A rail damping device, which will reduce noise from railway tracks and make rail expansion a more desirable option, has been developed by scientists at the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research (ISVR) at Southampton University and Corus Rail.
A European patent for this damper has just been granted.
The new rail damper, designed by the ISVR/Corus team, is a tuned mass-spring absorber system.
It tackles the noise which is generated at the wheel/rail interface.
The damper can be fitted to a variety of standard rail sections and tackles the noise at source.
This makes it a significantly more attractive option than noise containment measures such as barriers, which are visually intrusive and expensive.
Tests have shown that reductions of the track component of noise of about six decibels are to be expected.
The rail damper has already been installed at three locations in the Netherlands and one in France.
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