Ground vibration boom Ground vibration boom Ground vibration boom is a phenomenon of very large increase in ground vibrations generated by high-speed railway trains travelling at speeds higher than the velocity of Rayleigh surface waves in the supporting ground. This phenomenon, which is similar to a sonic boom from supersonic aircraft, was theoretically predicted in 1994. Its first experimental observation took place in 1997-1998 on the newly built high-speed railway line in Sweden (from Gothenburg to Malmo) for high-speed trains X 2000. At some locations along this line characterised by very soft ground (near Ledsgard) the Rayleigh wave velocity was as low as
Speed of sound Speed of sound The speed of sound is the distance travelled per unit time by a sound wave as it propagates through an elastic medium. At , the speed of sound in air is about 343 meters per second (1,234.8 km/h; 1,125 ft/s; 767 mph; 667 kn), or a kilometre in or a mile in . It depends strongly on temperature, but also varies by several meters per second due to which gases are present. The speed of sound in an ideal gas depends only on its temperature and composition. The speed has a weak dependence on frequency and pressure