Comparison of Cabin Noise of Airport Express Rail Systems

In this paper, the cabin noise of four airport express rail systems, namely the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT, the Hong Kong Airport Express, RER B service from Paris Gare du Nord to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, and the Shanghai Maglev, have been measured. These four airport express rail systems have different specifications and maximum speeds, ranging from 100 to 300 km/h. The results show a significant low-frequency noise content below 100 Hz, which would not be captured if the measurements were conducted in dB(A). The difference between L-eq in terms of dB(C) and dB(A) ranges from 11.3 to 17.0 dB. The maximum speed of the Taoyuan Airport MRT was found to be the lowest at 100 km/h and with the lowest L-eq in terms of 66.4 dB(A) and 81.4 dB(C). The Shanghai Maglev has a maximum speed of 300 km/h but a relatively low L-eq of 69.7 dB(A), although its top speed is almost three times the maximum of the other airport rail systems. It also has the lowest L-max, of 73.1 dB(A) among the four rail systems. Moreover, the Paris RER B railway system, with its top speed of 120 km/h, was measured to have the highest L-eq and L-max, values of 72.8 dB(A) and 83.8 dB(A), respectively.

Automated summary

This paper measures the cabin noise of four airport express rail systems and finds that there is significant low-frequency noise below 100 Hz which is not captured by dB(A) measurements. The specifications and maximum speeds of these systems have a significant impact on the noise levels.