Railway noise complaints

UIC Noise and Vibration Sector - Survey

Although there have been significant technology and process improvements that have reduced noise emitted from railways, as detailed in the UIC Noise and Vibration (NV) Sector’s latest report on Railway noise in Europe, there remains an increasing number of complaints from lineside neighbours. A growing body of information is becoming available that links noise emissions from transport sources to health effects, such as annoyance, sleep disturbance and heart conditions. Understanding of the subjective human response to railway noise and its nuisance effects are required to better understand the reasons for the continued high complaints rate.

Nuisance and health effects of railway noise

The UIC is pleased to announce that work on a new scoping study has started relating to the nuisance and health effects of railway noise from conventional passenger, freight and high speed services, with the aim of publishing a technical report in autumn 2022. The new study aims to assist all stakeholders in meeting the challenges faced by the sector, by analysing and collating the information to be gathered from the relevant members. The final deliverable will be disseminated at the UIC Railway Noise Days in 2023.

The main scope of this survey is to gather information on noise complaints linked to the operation and maintenance of the railways. Noise complaints from construction activities, depots, fixed sources at stations such as Public Address systems, idling trains, heating ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems are outside the scope of this study.

The survey gives you the opportunity to provide responses to general questions relating to your whole network and also specific questions in relation to one or more case studies in areas where you received the highest number of complaints.

UIC would be pleased to have input from Infrastructure Managers and Operators to inform the study.

Survey for Infrastructure Managers and Operators

Deadline: 21/01/2022

The questions in this section are intended to be general and relate to your whole network. The information collected in the questionnaire is recorded in a computerised file in the UIC and in a protected by a password space in UIC’s information system. The legal basis of the processing is consent. The only personal data collected is your e-mail in order to contact you during the analysis of the survey. The data marked with an asterisk in the questionnaire must be provided. Otherwise the registration cannot be achieved. The data collected will be communicated only to the UIC and the consultant who will perform the analysis of the result. You may access your data, rectify it, request its deletion or exercise your right to limit the processing of your data. Consult the cnil.fr website for more information about your rights. To exercise these rights or for any questions about the processing of your data in this scheme, you can contact our data protection officer at dpo at uic.org . If you believe, after having contacted us, that your “Data Protection” rights have not been respected, you may submit a complaint to the CNIL.