Noise & Vibrations – 27 January 2016

Rail operations influence the direct surroundings in many ways. An increasing number of people live near railway lines and noise and vibrations are aspects that (may) directly lead to complaints from citizens. Which measures are being and must be taken as stipulated by European and national regulations? Should the solution for noise and vibration reduction be found in adjustment of the direct surroundings or at the source? → View Conference Programme

A number of infrastructure managers (consider to) apply noise differentiated track access charges. What are experiences in this area and are investments in silent trains feasible? What are conclusions and recommendations of the extensive research to reduce ground borne vibrations from railway traffic?

Technical developments

Technical developments offer great opportunities for noise reduction and sound management. There are different track maintenance treatments that have proven to be very successful but solutions can also be found in braking systems and wheel sets. In this session, the latest developments and experiences with new techniques will be discussed.

This session will address various vibration reduction methods for ground borne vibrations caused by railway operations and maintenance activities. The intensity of vibrations is greatly influenced by train (type and condition), speed, track (type and condition), soil conditions and even the direct surroundings. Therefore a wide range of solutions is available, greatly depending on the specific characteristics of the railway line.

Conference Programme: Noise & Vibrations

Chairman of the day: Hans Günther Kersten, Director Freight – UIC

Session 1: ‘Rail and its direct surroundings – experiences and best practices’

• Franck Poisson, Deputy Manager Physics of the Railway System Department – SNCF
  Environmental noise of the railway system: a new challenge for the future
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• Micha Köpfli, CEO – N-Sphere AG
  sonRAIL Webtool: a new approach to railway noise emission calculation
  Read abstract
• Rick Scholte, Managing Director and Founder – Sorama
  From sound vision to sound design in railway systems
  Read abstract

Session 2: ‘Rail and its direct surroundings – experiences and best practices’ (continued)

• Peter Tschada, Dipl. – Ing Architekt – Orange Architekten
  & Anna Weber, Dipl. – Ing Architekt – Orange Architekten
  C-Shell noise attenuation for railway tracks
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• Christian Noël, Founder – CARE-TRACK
  Pad influence on noise and ground vibrations
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• Hoessein Alkisaei, Honours Program Delft University of Technology
  A monolithic solution to the problem of noise
  Read abstract

Session 3: ‘Sound management by material choice’

• Pascal Fodiman, Deputy Director Interoperability & Standardisation – SNCF-Railway System General Management
  Which maintenance strategies for a sustainable noise performance of the railway system? An analysis of the French case
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• David Benton, Product Marketing Manager Rail Sector – Tata Steel
  Targeted noise reduction using rail dampers
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Session 4: ‘Vibration reduction methods’

• Pedro Alves Costa, Assistant Professor – University of Porto
  Prediction and mitigation of railway vibrations. Potentialities and challenges of numerical modelling
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• Hielke Zandberg, Specialist Noise and Vibrations – ProRail
  Process of assessing nuisance due to railway vibrations
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• Hans van Leeuwen, Managing Director – DGMR Consulting for construction, industry, traffic, environment and software
  Monitoring noise & vibration and asset management
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RailTech Expert Series Paris:

• View Conference Programme Day 1: Wheel/Rail Interface & Switches
• View Conference Programme Day 3: Railways & Environment
• See full list of the expert speakers

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