The UIC Noise and Vibration (NV) Sector plays an important role in encouraging the effective management of railway noise and vibration, while raising the visibility of its members’ efforts to make railways all the more sustainable.

With the coming of the new year, the sector is delighted to announce that it’s upcoming biannual international event, the UIC Railway Noise Days, jointly organised with the UIC Rail System Forum, will be hosted as part of the UIC Sustainability Action Week. They will take place at UIC HQ in Paris on 28 February and 1 March 2023. Please follow the link to register now:

Register for the event and join us in Paris

Themes and content of the UIC Railway Noise Days

• Day 1: Being a responsible neighbour
  Representatives for various stakeholders will be working together to generate ideas using a solution-oriented approach. Taking place in an interactive hackathon format, this will encourage participants to apply their own expertise in new ways and to tackle issues from different perspectives. Through analysis and discussion, participants will work to identify the underlying causes and potential solutions from fresh perspectives, rather than relying solely on those used in their daily business. The high-level speakers and selected facilitators leading the hackathon will also provide further insight into the issues facing the different stakeholders. At the end of the event, experts from VibraTec and Atkins will present the results of two preliminary studies on the noise of stabled trains, and on health issues and irritation resulting from railway noise. The interactive workshop is also going to dedicate plenty of time for questions and discussions, as well as for networking possibilities during the breaks and lunch.

• Day 2: Technical initiatives for reducing railway noise
  The second day will be opened by a round table discussion with UIC Chairs from different acoustics and track engineering backgrounds and disciplines, followed by a debate on the issues that need to be addressed to achieve good technical solutions by fostering synergies and collaboration when considering both noise and track issues. The audience will then have ample opportunity to ask questions and raise issues. This will be followed by half a day of presentations by group leaders on the technical projects and working groups that UIC and its members are running.

What else to expect

The UIC Noise and Vibration Sector will present three new technical studies which were finalised under the NOVITÀ (Noise and Vibration Technical Advice) project in 2022:

• A report on “Nuisance and health effects of railway noise” (in collaboration with Atkins)
• A report on the “Management of noise from parked and stationary trains” (in collaboration with Vibratec)
• An IRS (International Railway Solution) and report as a LOWNOISEPAD project deliverable (in collaboration with SD&M)

Three UIC Noise Sector working groups (Acoustic Rail Roughness, Curve Squeal and Vehicle Noise) were recently created and their work to this point will also be presented. The workshop will, furthermore, provide an opportunity to discuss how to create a common language and guidelines with vibration experts, especially regarding vibration indicators, annoyance and disturbance, data collection to build a measurement database, and parametric excitation on track systems.

For more information regarding the Noise Days and the event programme please visit UIC Railway Noise Days, or for more information about the UIC Sustainability Action week please click this link.

Call for sponsors and media partners

Several sponsorship packages and options are available for the UIC Sustainability Action Week and especially for the Noise Days. Get in touch with sustainability at uic.org for more information and to present your activities in a dedicated conference booth while helping to host our programme.

Please consult the website for more information via this link.