Will high speed trains change Portuguese railway noise?

Abstract

This paper presents the in situ evaluation of noise from railway traffic on a modernized section of the Portuguese railway network. The measurements include noise spectra for four types of Portuguese rolling stock in terms of their maximum Transit Exposure Level (TEL), equivalent Sound Pressure Level and frequency content. The obtained data allows for a noise characterization of the various types of Portuguese trains and can be used in the validation of numerical noise prediction models. Due to the foreseen introduction of high speed railways in Portugal an analysis is done to check how the railway noise will change in the near future with these new trains.