Railroads

Railroads, like street traffic, are a source of surface transportation noise. The majority of noise emitted by trains is produced by the engines or by the interaction of the wheels with the track (Lotz & Kurzweil, 1979). While the former predominates in long-distance railroad systems, the latter is the predominant noise source in urban subway systems (Bugliarello et al., 1976). Other sources of noise in railroad systems include warning signals at crossings, whistles and horns, freight classification yards, and railroad construction and maintenance equipment. (Lotz & Kurzweil, 1979)

Though railroad noise is confined to areas near tracks and is thus less pervasive than street traffic, it still represents a significant danger to human health. For example, as Bugliarello et al. (1976) point out, subway systems "are particularly noisy systems which expose millions of passengers to high levels of noise" (p. 86; view image). Further, noise levels experienced by passengers in trains generally increase by about 10 dB in tunnels, an observation that is particularly relevant to urban subway system patrons. And even in open areas, noise levels from trains decrease as a function of distance less than noise levels from buses do. (Bugliarello et al.)

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