The “EuropeTrain” test train has been travelling across Europe since December 2010 to test low-noise brakes equipped with composite “LL” brake blocks” in view of approval for mass production and retrofitting of the existing European wagon fleet.

EuropeTrain is a project managed by UIC on behalf of the international railway community. To date, 29 railway companies, four industry suppliers and the sector organisations UIC, CER and EIM have signed the resolution for the preparation of EuropeTrain. This UIC project is managed by Johannes Gräber from Deutsche Bahn.
EuropeTrain’s sixteenth and final run started last Saturday; it is the second Austrian transalpine loop, and is combined with a summer loop in Hungary.

After four weeks of intensive activities in the DB Systemtechnik test centre, including several noise measurement runs on 24 August, the train resumed its travels on 1 September, running from Minden to Salzburg via Hannover, Würzburg and Munich. The train was handed over to Rail Cargo Austria yesterday evening and arrived in Salzburg around 10 pm, from where the train will complete the Austrian loop five times, totalling approximately 5,000 km and running on high-gradient sections such as Tauern and Semmering. Next weekend the train will be transferred to Hungary via Hegyeshalom for another 5,000 km run, managed by RCH and MAV. The return to Minden via Austria is scheduled for mid-September.

Pictures and the latest information on the EuropeTrain project can be found under http://EuropeTrain.uic.org