Offering significant advantages to individual users as well as to the community at large, the use of railways, not least high-speed railways and rapid mass transportation systems in urban and sub-urban networks, is increasing worldwide. Many cities have accordingly encountered the problem that important infrastructure projects – involving railways or tramways – come close to densely populated areas or vibration-sensitive areas.
In industrial areas, although vibrations caused by the passage of rolling stock on a railway or tramway track may not immediately result in damage to buildings and their foundations, they are known to cause delicate machinery located inside buildings to malfunction. Equally important, in residential areas, the passage of rolling stock on railways or tramways, and the resulting generation of noise and vibration, may greatly annoy the people living alongside the railways, causing everything from discomfort to an adverse impact on the quality of life often resulting in increased levels of stress during daytime and sleeping problems during nighttime.
