Environmental noise is a significant environment problem all over the European Union. Reducing the noise generated by railway traffic is one of the European priority mainly due to the pressure from the public opinion and from the perspective of ensuring railway traffic interoperability in Europe, as well as the need to boost traffic following the implementation of European policies on combined transport.
A European Commission Communication on the measures to reduce the noise generated by railway transport entered force in 2008 since the contribution of railway transport to phonic pollution is significant and 10% of people are exposed to levels of noise which exceed the “serious disturbance” threshold. The social costs of the noise generated by road and railway traffic all over the EU was estimated in 2011 to EUR 40 Billion a year, 90% of which are associated to passenger transport vehicles and freight vehicles. They represent an approx. 0.4% of the Union’s GDP. According to the White Paper on Transport 2011, if measures are not taken, the external costs of transport noise will increase to around EUR 20 Billion by 2050.
In Europe, a conclusion was reached that freight transport is the main cause of noise problems, followed by high and very high-speed transport and interurban railway transport.
According to the believes of the European Commission’s railway noise Work Group, in order to reduce railway transport noise, it is necessary to deal with infrastructure-related problems (for example, the grinding of the rails and using noise shock absorbers for rails), as well as additional activities for consolidating rolling stock dedicated measures (retrofitting freight wagons with brake shoes made of composite materials, an activity as expensive for freight transport operators as it is efficient, a topic to be debated in a future issue of Railway PRO Freight & Logistics). Nevertheless, the Commission encourages the parallel implementation by member states and the railway sector.
Also, a state aid for interoperability can be granted (Community guidelines on state aid for railway undertakings, adopted by the European Commission in April 2008), if this can contribute to eliminating the technical barriers on the European market of railway services. In cases such as these, eligible costs cover all noise reductions investments in both infrastructure and rolling stock. An alternative environment protection state aid could also be a solution.
Due to the complexity of the railway transport network and the need to ensure the interoperability of national networks, a national strategy for reducing the noise generated by railway traffic should be strictly integrated in the European strategy for ensuring the acceptability of the solutions applied on the territory of another country as well and in order to be able to access significant structural funds in this field of activity.
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