Reducing noise from trams in

cities
Silence Training Workshop, Warsaw 14 November 2007

Anders Frid, Bert Stegemann

Bombardier Transportation
 Overview

1. Background –
Trams and LRVs
Noise from trams in general
2. Activities in the Silence project
Ranking of noise sources for exterior noise
passby and standstill

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 Background

• Number of tramway systems are

increasing in cities over the world
– 300 systems in the 70’s
– 360 systems today
• Low floor trams increasingly popular → all
equipment put on the roof
• New energy saving concepts

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 Noise from trams

• Curve squeal noise due to

sharp bends
• Rolling noise due to poorly
maintained wheels and tracks
• Noise from ventilation and
climate systems
• Noise from drive system
(electric equipment and motors)

Examples of very
poor tracks
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 Customer requirements / VDV154

• VDV154 : Recommendation for noise limits for mass transit

vehicles issued by the German association VDV
• De facto standard for tram contracts in Germany and becoming
frequently used also in other European countries
Interior Noise
Passenger area (standstill) 62
Passenger area (60 km/h) 70
Driver’s cab (standstill)
(full/part ventilation) 55 / 62
Driver’s cab (60 km/h) 65
Exterior noise
Standstill (1.2m / 3.5m mic height) 60 / 63
Passby (60 km/h) 79
Starting 75

Exterior mic distance 7.5m

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LpAeq for all cases except “starting” (LpAmax)
 What are Trams and
Light Rail Vehicles?

Trams and light rail vehicles are rail-bound vehicles which operate
within towns and their immediate surroundings.

Typical Criteria of Trams LRVs

Î Compression strength < 40 t < 60 t
Î Width 2.10 – 2.65 m 2.65 m
Î Axle load ≤ 10 - 12 t ≤ 12 t
Î Max. speed ≤ 70 km/h ≤ 80 - 100 km/h
Î Length 15 - 60 m 25 - 40 m
Î Entrance height 200 - 350 mm 350 - 1,000 mm
above TOR above TOR
Î Network integrated into on segregated
urban traffic tracks

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 Passenger Capacities in Urban and
Suburban Transport

10000
Passengers per direction and hour

Metro
Metro

8000 Metro
Commuter
LRV Train
Commuter
6000 LRV
Train

Tram
Tram
Tram
4000

2000 Bus
Bus

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Average traveling speed in km/h

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 Examples of Bombardier trams
FLEXITY Outlook FLEXITY Classic FLEXITY Swift FLEXITY Link

100% Low floor 70% Low floor High floor (Köln, Germany) Low floor
(Linz, Austria) (Frankfurt, Germany) (Saarbrücken, Germany)

100% Low floor 70% Low floor Low floor (Stockholm, Sweden)
(Brussels, belgium) (Dresden, Germany)

100% Low floor 70% Low floor Low floor (Minneapolis, USA)
(Milano, Italy) (Krakow, Poland)

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 Noise sources for typical
high floor tram

HVAC
Noise source in right-
HVAC
Driver’s cab Passenger area hand side car same as in
left hand side car

Wheel-rail Traction motor Wheel-rail

Drive system Converter

Standstill Starting Running

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 Silence WP E1 objective

• To identify, quantify and rank the noise

sources for modern trams and metros
• Exterior noise considered (not interior
noise)
• The Bombardier Flexity Outlook T3000
tram in Brussels was selected as one
application

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 Silence application case:
T3000 tram in Brussels
• Delivered to the city of Brussels (STIB) autumn 2005
• Member of the Bombardier Flexity Outlook family
• 100% low-floor tram

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 Layout of noise
sources in T3000

HVAC 1 DPU BNU HVAC 2

Symmetry plane
Traction motor & gearbox
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 Resilient wheels

Resilient
rubber
layer
Radial mode
810 Hz (n = 2)

TWINS software used for

rolling noise analysis

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 Traction equipment
• VEM / Flender compact unit
• Self ventilated motor
• Lab tests indicate a 50log(v) speed
dependence on the noise
• Small load dependence detected on
the noise
110

100

90
LwA in dB bezogen auf 1 pW

80

70

60

50

40

Motor+gearbox in acoustic lab

Gesamt
50

63

80

100

125

160

200

250

315

400

500

630

800

1000

1250

1600

2000

2500

3150

4000

5000

6300

8000

10000

12500

Terzband-Mitten-Frequenz in Hz

Example of typical Lw spectrum set-up

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 Source identification –
stationary tests
65 Cab HVAC 65
Passenger HVAC
60 60
55 55
Sound pressure level [dB(A)]

Sound pressure level [dB(A)]

50 50

45 45

40 40

35 35

30 30
1.75m/3.5m (meas)
1.75m/3.5m (meas) 25
25 7.5m/3.5m (calc)
7.5m/3.5m (calc)
20 20 7.5m/3.5m (meas)
7.5m/3.5m (meas)
7.5m/1.2m (calc)
7.5m/1.2m (calc) 15
15 7.5m/1.2m (meas)
7.5m/1.2m (meas)
10
10 2 3
2 3 10 10
10 10
Frequency [Hz]
Frequency [Hz]

Grid of nine (3 x 3) microphones close to each

source used to derive sound power and directivity
HVAC 1 DPU BNU HVAC 2

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 Passby tests - wayside and
bogie microphones

100
Two speeds: 40 km/h
90 and 60 km/h
Sound pressure level [dB(A)]

80

70
Speed dependence:
60
30log(v)
50
Bogie - 60 km/h
Bogie - 40 km/h
This indicates that
40 Wayside 7.5m - 60 km/h
Wayside 7.5m - 40 km/h
rolling noise
30
10
2
10
3 dominates
Frequency [Hz]

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 Wheel and rail roughness
20

Roughness (dB re. 1 micron)

10

-10

-20
Power bogie B Trailer bogie
-30 Power bogie A Rail
prEN ISO3095
-40

160
125
100

6,3

3,1
2,5
1,6
31,

12,
80
63
50
40
25
20
16
10
8
5
4

2
Wavelength, Third Octave Band (mm)

Power wheel defects

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 Calculated wayside SPL (7.5m)
85 85
80 80
75 75
Sound pressure level [dB(A)]

Sound pressure level [dB(A)]

70 70
65 65
60 60

55 55

50 50

45 Calculated Total 45 No skirts - 60 km/h

Calculated Traction motor Skirts - 60 km/h
40 40
Calculated Wheel-rail No skirts - 40 km/h
35 35 Skirts - 40 km/h
Measured without skirts
30 30
2 3 2 3
10 10 10 10
Frequency [Hz] Frequency [Hz]

• TWINS calculation for wheel-rail

• Lab-measured SWL for traction equipment

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 Wayside SPL (7.5m) at
different sites
One task of the ”Silence” project is also to
measure the noise in typical urban conditions
Sound pressure level (dBA)

80,0

70,0
Switch 28 km/h
60,0 Curve 12 km/h
Crossing 28 km/h
50,0
Ref. track 40 km/h
40,0

30,0
50

100

200

400

800

1600

3150

6300

Frequency (Hz)

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 Mitigation measures
Calculated passby at 60 km/h
• Resilient wheels (wheels are 85

also prepared to mount 80

additional absorbers to prevent

LAmax (dBA)
squeal noise if necessary) 75

• Bogie shrouds 70

• For rolling noise, the track 65

contribution dominates over
the wheel contribution by 60
Total Traction Wheel Track
roughly 10 dB, which means motor
that any measures to reduce
Rough track & power wheel roughness
rolling noise applied to the
ISO3095 track & trailer wheel roughness
wheel will have no effect on
the total noise

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 Conclusions
• Baseline tests on Brussels Flexity Outlook tram carried
out to rank noise sources
• Roof-mounted sources (HVACs, converters) found
negligible to the passby wayside noise
• Track noise dominating when running on straight track
• Insertion loss of bogie shrouds quantified
• No curve squeal occurred during tests (moist weather)
• Measures to mitigate curve squeal exist if necessary
– lubrication
– Friction modifiers
– Wheel absorbers

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