Modeling of Train-Induced Environmental Vibrations from Railway Traffic: A State-of-the-Art Review

• • China's railway network reached 162,000 km by end-2024, including 48,000 km of high-speed rail, with 58 cities operating 12,161 km of urban rail transit; this scale amplifies environmental vibration exposure, demanding predictive models that can handle thousands of kilometers of track-soil-building interaction. • • The 1000-year-old Probhutaratna Pagoda in Beijing, situated 130 m from a major railway, showed vibration-induced degradation even though measured levels remained within regulatory thresholds, indicating that current standards may not protect historical masonry from long-term low-amplitude fatigue. • • In Xi'an, the 632-year-old Bell Tower experienced measurable vibration impacts from two spatially overlapping metro lines; despite steel spring floating slab tracks and speed restrictions, cumulative effects on ancient timber structures persisted, revealing that mitigation measures alone cannot fully eliminate degradation risks. • • Peking University laboratories reported visible image distortion in electron microscopes due to vibrations from Metro Line 4, impairing scientific measurement accuracy; this demonstrates that vibration criteria for sensitive equipment must be far stricter than human comfort thresholds, often requiring isolation systems with sub-micron displacement control.