van Kempen, EHoekstra, JSimon, SKok, Avan de Kassteele, Jvan Wijnen, H2025-01-312025-01-312025-01-3110.21945/RIVM-2024-0052https://rivm.openrepository.com/handle/10029/628235In 2021, around 11% of people in the Netherlands aged 16 and over who lived within 300 metres of a railway line experienced high annoyance due to vibrations from railway traffic. This amounts to an estimated 126,500 people. Furthermore, 13% experienced high sleep disturbance due to such vibrations. The annoyance and sleep disturbance were mainly due to vibrations from passing freight trains. Areas in the vicinity of tunnels, railway bridges and parallel tracks were excluded from this estimation. The above describes the outcomes of a survey among more than 5,600 people. The survey area has a total population of over 1.1 million, who live in approximately 533,000 houses. In addition, people who are exposed to higher levels of vibrations or live closer to a railway line are more likely to report high annoyance due to vibrations from freight trains. The association between vibration levels, distance and annoyance is much less pronounced for passenger trains. In addition to the vibrations, there are social and personal factors that affect the extent to which people experience annoyance or sleep disturbance. An important factor is concern about property devaluation or property damage. Other factors that influence peoples’ experience include hearing, feeling or seeing windows, doors or crockery (‘rattle’). The extent to which people accept that trains cause vibrations and the expectations that they have about future vibration levels also play a role. RIVM therefore recommends that in future, policy regarding vibrations caused by trains, social and personal factors be taken into account. While there are several laws that regulate noise from trains, there are few, if any, when it comes to vibrations from trains. The outcomes of this study may serve as input for legislation in this area. This report is a translation of the RIVM-report “Hinder en slaapverstoring door trillingen van treinen. Resultaten van de Vervolgmeting ‘Wonen langs het spoor’”. This study was commissioned by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management. It follows up on a survey from 2013 and has confirmed many of the earlier outcomes. The latest survey was based on a model that is better able to predict exposure to vibrations.application/pdfenReport2025-01-31