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Rail noise

The NSW Government is implementing a comprehensive approach to managing the environmental impacts of noise and vibration from the NSW rail system. Effective management of rail noise requires the combined efforts of rail infrastructure owners and developers, rail operators, train manufacturers, regulatory and planning authorities, and the community. The key parts of this approach involve:

• implementing the Interim guidelines for the assessment of noise from rail infrastructure projects (in place since 2007 and now under review − see the Rail infrastructure noise guideline below)
• implementing the environmental planning guidelines for new residential developments along rail lines (pdf format, 4.42MB)
• developing a rail noise abatement program to mitigate noise for those acutely affected by it 
• advising the Australasian Railway Association on national rolling stock noise-emission standards.

The Office of Environment and Heritage and the Environment Protection Authority are involved in all these initiatives.

Rail infrastructure noise guideline: consultation draft

OEH has released for consultation a revised guideline which will replace the Interim guideline for the assessment of noise from rail infrastructure projects published in 2007. The revised guideline is called the Rail infrastructure noise guideline.

Its purpose is to assist the ongoing expansion of rail transport by streamlining approval processes for rail infrastructure. It focuses on managing the additional noise impacts stemming from redevelopment of rail lines or new rail lines and specifies noise and vibration ‘trigger levels’ for heavy and light rail projects in NSW.

Download the Draft rail infrastructure noise guideline.

See the information sheet summarising the key changes.

Public consultation

Comments marked ‘Draft rail infrastructure noise guideline’ must be received at the address below by Friday 30 March 2012.

Manager Noise Policy
Office of Environment and Heritage
PO Box A290
Sydney South NSW 1232

or send by email to: railnoise.guide@environment.nsw,gov.au

Following the consultation period, a final guideline will be issued that will replace the Interim guideline for the assessment of noise from rail infrastructure projects.

Your privacy

Please note that any submissions on the draft guideline, including your personal details, will be stored in the OEH records system. If you don’t want to have your personal details disclosed to members of the public, you can prevent this. Just indicate in your comments that you wish your personal details to remain confidential to OEH and not be available for public access.

Environmental assessment requirements for rail traffic-generating developments

Non-rail land-use developments that are likely to generate additional rail traffic were previously assessed with reference to the Environmental noise control manual. This manual is no longer in print and does not represent current government policy.

When reviewing the environmental assessments, environmental impact statements, statements of environmental effects, or reviews of environmental factors for land-use developments, OEH will assess these developments against the following requirements:

• The typical offset distance/s of sensitive receivers from the rail line/s that are likely to be affected by increased rail movements should be identified.
• The existing level of rail noise at the offset distance/s identified in point one above should be quantified using the noise descriptors LAeq,24hr and LAmax (95th percentile) dB(A).
• The cumulative rail noise level (i.e. from existing, plus proposed, rail movements) should be predicted using a calibrated noise model (based on predicted increased rail movements) at the offset distances identified above.
• The cumulative noise level should be compared with the rail noise assessment trigger levels: LAeq,24hr 60dB(A) and LAmax (95th percentile) 85dB(A).
• Where the cumulative noise level exceeds the noise assessment trigger levels, and project-related noise increases are predicted, all feasible and reasonable noise mitigation measures should be implemented. As a general principle, where the reduction of existing noise levels can be achieved through feasible and reasonable measures, a reduction in noise levels to meet the noise assessment trigger levels is the primary objective. In all cases where the LAeq noise level increases are more than 2dB(A), strong justification should be provided as to why it is not feasible or reasonable to reduce the increase.

Notes
A project-related noise increase is an increase of more than 0.5dB.

1. Ideally, the geographical extent of the rail noise assessment should be to where project-related rail noise increases are less than 0.5dB. This roughly equates to where project-related rail traffic represents less than 10 per cent of total line/corridor rail traffic.

2. General guidance on the concept of 'feasible and reasonable' can be obtained from OEH's Interim Construction Noise Guideline. However, in the context of rail noise, consideration of feasible and reasonable noise mitigation measures should extend, but not necessarily be limited, to:

• the use of best practice rolling stock, including only locomotives that have received an 'approval to operate on the NSW rail network' in accordance with the noise limits L6.1 to L6.4 in RailCorp (L12208.pdf, 309KB) and Australian Rail Track Corporation Ltd (L3142.pdf, 259KB) Environment Protection Licences or a Pollution Control Approval issued pursuant to the former Pollution Control Act 1970
• scheduling− limitmovementsduring more sensitive times, to the extent practicable
• using noise barriers and acoustic treatments.

Please note that the above criteria have been amended in the Draft rail infrastructure noise guideline. See Appendix 2 for details.