Assessing Noise from Light Rail Vehicles Idling at Termini in NSW, Australia

Light rail vehicles will often idle with their air conditioners running at terminus locations that may be located near sensitive receivers due to network constraints. This creates a pseudo-stationary noise source with similar level and characteristics to industrial air conditioners that can result in disturbance and complaints from nearby sensitive receivers. However, in practice in the state of New South Wales (NSW), Australia, this pseudo-stationary noise source is commonly assessed against airborne noise criteria for transportation noise. This is due to the Conditions of Approval on the Sydney Inner West Light Rail Extension project explicitly delineating noise produced by light rail vehicles from other sources. This interpretation has been applied on all subsequent light rail projects in NSW, which have assessed this noise source at termini against the Rail Infrastructure Noise Guideline (RING) requirements. The Noise Policy for Industry (NPfI) has been applied to other noise sources on these projects, specifically fixed equipment at stops and all noise sources at stabling facilities (including light rail vehicle air conditioning noise and traffic movements within the boundary of the facility). This paper examines the policy overlap between the RING and the NPfI that makes both documents potentially applicable to noise from light rail air conditioners when idling at termini, depending on interpretation and specific project conditions of approval. It also presents a hypothetical assessment of typical light rail activities near termini against both the RING and NPfI, to demonstrate the potential differences in project outcomes between the applications of the two documents. An example of a compromise that acknowledges the pseudo-stationary nature of the noise source as well as the benefits that public infrastructure provides relative to industrial facilities is also suggested, in lieu of a separate threshold or policy for this very specific circumstance.