The European policies are focused on improving the quality of air, reducing the noise level, organising the transport sector and integrating the infrastructure and vehicle usage. In the context in which the social costs which result from the noise emission in rail transport is of EUR 40 Billion/year in the European Union, and while the road sector is accountable for most of these emissions, rail transport plays a major role in the efforts made to protect the environment and to develop sustainable cities.
The benefits of rail transport are very clear when it comes to the quantity of fuel used in the transport activity, air pollution and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, traffic decongestion and ensuring a high level of safety. On the other hand, the noise caused by railway activities has adverse effects on the residents who live near the railway tracks. Seeing as most countries focus on rail transport and develop their railway infrastructure, the objective would be to identify and implement proper measures to reduce the noise emissions caused by rolling stock or by the track-wheel contact.
Therefore, an efficient noise reduction management in rail transport should be based on the joint efforts of infrastructure managers, railway operators, rolling stock manufacturers, developers and regulatory bodies. Authorities are currently developing and implementing joint measures to better manage the impact of the noise emissions on the environment and on the inhabited areas located near railway points.
Regulations stipulate a maximum noise level of 60-65 dB in open space; however the perception is influenced by the components of those 24 hours: day, evening, night (Lden). In case of noise emissions, 12 hours are allocated to daytime, 4 hours in the evening and 8 hours at night. According to UIC, evening noise levels are penalised by 5 dB and night noise levels are penalised by 10 dB reflecting a perceived increase in sensitivity to noise during those periods. The 5 dB evening penalty means that every evening train is judged to make the same noise as more than 3 day trains with the same basic noise characteristics and every night train is judged to make the same noise as 10 day trains or more than 3 evening trains which have the same basic noise characteristics. The highest noise level is caused by freight trains which, faced with a deficient infrastructure, expose approximately 35 million EU citizens to a level of up to 55 dB. In the context in which freight volumes have increased during 1993-2008 by 42.3% (from 205 billion tones to 292.4 billion tones in the EU), and seeing as estimates show constant increase in rail freight traffic, the noise level will continue to be an issue (trains with more rail cars or the train frequency will increase).
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