Noise assessment of elevated rapid transit railway lines and acoustic performance comparison of different noise barriers for mitigation of elevated railway tracks noise

摘要

Subways or rapid transit railways can be found in many major cities. These rapid transit railways are typically built above ground whenever possible to avoid the high capital cost of tunneling and also the high running cost of air conditioning and ventilation. However, noise from trains running on elevated tracks or viaducts close to residential and commercial buildings or houses is a problem for many cities. Noise barriers have been used extensively to mitigate noise from motorways, heavy trunk roads, and construction sites. On the other hand, relatively few reported studies on the design and performance of noise barriers for elevated railway tracks or viaducts to mitigate rapid transit train noise. The effectiveness of noise barriers on elevated railway tracks or viaducts for the mitigation of train noise may be different and challenging to predict due to complex street canyons and surrounding buildings beside the barrier designs and construction materials. Riding on the Singapore Railway Noise Barrier Programme, the present research conducted on-site measurements of several housing estates in Singapore to investigate the effect of noise barriers on the mitigation of train noise. Comparisons were also carried out to examine the performance of two different designs, Taiwan's Taipei subway track noise barriers and the vertical noise barriers used by the Singapore Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system. Acoustic mapping revealed that the simulated noise mitigation barriers led to a 5-12 dB(A) reduction in noise levels reaching the resident apartments. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.