Vibration transfer from slab tracks on piled foundations

•The influence of the track structure, on top of soft soil, on vibration transfer to the free field is studied.•The track and free field response of a floating slab track on a piled foundation is compared to the response of a slab track on a piled foundation and a (floating) slab track.•Analysis in the frequency-wavenumber domain facilitates explaining the physical mechanisms underlying track and free field response.•The lowest vibration transfer is achieved for the floating slab track on a piled foundation, which performs significantly better at high frequencies.