ᐅ Living Next to a Noise Barrier Wall (Railway)

mikiliki1232 schrieb:
Anyone here with experience regarding this?

I lived for several years in a house situated about 5m (16 feet) from the railway tracks. However, it was on a freight-heavy line along the Rhine corridor. There was no noise barrier. After a short while, you stopped noticing the trains.

BUT: Iron particles settle everywhere and naturally start to rust. Despite frequent cleaning, especially the roof windows became obscured within a few years. The facade, window frames, and so on developed a slight reddish tint. The worst affected, however, were the cars. It’s a huge effort to clean the paint, rubber seals, and windows from rust particles that basically corrode their surfaces.

mikiliki1232 schrieb:

We were told that the first row would be quieter than the following rows. Somehow, I can’t quite believe that.
Also, I think you will still feel vibrations.

What do you expect, all the promises, stories, and arguments… they are all salespeople trying to sell something. They would probably even promote a snow-free plot at the North Pole.

We have lived next to railway tracks for 14 years. You get used to it, and we don’t have any noise barriers.
But we would never build that way.

My only advice is to visit the site at different times, sit on the plot, and enjoy the “quiet.” Get the timetables—what, when, how, and how often trains run on those tracks.

Also, check the traffic routes and roads. What frustrates us even more than the noise are the level crossings. Our village has three of them. If a commuter train passes every 10 minutes in both directions, the barriers are down more often than they are up. I don’t want to calculate how many months we’ve ended up waiting stupidly at those crossings.

If only a tram runs there, then it is very unlikely that anything else will ever run on those tracks. Definitely not a freight train, as that depends on the type of rails. However, if it is a commuter train (S-Bahn), then that is a different matter... The airborne noise is well reduced by the noise barrier. However, structure-borne noise and possible vibrations are not reduced at all. It is really helpful to check and listen to this in advance.

We are building directly next to the railway tracks. The building permit / planning permission includes several conditions (sound insulation requirements and ventilation) that lead to additional costs for:

- Wall construction
- Windows and shutters
- Roof slopes
- Ventilation system

This quickly adds up to more than 30,000 EUR (over $30,000). Depending on the location within Baden-Württemberg, this is not much compared to the land prices.

Vibrations can be felt very slightly when standing at the property boundary and focusing on it, but not inside the house (in the shell stage). Trains are practically inaudible inside the house, and I don’t mind them in the garden—I actually like trains.

We also spent time on the property at different times of the day and observed the situation. We talked to the neighbors as well. Everyone says they don’t notice the trains, even when the windows are fully open at night in summer. I don’t fully believe that, since those houses are older and do not meet the new standards by far, but it is interesting nonetheless.

On the other hand, we have a central location near the station with no car traffic and idyllic quiet that is only interrupted for about 5 seconds every 10 minutes. We made a conscious decision for this. In contrast, we find trucks, tractors, or even moderate but regular car traffic to be disturbing—and fortunately, we don’t have any of that.

Every ten minutes? I do wish you well, but sometimes I think people just try to put a positive spin on it...

I would go crazy...

Yes, every 10 minutes. Or more precisely, 6 trains per hour. 2 regional express trains per hour in each direction and one regional train. I know the timetable by heart.