The research team will investigate the relationship between sound propagation and rail trespass strikes. This work will be conduct by a team of rail safety, travel behavior, and community outreach experts to accomplish the objectives set out for this research. The research team will establish a baseline scenario on public beliefs and attitudes about the danger of railroad environments, the characteristics of rail noise propagation, and the awareness of railroad trespassing laws through literature review and online survey. The researchers will also identify a comprehensive list of factors that affect rail noise propagation and select a set to be evaluated in the modeling effort. Working with the Steering and Implementation Committee (StIC), the NCAT team will collect field data, generate sound propagation models, test various scenarios based on factors identified earlier and visualize the sound propagation/decomposition processes. The research result will not only help engineers to improve their design but also educate the public on the dangers of rail trespassing behavior.
