Investigation of Differences in Wayside Ground Vibration Associated with Train Type

A dataset containing over a year of vibration information was collected adjacent to the rail corridor in Sydney. Vibration from one train type (Tangara trains) travelling on the track nearest to the vibration monitor was observed to be 5 dB higher on average than the vibration produced by newer generation Waratah trains. This observation is only partially explained by the 10% difference in unsprung mass. This paper describes the outcomes of investigations to understand the root cause of the higher Tangara train vibration levels. It is evident that these trains experience a much higher incidence of wheel flats than newer generation train types operating on the system.