Improvement of Noise Reduction Materials for Rail Joint

Abstract

We developed a noise insulating material, which was made by molding bound small inorganic particles in inverse-L shape, to reduce the noise around an insulated rail joint in the continuous welded rail line. However, as the result of measurement made in a commercial line, it is revealed that its performance is insufficient due to its poor sound insulating and absorptive properties. Consequently, we have carried out its improvement in such a way as to promote its sound insulating properties by using aluminum plates as part of materials and its sound absorptive ones by using sound proof panels of 100 mm in thickness. Moreover, it has been decided to use two sorts of materials at the same time; one is a sound absorptive material for the railway track, the other is a rail insulating material for the general rail. As the result of measurement in another commercial line, it is found out that the materials have such sufficient performance as to reduce the noise level by about 3 dB around the rail joint.