AIL Sound Walls Silent Protector to reduce rail noise at new Chicago test track facility

September 10, 2018

A new rail car manufacturing facility on Chicago’s Southeast side includes a test track area that required an effective sound barrier wall to keep noise within ordinance levels for nearby residents.

AIL Sound Walls beat out several other noise wall options

Several wall systems were considered — from concrete to wood and even steel paneled systems. AIL’s PVC Sound Walls were selected for being lightweight, long-lasting, acoustically effective and easy to install on this site.

Foundations were tricky as there was a fairly high water table in the low-lying site. We looked at a number of options with the contractors to ensure we provided the most cost-effective installation. In the end, we designed an economical flange-mounting attachment for the concrete piers.

AIL Sound Walls well-proven in other rail facilities
No doubt our project partners were impressed with our recent railway sound barrier wall project history that includes other test track facilities in Washington, DC, and Ottawa, Ontario, along with other projects in Houston, Vancouver, Toronto and Maryland.

The $100 million facility is owned by CRRC Sifang North America, a subsidiary of the Chinese state-owned company. Their $1.3 billion contract to build 846 new rail cars for the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) marks the first time in over 50 years that rail cars have been built in the Chicago area. The plant will employ about 170 skilled workers and production will begin in early 2019. The facility will begin testing the new car prototypes later that year and the cars will be in service with the CTA by 2020. CRRC also has a contract to build cars for Boston and is bidding on doing the same for San Francisco.

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