The Dutch parliament has been urging the government for some years now to address railway vibration. Within that scope, the minister of Infrastructure and Environment has asked RIVM, the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, to study the possibility of a “uniform” prediction model for railway vibration. In turn, RIVM asked people from Level Acoustics & Vibration, with our unique experience in this field, to carry out this study. Level got support from other specialists, such as statisticians, at RIVM and worked closely together with railway noise expert Edwin Verheijen from dBvision. The study was designed and supervised by Dolf de Gruijter (RIVM).
The study is finished, the report is sent to parliament and later this year the minister will decide how to proceed. We concluded that a prediction model fulfilling the requirements is not available yet. However, the necessary ingredients are available and we outlined a plan how to build the wanted uniform model.
You can find the report at the RIVM website. It is in Dutch, with an English summary.
