International Journal of Environmental Science and Development

Abstract—Rail transport, being one of the major sources of ambient noise, causes an uncomfortable environment for the people living around railways. In Turkey, “Regulation on Assessment and Management of Environmental Noise” was published in 2010 in order to prevent noise-induced annoyance. In this study, preparation stages of generating a noise action plan was investigated by using case studies from Istanbul, which has not been applied to railway lines in Turkey yet. To this end, results from a detailed questionnaire, which examines effects of the noise on the people living around railways, were assessed, components of the study to reduce noise were described, a method of analysis was presented to design a noise barrier with cost effective considerations. Despite noise barrier is an expensive measure, it was one of the measures given on the local regulation, and therefore it was applied in this study. This study is intended to provide a roadmap for decision-makers and practitioners.

Index Terms—Noise, pollution, railway.

Göksel Demir, Ümmügülsüm Alyüz, Hatice Eser Ökten, and Şenay Yalçın are with the Bahcesehir University Environmental Engineering Department, Besiktas Istanbul, Turkey (e-mail: goksel.demir@eng.bahcesehir.edu.tr, ummugulsum.alyuz@bahcesehir.edu.tr, eser.okten@bahcesehir.edu.tr, senay.yalcin@bahcesehir.edu.tr).
Ayşe Kablan is with Turkey Republic State Railway Department, Turkey (e-mail: kablanayse@gmail.com).
Yaşar Avşar is with Yildiz Technical University Environmental Engineering Department, Turkey (e-mail: yavsar@gmail.com.tr).

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Cite: Göksel Demir, Ayşe Kablan, Yaşar Avşar, Ümmügülsüm Alyüz, Hatice Eser Ökten, and Şenay Yalçın, "Railway Noise Pollution Prevention in Terms of Regulations: Case Study of Istanbul," International Journal of Environmental Science and Development vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 198-202, 2016.