T RANSIT C OOPERATIVE R ESEARCH P ROGRAM SPONSORED BY The Federal Transit Administration TCRP Report 23 Wheel/Rail Noise Control Manual Transportation Research Board National Research Council TCRP OVERSIGHT AND PROJECT TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 1997 SELECTION COMMITTEE CHAIR OFFICERS MICHAEL S. TOWNES Peninsula Transportation Dist. Comm. Chair: David N. Wormley, Dean of Engineering, Pennsylvania State University Vice Chair: Sharon D. Banks, General Manager, AC Transit MEMBERS Executive Director: Robert E. Skinner, Jr., Transportation Research Board SHARON D. BANKS AC Transit LEE BARNES MEMBERS Barwood, Inc. GERALD L. BLAIR BRIAN J. L. BERRY, Lloyd Viel Berkner Regental Professor, Bruton Center for Development Studies, Indiana County Transit Authority University of Texas at Dallas SHIRLEY A. DeLIBERO LILLIAN C. BORRONE, Director, Port Commerce, The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (Past New Jersey Transit Corporation Chair, 1995) ROD J. DIRIDON DAVID BURWELL, President, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, Washington, DC IISTPS E. DEAN CARLSON, Secretary, Kansas Department of Transportation SANDRA DRAGGOO JAMES N. DENN, Commissioner, Minnesota Department of Transportation CATA JOHN W. FISHER, Joseph T. Stuart Professor of Civil Engineering, Director, ATLSS Engineering Research LOUIS J. GAMBACCINI Center, Lehigh University SEPTA DENNIS J. FITZGERALD, Executive Director, Capital District Transportation Authority, Albany, NY DELON HAMPTON DAVID R. GOODE, Chair, President and CEO, Norfolk Southern Corporation Delon Hampton & Associates DELON HAMPTON, Chair and CEO, Delon Hampton & Associates KATHARINE HUNTER-ZAWORSKI LESTER A. HOEL, Hamilton Professor, Civil Engineering, University of Virginia Oregon State University JAMES L. LAMMIE, Director, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Inc., New York, NY ALAN F. KIEPPER BRADLEY L. MALLORY, Secretary of Transportation, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Parsons Brinckerhoff, Inc. ROBERT E. MARTINEZ, Secretary of Transportation, Commonwealth of Virginia PAUL LARROUSSE JEFFREY J. MCCAIG, President and CED, Trimac Corporation, Calgary, Alberta, Canada Madison Metro Transit System MARSHALL W. MOORE, Director, North Dakota Department of Transportation ROBERT G. LINGWOOD CRAIG E. PHILIP, President, Ingram Barge Co., Nashville, TN BC Transit ANDREA RINIKER, Deputy Executive Director, Port of Seattle GORDON J. LINTON JOHN M. SAMUELS, Vice President—Operating Assets, Consolidated Rail Corporation Federal Transit Administration WAYNE SHACKELFORD, Commissioner, Georgia Department of Transportation DON S. MONROE LESLIE STERMAN, Executive Director, East-West Gateway Coordinating Council, St. Louis, MO Pierce Transit JOSEPH M. SUSSMAN, JR East Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, MIT PATRICIA S. NETTLESHIP JAMES W. VAN LOBEN SELS, Director, California Department of Transportation (Past Chair, 1996) The Nettleship Group, Inc. MARTIN WACHS, Director, University of California Transportation Center, Berkeley ROBERT E. PAASWELL DAVID L. WINSTEAD, Secretary, Maryland Department of Transportation The City College of New York JAMES P. REICHERT EX OFFICIO MEMBERS Reichert Management Services LAWRENCE G. REUTER MIKE ACOTT, President, National Asphalt Pavement Association MTA New York City Transit ROY A. ALLEN, Vice President, Research and Test Department, Association of American Railroads PAUL TOLIVER JOE N. BALLARD, Chief of Engineers and Commander, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers King County DOT/Metro ANDREW H. CARD, JR., President and CEO, American Automobile Manufacturers Association LINDA WATSON THOMAS J. DONOHUE, President and CEO, American Trucking Associations Corpus Christi RTA FRANCIS B. FRANCOIS, Executive Director, American Association of State Highway and Transportation FRANK J. WILSON Officials New Jersey DOT DAVID GARDINER, Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency EDWARD WYTKIND JANE F. GARVEY, Federal Highway Acting Administrator, U.S. Department of Transportation AFL-CIO ALBERT J. HERBERGER, Maritime Administrator, U.S. Department of Transportation T. R. LAKSHMANAN, Director, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S. Department of Transportation EX OFFICIO MEMBERS GORDON J. LINTON, Federal Transit Administrator, U.S. Department of Transportation WILLIAM W. MILLAR RICARDO MARTINEZ, National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator, U.S. Department of Transportation APTA WILLIAM W. MILLAR, President, American Public Transit Association RODNEY E. SLATER JOLENE M. MOLITORIS, Federal Railroad Administrator, U.S. Department of Transportation FHWA DHARMENDRA K. (DAVE) SHARMA, Research and Special Programs Administrator, U.S. Department of FRANCIS B. FRANCOIS Transportation AASHTO BARRY L. VALENTINE, Acting Administrator, Federal Aviation Administration, U.S.DOT ROBERT E. SKINNER, JR. TRB TRANSIT COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM TDC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Transportation Research Board Executive Committee Subcommittee for TCRP FRANK J. CIHAK DAVID N. WORMLEY, Pennsylvania State University (Chair) APTA SHARON D. BANKS, AC Transit DENNIS J. FITZGERALD, Capital Dist. Transportation Authority, Albany, NY LESTER A. HOEL, University of Virginia SECRETARY GORDON J. LINTON, U.S. Department of Transportation ROBERT J. REILLY ROBERT E. SKINNER, JR., Transportation Research Board TRB JAMES W. VAN LOBEN SELS, California Department of Transportation T RANSIT C OOPERATIVE R ESEARCH P ROGRAM Report 23 Wheel/Rail Noise Control Manual JAMES T. NELSON Wilson, Ihrig & Associates, Inc. Oakland, CA Subject Area Public Transit Rail Research Sponsored by the Federal Transit Administration in Cooperation with the Transit Development Corporation T RANSPORTATION R ESEARCH B OARD NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS Washington, D.C. 1997 TRANSIT COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM TCRP REPORT 23 The nation’s growth and the need to meet mobility, Project C-3 FY’93 environmental, and energy objectives place demands on public ISSN 1073-4872 transit systems. Current systems, some of which are old and in need ISBN 0-309-06060-5 of upgrading, must expand service area, increase service frequency, Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 97-60661 and improve efficiency to serve these demands. Research is necessary to solve operating problems, to adapt appropriate new technologies from other industries, and to introduce innovations into the transit industry. The Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) serves as one of the principal means by which the transit industry can develop innovative near-term solutions to meet demands placed on it. The need for TCRP was originally identified in TRB Special Report 213—Research for Public Transit: New Directions, published in 1987 and based on a study sponsored by the Urban NOTICE Mass Transportation Administration—now the Federal Transit The project that is the subject of this report was a part of the Transit Cooperative Administration (FTA). A report by the American Public Transit Research Program conducted by the Transportation Research Board with the Association (APTA), Transportation 2000, also recognized the need approval of the Governing Board of the National Research Council. Such for local, problem-solving research. TCRP, modeled after the approval reflects the Governing Board’s judgment that the project concerned is longstanding and successful National Cooperative Highway appropriate with respect to both the purposes and resources of the National Research Program, undertakes research and other technical activities Research Council. in response to the needs of transit service providers. The scope of The members of the technical advisory panel selected to monitor this project and TCRP includes a variety of transit research fields including plan- to review this report were chosen for recognized scholarly competence and with ning, service configuration, equipment, facilities, operations, human due consideration for the balance of disciplines appropriate to the project. The resources, maintenance, policy, and administrative practices. opinions and conclusions expressed or implied are those of the research agency TCRP was established under FTA sponsorship in July 1992. that performed the research, and while they have been accepted as appropriate Proposed by the U.S. Department of Transportation, TCRP was by the technical panel, they are not necessarily those of the Transportation authorized as part of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Research Board, the National Research Council, the Transit Development Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA). On May 13, 1992, a memorandum Corporation, or the Federal Transit Administration of the U.S. Department of agreement outlining TCRP operating procedures was executed by Transportation. the three cooperating organizations: FTA;FTA, the National Academy of Each report is reviewed and accepted for publication by the technical panel Sciences, acting through the Transportation Research Board (TRB);(TRB), according to procedures established and monitored by the Transportation and the Transit Development Corporation, Inc. (TDC), a nonprofit Research Board Executive Committee and the Governing Board of the National educational and research organization established by APTA. TDC is Research Council. responsible for forming the independent governing board, designated as the TCRP Oversight and Project Selection (TOPS) Committee. Research problem statements for TCRP are solicited periodically Special Notice but may be submitted to TRB by anyone at any time It is the The Transportation Research Board, the National Research Council, the Transit