Case Study: 30 years of vibration protection for the Philharmonic Hall Gasteig, Munich

Long-lasting quality of under ballast mats — even under extreme conditions.

The cultural centre “Am Gasteig” in Munich is situated next to the central tunnel of the Munich rapid transit railway system: the centre is also home to the philharmonic hall and the city library.

The railway line – a standard ballasted track with timber sleepers – is subjected to a load of around 150,000 metric tons a day and ranks as one of the busiest rapid transit railway lines in Germany. When the cultural centre was built in 1983, the planners had to ensure that the background noise level in the concert hall did not exceed the specified limit of 25 decibels when a train is passing so that the concert hall could also be used for recording.

To protect the noise-sensitive cultural centre from structure-borne noise emissions, the under ballast mats from Getzner were installed over a distance of 345 metres. Since 1983, they have been subjected to an extreme operating load of around 1,300 million tons and a variety of environmental influences in the track. In 2013, it was discovered just how effective they are in the long-term: the under ballast mats have reduced vibrations on this key route for over 30 years – and in turn the maintenance work and costs.