According to Member State reports compiled by the European Environment Agency (EEA) in 2010, railway noise affects about 12 million EU inhabitants at day time, with a noise exposure above 55 dB(A), and about 9 million at night time, with a noise exposure above 50 dB(A).
The introduction of modern rolling stock will lower noise most significantly. On the short-run, the most important measure is replacing the cast iron by composite brake blocks as the most effective first step of source related noise reduction measures. Developing a regulation scheme for a staged process towards low-noise rolling stock is the heart of a rail noise abatement strategy, shows a study called “Reducing railway noise pollution” and published in 2012 by the Directorate General for Internal Policies of the European Union.
In fact, the real figures are undoubtedly higher since the EEA’s European noise mapping initiative concentrates on agglomerations with over 250,000 inhabi-tants and on main railway lines with over 60,000 trains per year. The railway noise problem is focused in Central Europe, where the majority of the affected citizens live and the volume of rail freight transport is the highest (mainly Germany, Italy and Switzerland, but traffic density is high also in Poland, Austria, the Netherlands and France, and noise mapping indicates that significant population is affected in Belgium and Luxembourg).
In order to analyse the noise situation in Europe, following current EC legislation, the member states have to provide noise maps and noise action plans. Noise action plans describe the measures taken to lower environmental noise for identified affected inhabitants. However, legal conditions differ widely across Europe as Member States have different limits or threshold limits for environmental noise emissions, and usually these limits are tested only when building new infrastructure or during major redevelopment.
The European Parliament and European Commission try to encourage Member States to take more action to reduce railway noise, for example, by introducing noise-dependent track pricing schemes. Such economic incentives (rail track charging differentiated according to noise emissions) can help stimulate the use of low-noise technology for the rolling stock, promote the use of routes which avoid hot spots for noise, as well as reduce operational routines and speeds in sensitive areas.
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