The determination of railway vibrations levels in practice

Inhabitants living near railroads experience nuisance caused by noise and vibration. Audible noise control by shielding works well. Noise control by shielding does not have a positive effect on vibrations, and can even give opposite results in relation to annoyance. Vibrations through propagation in the soil are distinguishable by humans as perceptible movement of the floor, rattling cups in a cupboard and low-frequency structure-borne noise as a result of vibrations through the propagation in the soil. At locations with sensitive equipment vibrations can even cause equipment to malfunction. Determining the strength of the vibrations and also the strength of the accompanied low-frequency noise is particularly complex. There is much variation at the source and during propagation in the soil. This is caused by variation in train types (various types of passenger trains and freight trains), different railway constructions and varying running speed. And, of course, the various soil structures. Interpreting measurements inside nearby dwellings is also difficult because of the disturbance by other sources such as trucks and the resident's activities itself.This paper provides practical experience of performing measurements and also describes a method that can be used in order to arrive reliable results with a statistical approach.