According to a report on the external costs of transports, analysts have reconfirmed the advantages of the railway transport compared to the other transport modes as regards the social and environmental impact
The study “External Costs of Transport in Europe”, elaborated for UIC by a team of consultants including CE Delft, INFRAS and ISI, brings to the attention of decision makers the fact that the value of the external costs issued by road and air transport, both in the passenger and freight sector, is four time higher than that generated by railway transport. Therefore, the approach on the issue of external costs can function by establishing a monetary value for each impact of the transport sector – noise, carbon dioxide, air pollution, accidents. At the European level, the external costs of the transport reach over EUR 500 Billion (approx. 4% of GDP). “This landmark report is yet another clear indication of the benefits of the rail sector in environment, social and economic terms. It shows that rail has a key role to play in the development of a green economy”, declared UIC Director General Jean-Pierre Loubinoux.
The latest revision of the Eurovignette Directive (completed in 2011) allows Member States to calculate tolls for road freight transport that include charges for air pollution and for the generated noise.
The noise generated by transports induces perturbations resulting in social and economic costs. Firstly, noise levels above 85 dB(A) can cause hearing damage and levels above 60 dB(A) may increase the risk of cardiovascular and nerve diseases and last but not least they can also result in a decrease of subjective sleep quality. These impacts result in various types of costs, like medical costs, costs of productivity loss and the costs of increased mortality.
To estimate the average noise costs for the various transport modes, the report considers the estimation of the number of people affected by noise per vehicle type (the calculation of the total noise costs is made according to the noise classes -55-59 dB(A), 60-64 dB(A), 65-69 dB(A), 70-74 dB(A) and more than 75 dB(A), the calculation by allocating the total noise costs to the various transport modes by using specific weighting factors (This allocation will be based on total vehicle kilometres). The third estimation concerns the total noise costs by multiplying the number of people affected by the noise costs per person exposed. Under the circumstances, for instance, the report mentions values for the traffic in Germany: to estimate the health costs a distinction was made between medical costs and costs of premature deaths and to estimate the latter a value of a life year lost of EUR 40,300 was used.
The annoyance cost values for rail traffic noise are set at noise levels 5 dB above the levels for road noise. The reason is that there is evidence that rail noise causes less annoyance than road noise at the same noise levels (in literature, there are discussions on the report of dB value between the two types of traffic) and, under the circumstances, “there is evidence that the railway traffic produces less discomfort than the road traffic at the same noise level”, mentions the report. Road transport is responsible for 90% of the noise costs. Passenger cars have the largest share (45%) and relative to the share in vehicle-kilometres a high share of noise costs is caused by HDV (+20%) and LDV and motorcycles/mopeds – each of them reaching approximately 12%.
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