Metro Rail Noise Analysis and Designing of Noise Barrier Along Selected MRTS Corridor in Delhi

Noise has become an unwanted part of today’s urban life. Rapid urbanization and, in turn, an increase in the number of different transport modes in megacities have raised the noise pollution problem. Different countries have formulated rules and guidelines to control and mitigate noise levels up to a certain level to minimize harmful impacts associated with high noise pollution. Various approaches are applied to reduce the noise level as per the geographical, geospatial, and traffic conditions of a country's particular location. These approaches may vary from location to location due to noise level dependence on several factors like the source of noise, distance between source and receiver, background noise, and meteorological and geospatial conditions. This study applies the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) manual guidelines to analyze and design a noise barrier for the selected corridors of the Delhi Metro Rail Transit System (MRTS). Field measurements were carried out to collect the noise level and other required data. The maximum noise level (86.6 dB) was observed at the Rithala metro station. Barrier height was optimized, keeping in mind the barrier's insertion loss and allowed noise level by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), India. The developed model was validated using the experimental data. Study results suggest that the FTA model gives satisfactory results for noise level \({L}_{eq}\) calculation, and it can be applied successfully to design the noise barrier for the Delhi metro.