Investigating the Effects of a Network-Wide Rail Grinding Strategy on Wayside Noise Levels

This paper investigates a significant reduction in environmental noise attributable to changes in the Network Rail grinding strategy employed within Great Britain (GB). Acoustic Track Quality (ATQ) is a measure of the surface roughness of the running rails. Rail roughness has a major influence on wayside rolling noise levels during the passage of a train. Levels of ATQ have been determined for approximately 1,100 km of track on GB’s East and West Coast mainlines from wayside noise measurements and data collected by an under-floor microphone system fitted to a train. The results show a substantial apparent reduction in rail surface roughness and associated wayside noise levels since a similar study was undertaken in 2004, and demonstrate how a maintenance rail grinding strategy can potentially reduce wayside noise levels across large parts of a railway network.