IHS Inc. The Source for Critical Information and Insight
All Industries |  Change

Advanced Search
 
 

European Rail Sector Supports Railway Noise Abatement Initiative

August 28, 2007 // Published as a news service by IHS

 
Tools for Engineers
IHS sells flexible standards collections and software to maximize your workflow.
To learn more, and for a free quote, please complete the form below.
Network Rail Standards
U.K. National Hazard Directory
EU Directives
info4rail.com Custom Portal
IHS Standards Expert - Standards DB
Jane's World Railways
Jane's Transport Finance
BSI Collections
ASTM Collections
IEEE Collections
First Name:

Last Name:

Email address:
The European rail sector came out in support of the European Commission (EC) commitment to the topic of retrofitting existing rail freight wagons in order to reduce noise emission.

In their joint contribution to a commission consultation, several rail transport associations requested that noise abatement measures must not jeopardize the sector's competitiveness and the railways' role in a sustainable transport system, including:

  • Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER).
  • European Rail Infrastructure Managers (EIM).
  • European Rail Freight Association (ERFA).
  • International Union of Railways (UIC).
  • International Union of Private Wagons (UIP).
  • International Union of combined Road-Rail transport companies (UIRR).

While the railways order all new vehicles with "silent" composite brake blocks, the challenge is to retrofit the existing fleet of freight wagons.

Today, about 600,000 freight wagons are in operation in Europe. The cost of retrofitting a vehicle with composite brake blocks amounts to €4500 per wagon.

At the same time, according to a recent CER/UIC study, the 25 member states of the European Union (EU-25) are expected to invest a total of €10 billion in passive noise abatement measures such as noise screens and building insulation.

However, various studies demonstrated that allocating funds to rail freight wagon retrofitting with composite brake blocks would be more cost-efficient than investing into passive noise abatement measures.

The rail freight sector requested that the commission provide financial schemes to enable public investments in rolling stock retrofitting, which according to the rail sector, would help EU-25 save money.

The stakeholders reject any legally binding measures that would create a new financial burden for the industry leading to increased costs.

Source: International Union of Railways (UIC).

ENGINEERING STADNARDS NEWS
September 3, 2008
New EU Rules on Pesticide Residues in Food Become Effective
A revised food safety regulation from the European Commission (EC) on allowable pesticide residues entered into force on September 1. ... more
September 2, 2008
ISO, IAF Announce Schedule for Implementation of Accredited Certification to ISO 9001:2008
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) agreed on an implementation plan to make ... more
August 29, 2008
NSF Int'l Develops Certification Services for PVC Water Main Pipe
Requests from the plumbing industry prompted NSF International to expand its services for polyvinyl chloride (PVC) water main piping products ... more
August 29, 2008
DIN Updates Standard on Medical Device Labeling
The Deutsches Institut für Normung e. V. (DIN) published a revised edition of standard DIN EN 980, Symbols for use in the labeling of medical ... more
August 29, 2008
Belgium Alerts EC About Release of Radioactive Iodine
On August 28, Belgium sent an alert concerning a radiological incident, classified at level 3 on the International Nuclear Event Scale, at the ... more
Show All..