SEDL / STP / STP692-EB / STP35971S

Prediction of Community Noise from Rail Systems

Kurzweil, LG
Manager, Urban Rail Noise Abatement Program, U.S. Department of Transportation, Transportation Systems Center, Environmental Technology Branch, Cambridge, Mass.

Pages: 20    Published: Jan 1979

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Abstract

This paper presents a simple procedure for predicting noise in the vicinity of rail lines including intercity freight and passenger services and metropolitan systems. The procedure accounts for the effects of speed; wheel and rail condition; travel on bridges and elevated transit structures; geometrical spreading of sound energy; excess attenuation due to propagation over the ground and through the air; and barrier attenuation by sound screens, cuttings, embankments, and houses. Aweighted sound pressure level is the basic quantity predicted; equations are given to determine various noise exposure measures such as the 24-hour energy equivalent sound level (L^eq (24h)), the day-night average sound level (L^dn) and the community noise equivalent level (CNEL).