The main goal of this WP is improved understanding of the noise in curves, its prediction and reduction in urban and mainline situations. The work will focus on:

• Developing a new TWINS-based approach to predict rolling noise in curves with radius R> 150 m.
• Developing new models in an engineering tool to predict curve squeal and flange noise in critical curve situations.
• Testing noise mitigation measures through the developed tools with focus on urban rail.

Studying potential improvements of CNOSSOS-EU (curve noise factor) considering the developed models and tools.

The objectives of WP2 are:

• To improve the methodology for transposition of pass-by noise data between measurement sites.
• To assess uncertainties of pass-by noise measurements.
• To identify a methodology to acoustically certify freight wagons without the need for testing.

• To assess noise emissions of new propulsion technologies and propose limits where needed.

The purpose of WP3 is to facilitate the advancement and implementation of on-board rail roughness measurement systems within the context of European railways. WP3 aims to develop a harmonized approach in the form of a technical guideline and an open-source software toolbox that effectively aid the optimization of rail reprofiling to minimize noise impact. It will provide an industry-accepted methodology and tools to determine the effect of roughness on noise and vibration generation where the measurement system will provide comparable results that guarantee a practical level of accuracy and quality.

Noise and vibration abatement methods often introduce additional costs to the railway. It is therefore essential to demonstrate whether the benefits of these abatement methods outweigh these additional costs and to integrate noise and vibration abatement methods into asset management plans. WP4 addresses this question through the following objectives

• To quantify the noise and vibration reductions of a selected range of abatement methods and for different combinations of track components for a set of example scenarios.
• To determine the criteria necessary for a whole system evaluation.
• To quantify the financial value associated with environmental and health impacts of noise and/or vibration in a coherent way.
• To quantify the basic costs associated with each abatement method as well as the impact on RAMS and on the environment, in particular carbon emissions.
• To determine a methodology to optimise performance against all criteria, based on a combination of monetised cost-benefit analysis and multi-criteria analysis (MCA) where monetisation is not possible.
• To develop a web-based tool to support the whole system optimisation for noise, vibration, LCC and RAMS on railway tracks, with sufficient flexibility for use in different national/local contexts.

To test and demonstrate the tool for a series of case studies.

The main goal of WP5 and WP6 is the improvement and extension of the hybrid vibration prediction tool for holistic assessment of vibration impact developed in SILVARSTAR. The tool requires new simulation capabilities and complementary experimental data; the latter will be used to verify model predictions and to extend the experimental database embedded in the hybrid vibration prediction tool. The main objectives of WP5 are listed below

• To extend the model for vibration prediction for urban railways.
• To develop a track-independent vehicle indicator.
• To identify typical vibration emissions for different train categories and formulate potential suitable limit values.
• To extend the numerical database with soil impedance and transfer functions and to provide a methodology to assess parameter and model uncertainty.
• To compute building correction factors for a much wider building taxonomy.
• To perform vibration measurements on an urban railway network and a mainline railway for validation.

Results of this work will subsequently be embedded in the hybrid vibration prediction tool in WP6

WP6 also contributes to improving the hybrid vibration prediction tool developed in SILVARSTAR, not only with the integration of the work developed in WP5 but also with additional objectives listed below:

• To integrate existing databases with track, soil and building data.
• To further automate processing of large-scale projects.
• To apply a user-friendly graphical user interface (GUI) for the hybrid vibration prediction tool.
• To implement interfaces to commercial geographical information system (GIS) based software for noise and general environmental impact.
• To implement vibration prediction for urban areas (tram, metro, light rail).
• To implement the track-independent vehicle indicator (TVI).

• To implement uncertainty quantification.

WP7 is responsible for the operational and technical management of QuieterRail. Its main objective is to establish and maintain a flexible and efficient project management structure and processes together with the provision of an effective risk management strategy to avoid deviations from the work plan. The coordinator will establish a good communication channel with EU-RAIL to ensure the coordination with the funding entity.

The main objective of this work package is to ensure that the project results and outputs are disseminated widely to the target groups and effectively exploited.