RAILWAY BRIDGE NOISE CONTROL WITH RESILIENT BASEPLATES

Abstract This paper describes tests on a bridge on the RSA line in Sydney. The bridge was originally fitted with almost rigid baseplates on timber bearers. The noise was found to be about 90 dB(A) at a distance of 5·5 m from the track centre, and the dominant frequencies were found to be in the range between 200 Hz and 1000 Hz. Measurements were made of noise levels, and the accelerations of track components under normal service trains. Resilient baseplates were fitted on the bridge with the aim of reducing the noise level, and the measurements repeated. The total noise reduction obtained was about 6 dB(A).