When a high-speed railway train enters a tunnel, a compression wave is generated ahead of the train and propagates along the tunnel, compressing and accelerating the rest air in front of the wave. At the exit of the tunnel, an impulsive wave is emitted outward toward the surrounding, which causes a positive impulsive noise like a kind of sonic boom produced by a supersonic aircraft. With the advent of high-speed train, such an impulsive noise can be large enough to cause the noise problem, unless some attempts are made to alleviate its pressure levels. In the purpose of the impulsive noise reduction, the present study tested the effect of porous walls on the compression wave propagating into a model tunnel. Experimental results were obtained using a shock tube with an open end. The results showed that the cavity/porous wall is very effective for the compression wave with a large nonlinear effect. The porosity of 30% is most effective for attenuation and pressure gradient reduction of the compression wave front. Also the impulsive noise reduction increases with increasing the length and height of the cavity, compared with the tunnel equivalent diameter.