ASSESSMENT OF NOISE ENVIRONMENT IN A MAJOR RAILWAY STATION IN INDIA

To assess the degree of noise pollution in relation to the health and safety of the employees and commuters, a study on the Levels of noise originating from various locomotives and also from different other sou rces was undertaken at Kalupur railway station of Gujarat State in Ind ia. The sound pressure levels (SPL) were measured on platforms, Noise dose count was monitored on a ticket collector on duty for 8 h. The re sults reflected that the SPLs in the platforms well exceeded the day t ime noise exposure limit. Further, the SPLs produced by loudspeakers w ere high and those by train whistles were intensely high pitched. The noise dose count of the ticket collector was also in excess of ACGIH s tandard. All these suggest that the SPLs in the platforms can endanger the healthful living of the users. Suitable control measures have bee n suggested.