Acoustical monitoring of railways in urban areas

This paper describes a methodology for monitoring noise generated by rail traffic and presents the results of an application to two regional railway lines in Italy. The noise emissions of trains have been analysed using two different approaches. The first involves the application of a methodology based on the definition of standard sites where the combination of variables affecting noise generation - trains, infrastructure and surrounding environment – were measured. The second approach uses a sophisticated forecasting model, MITHRA, to build up noise maps. Land use data has been dealt with using a GIS and a Territorial Information System created. The results show a good correspondence between the two different approaches, suggesting that they could be used as alternatives, the choice depending on the economic and human resources available.