China Builds a Sound Barrier to Protect Birds from Train Noise

A sound barrier has been built in Jiangmen, Guangdong Province, China to prevent high-speed rail noise from affecting birds in wetlands that create habitats for more than 30 thousand birds.

The sound attenuating barrier was designed for two kilometers as part of the 355 kilometer-long Jiangmen-Zhanjiang high-speed train line.

The high-speed train line passes 800 meters from the middle of the bird habitat known as the “Bird Paradise”. An island inside the government-protected park has a dense banyan tree forest nesting in dozens of bird species.

The noise barrier, built in three months, cost 187 million yuan (US $ 28 million). Inside the barrier, the 100 sound absorber was installed, each with an operational life of 42.260 years. The barrier was built to withstand very high typhoon.

The researchers measured the change in the volume of sound in the middle of Bird Paradise as the high-speed train passed after the barrier was built. The barrier was so effective that the sound only increased by 0,2 decibels while the train was passing, so the train noise actually disappeared.