ACORD

ACOustics of Reprofiling and onboarRD monitoring of rail roughness

Project information

Acronym: ACORD
ACOustics of Reprofiling and onboarRD monitoring of rail roughness
Project director: Pinar Yilmazer
Project manager: Lorenzo Franzoni
Status: ongoing project
Project code: 2024/SUS/828

Project description

Railways are actively promoted by government agencies to achieve climate and energy targets aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (specifically SDGs 3, 9, 11, and 13) and the European Green Deal’s vision of zero pollution by 2050.
Existing mitigation measures (such as acoustic insulation, noise barriers, and dampers) are expensive but do not directly address the primary cause of rolling noise: the wheel/rail roughness combination.

The Phenomena study (published by EU DG ENV in 2021) identifies roughness reduction as the most cost-effective way to reduce rolling noise on railways.
The project, led by the International Union of Railways (UIC), addresses rail roughness specifically for noise reduction.

Unlike traditional track experts who approach roughness from a maintenance and operational safety perspective, this project emphasizes:
Developing a harmonized tool to evaluate the impact of rail reprofiling on noise, facilitating low-noise grinding processes.

Onboard monitoring of track acoustic quality to better understand roughness growth mechanisms and influence factors, enabling optimized noise reduction strategies .

Project objectives

The project aims to consult acoustic experts and to coordinate with track experts within relevant working groups of UIC Rail system. The project will therefore foster the exchange of knowledge of members in a global framework beyond a regional and national focus, while planning how acoustics engineer can contribute to existing maintenance and safety activities on noise reduction. The results of the project are expected to have a positive impact on the market and the reduction of maintenance costs.