Evaluation of the sound impact of the urban train and its social implications: analysis of the San José – Tres Ríos section

Abstract

The sound impact of the urban passenger train is a phenomenon little studied in the country and in Latin America. In the particular case of Costa Rica, the train was reactivated without considering aspects such as the development of land use in the surroundings, so there is a potential impact on the population that for years lived next to inactive railway lines. The methodology followed combined field measurements at key locations for each station studied, geographic information systems, and opinions of the populations involved through surveys applied to users, neighbors, and merchants in the area of direct influence (ADI). The results show that the levels of noise pollution produced in the event of arrival and departure of the train in the stations of the San José - Tres Ríos branch exceed those allowed by law in at least 10% of the time. In addition, by intertwining the field data with the perception study, the sensory effect of noise was quantified. The main findings show that in general all populations feel a significant sound impact that affects their quality of life and the quality of service; that the people who live or work in points closer to the stations have felt a decrease in the acoustic environmental quality and that promoting a change in planning oriented towards this means of transport can be a solution to the problem.