RSSB Publishes proposals for new standard for calculation of rail noise in Great Britain

The Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) is the independent safety, standards, and research body for Great Britain’s rail network. RSSB have just published a report by the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research (ISVR) outlining the technical proposals for a new standard for rail noise source terms for use in environmental noise modelling. The report concludes Stage 1 of the development of the standard, and it will be followed in Stage 2 by a draft standard for railway noise source terms taking account of feedback received on the Stage 1 proposals.

The work is related to the ongoing wider industry efforts to replace the Calculation of Road Traffic Noise and The Calculation of Rail Noise with a new four-part prediction standard for calculating noise from road and railway sources in Great Britain. This work is being led by the British Standards Institution Transportation Noise Committee EH1/2.

The approach for rail noise will broadly follow previous work undertaken by the HARMONOISE and IMAGINE projects which were the precursor to the European Union’s common noise assessment method CNOSSOS. The rail noise approach will include methods for charactering rolling noise, traction noise, aerodynamic noise, bridge noise, curving noise, braking noise, impact noise and train horns. It will include default terms for implementation in Great Britain together with guidance for predicting and measuring new terms.

RSSB, the ISVR and the BSI committee are keen to receive feedback on the proposals from the industry which are available here https://www.rssb.co.uk/sustainability/a-quieter-railway