To provide information about reactions to railway noise by: describing the relationship between railway noise levels and annoyance, identifying other personal and community characteristics contributing to railway noise annoyance, identifying characteristics of railways affecting noise annoyance, and comparing the impact of railway noise with that from other noise sources. Variables Three types of data were collected: social survey interview data, railway noise data, and neighbourhood observation data. Interview data included measures of annoyance with railway noise, attitudes towards other aspects of railways, attitudes towards noise generally, and demographic characteristics. In order to conduct certain methodological studies, two forms of the questionnaire were asked with slightly different orders for the presentation of the questions.