LIFE SNEAK PROJECT

The main challenge of the LIFE SNEAK project is the reduction of noise from road traffic that mainly affects densely populated urban areas, such as that of Florence, where the noise and vibrations produced by the tram overlap with the noises produced by road traffic. This will be achieved by means of low-noise/vibration surfaces and retrofitting solutions with life cycle costs comparable to those of traditional surfaces, obtaining a substantial reduction in noise.
The main objectives are:

• reduction of noise deriving from the superposition of air-borne noise produced by the wheel-rail and pavement-tire interaction and ground/structure-borne noise deriving from the same interactions that propagate through the ground and the road superstructure;
• use of “quiet pavements” to mitigate air-born noise by rail-wheel and pavement-tyre, also by minimising pavement-tyre interaction effects and their propagation;
• reduction of squeal noise due to contact between the rail and the wheel through a system of sound-absorbing panels (made of recycled material) to be applied on the tram (bogie skirts) and evaluation of the effectiveness of a prototype of watering system to be installed on trams;
• reduction of annoyance due to noise and vibrations generated by roads and tramways;
• promotion at European level of the proposed solutions for noise pollution;
• integrate the vehicle noise emission databases defined by Directive (EU) 2015/996 with the emission data of the straight and curved tram collected in the pilot study with particular reference to the screeching conditions currently not considered by the Directive.

The project is in line with the provisions of Directive 2002/49/EC "on the assessment and management of environmental noise - Statement by the Commission in the Conciliation Committee on the Directive on the assessment and management of environmental noise" and the European Green Deal (COM/2019/640 final).