Not all locomotives are equal, electric is much quieter than diesel
Both older DC and newer AC trains are effectively silent when coasting on a straight
The main sources of noise are cornering and braking. I live in a rare city that has narrow gauge for all of our rail, and am less than 200m from the busiest corridor in our state
I regret chosing an apartment on a tight bend (narrow gauge's bends are especially loud)
But if I were to live 500m away parallel to the track (as in, still 200m away from the track) the mostly AC electric trains going by every few minutes would be largely inaudible (<40dB)
My main point is tracks aren't loud, tight corners and areas around stops can be loud
I fear city planners aren't testing their decisions closely enough, though
Also, as a friend noticed when he bought a ver nice apartment next to the railroad is that they have to (at least in Sweden) maintain the tracks once a month. They do this by going very slowly with a special train that basically runs with the brakes on throwing sparks all over with all the noise you can imagine. And since it's going to slowly, they have to do it when there are the fewest number of other trains running, i.e. at three in the morning.
Both older DC and newer AC trains are effectively silent when coasting on a straight
The main sources of noise are cornering and braking. I live in a rare city that has narrow gauge for all of our rail, and am less than 200m from the busiest corridor in our state
I regret chosing an apartment on a tight bend (narrow gauge's bends are especially loud)
But if I were to live 500m away parallel to the track (as in, still 200m away from the track) the mostly AC electric trains going by every few minutes would be largely inaudible (<40dB)
My main point is tracks aren't loud, tight corners and areas around stops can be loud
I fear city planners aren't testing their decisions closely enough, though