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Tecnalia and Becsa develop systems to mitigate noise impact from railways in urban environments



The Tecnalia research and technological development centre and the infrastructure and construction specialist Becsa, which is part of the Simetría Group, has created a new start-up, called Acustrain, that will be dedicated to designing, manufacturing and installing noise barriers to mitigate the noise caused by railways in urban environments.


Tecnalia and Becsa develop systems to mitigate noise impact from railways in urban environments

(15/04/2021) 

The start-up has already completed its first installation at Ermua station, an ETS (Euskal Trenbide Sarea) station. This is a low-level noise barrier installation that is 310 metres long. It covers both directions of traffic where conventional shielding solutions cannot be installed.

The installation, with which the maximum noise pollution levels for urban environments have not been exceeded in any case, has won several awards, including the international award for innovation in the public sector at the prestigious Quality Innovation Awards.

Pioneering solution

The new development is a low-level modular noise barrier system of less than 1.5 metres in height, based on a concrete structure, with noise absorption capacity provided by the geometric design of the front plate and the addition of absorbent material. It is designed to reduce the propagation of noise generated from the contact and vibration of the lower elements of a train and the elements that make up the track, predominantly in those sections where the speed is below 150 km/h, i.e. in urban environments.

Acustrain's solution does not require additional foundations, as it is anchored by the solution itself and complies with the railway legislation for elements that are positioned close to the track. Consequently, the solution respects the clearances imposed by operators and does not hinder evacuation in the event of an incident.

In addition, it solves the complexity of being installed on curved sections and sections with changes in gradient; it achieves noise attenuation equal to or greater than that obtained with a conventional acoustic screen located further away from the source; it is less expensive than a conventional barrier of the same effectiveness and, due to its low height and appropriate weight, it has less visual impact and does not pose a problem to the impact of wind loads.

 

 


 
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