller inga krav st¨alls p˚afordonen ˚aterst˚ar en- dast att bygga bullersk¨armar, ¨oka fasadisoleringen p˚abefintliga bost¨ader eller att planera banstr¨ackningen s˚aatt f˚aboende blir ber¨orda.
VTI rapport 559A 9 10 VTI rapport 559A 1 Introduction
1.1 Railway noise Noise is loosely defined as unwanted sound. Railway traffic generates sound mainly due to the vibrations induced by the small roughness on the wheel and rail surfaces. These vibrations radiate sound from the wheels and the rail, and also from other vibrating sur- faces such as parts of the boogie and suspension, rail car sides and so on1. This sound propagates through the atmosphere and arrives at the listeners, who are the ones who determine if the sound is unwanted (i.e. noise) or not. Whether the sound is unwanted or not, it can damage the hearing of persons subjected to it if the sound level is high enough. At lower levels it will interfere with speech and can mask other possibly important sounds. But there are positive effects also, such as alerting people to the fact that a train is about to pass, or making it possible to detect damaged components or other faults by changes in the radiated sound. Noise radiation is by no means the only environmental effect of the running train. If it is a diesel train there will be exhaust emissions, all trains emit particles due to wheel, rail and brake pad wear. Fast and heavy trains cause vibration in the ground and buildings. The presence of railway traffic also has an impact on wildlife [1]. The traffic volumes of both passengers and freight over the European rail network are expected to increase in the future, both as a result of a deliberate policy within the Euro- pean Union to shift traffic from other modes and due to increased transportation needs. The European Rail Research Advisory Council (ERRAC) mentions a tripling of passen- ger transport and more than a tripling of freight transport between 2000 and 2020 [2]. The International Union of Railways (UIC) and partners have almost as high expecta- tions in their research strategy [3]. If the traffic volumes increase that much, the environmental impact will be substantial, both from expanding the network with new sections and from the increased traffic on existing tracks. A very rough estimate for the noise emission would be an increase in the equivalent overall noise level of about 5 dB(A) and a tripling of the number of loud events during the night.
1.2 Annoyance and health effects of railway noise The effects of noise from railway transports upon the public can be divided into three main areas, general annoyance, sleep disturbance and cardiovascular effects. Here gen- eral annoyance refers to the disturbance experienced by the public as reported in ques- tionnaires. When exposed for a long time this annoyance together with sleep distur- bances is believed to lead to cardiovascular effects apart from the impact on the quality of life in general. The relationship between the general annoyance reported in questionnaires and the sound level is described in [4, 5], where data from several large studies have been analysed to- gether in a meta analysis. The reported annoyance is lower for railway traffic than for road and air traffic. An example of the curves for the percentage of subjects that an- swered they were “highly annoyed” is given in Fig. 1.1.
1The different generation mechanisms are discussed in chapter 2
VTI rapport 559A 11 This lower annoyance for railway traffic is often reflected in limits where a bonus is given to rail traffic based on these results. However, recent studies indicate that in some cases the reported annoyance from rail traffic is equal to or higher than that of road traf- fic [6–8]. Cardiovascular effects have also been studied by meta analysis of data from question- naires and laboratory experiments [9] for transportation noise in general. This analysis shows that for subjects that have been exposed to high noise levels (Level Day Evening 2 Night (Lden) > 65 dB) for extended periods of time there is an increased risk for my- ocardial infarction (lethal infarction). There is also evidence of an increased risk of high blood-pressure among subjects exposed to high noise levels, at least for male sub- jects [10].
70 Air Road Rail 60
50
40
30 Highly annoyed [%] 20
10
0 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 LDEN [dB] Figure 1.1 Polynomial approximation of percentage of subjects highly annoyed by transportation noise. From [5].
2 The noise level metric Lden is explained in chapter 5
12 VTI rapport 559A 1.3 Scope of this report This report is a literature survey and knowledge synthesis on noise emission from rail- way traffic. The effects of vibration, both on buildings close to the railway and inside the rail vehicle itself, are not included. Neither is noise inside the rail vehicle, only noise emitted to the exterior of the rail vehicle is dealt with in this report. The method used is a literature survey, where references have been collected with the aid of the transport library at VTI3. Literature in Nordic languages and English published after 1990 was used. The focus is on Sweden as an EU member and therefore part of the future European rail network. For this network interoperability and abolishing trade obstacles are important concepts [3].
Chapter 2 focuses on the source mechanisms such as rolling noise, aerodynamic noise and curve squeal. Chapter 3 is a review of different noise abating measures such as screening, silent brake pads and rail grinding. The reduction potential for different measures are summarised in a table based on several references. Chapter 4 describes how to determine the noise emission strength of a rail vehicle us- ing measurements with the recently updated standard ISO 3095. The maximum and equivalent levels are explained and the quantities sound power and sound pressure are discussed.
Chapter 5 discusses the limits and targets for noise from railway traffic used in coun- tries within the European Union. The different metrics are also explained and dis- cussed together with the calculation methods used to predict the noise level today, and the future calculation method Harmonoise is presented.
Chapter 6 summarises the report and discusses the noise emission challenges faced by the rail industry and society as a whole due to the expected growth in railway traffic volumes in the future.
3The VTI library is accessible online at http://www.transguide.org
VTI rapport 559A 13 2 Noise sources
2.1 Rolling noise 2.1.1 Wheel/rail interaction The primary physical process responsible for the vibrations that radiate as noise is the contact between the train wheel and the rail. Fig. 2.1 shows a sketch of a wheel on a rail- way track. The wheel tread rests on the rail head, and the mechanical contact is within a contact patch approximately 10 to 15 mm long and about as wide [11, ch.1]. When the wheel is rolling on the rail the small unevenness of both wheel and rail cause forces on both of them. These forces excite vibrations throughout the whole system which in turn radiates sound. This noise generation mechanism is known as rolling noise.