Is the railway a good neighbour?
Transport noise is one of the main sources of environmental noise. It is essential that our railways grow in capacity to provide sustainable mobility, but with this brings a risk that rail related emissions of noise and vibration could also increase, and so the effects that has upon our neighbours. Although the Quieter Routes concept of the revised TSI Noise will be put into force at the end of 2024, many railway noise and vibration issues are still unresolved: How will the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines and European Environment Agency (EEA) report on environmental noise inform noise policy? Will the issue of braking in winter conditions in Nordic countries be resolved? What is the current state of the bans on loud vehicles in Germany and Switzerland? What is the future of noise differentiated track access charging? How is railway noise related to other environmental issues?
These types of questions were addressed at the first day of the UIC Railway Noise Days which was held on February 23, 2021. This workshop was a half-day webinar and organised by the Noise and Vibration Sector.
The workshop provided an update on the most important issues and developments in the field of railway noise as well as an opportunity to discuss these with the relevant stakeholders. You will hear from speakers representing the European Commission (DG MOV & DG ENV), CER, UIC as well as the EEA. In addition, UIC presentedits most current State of the Art report on railway noise in Europe. Participants had the opportunity to pose questions directly these stakeholders as well as to discuss the current issues.
How Railways Become Good Neighbours
On the second day, February 24, The Train Track Interaction Sector (TTI) within the UIC Rail System Department conducted a half-day webinar.
Noise and vibration caused by the interaction between the train and the track remains an important issue for the railway sector as a whole. Furthermore, there is now greater insight into the effects of noise and vibration emissions on local residents and growing pressure on railway undertakings and infrastructure managers to keep reducing emission levels wherever feasible.
The TTI Sector has set out to address these concerns and provide roadmaps on this topic with a view to offering new solutions. The White Paper on Acoustics published in 2020 (The White Paper on Acoustics) reflects the current situation and main issues and provides information on proposals for technical projects to conduct research and devise solutions for infrastructure managers and railway undertakings.
The field of acoustics presents significant challenges to global railway development. Efforts need to be made to support the proposals put forward in this White Paper in order to prepare operational and technical subsystems (comprising both infrastructure and rolling stock) for the new acoustics requirements in line with the European Commission’s existing vision for the future of the railways.
Webinar admission was free of charge and we very much hope that you are interested to participate.
We very much look forward hearing you again in UIC Railway Noise Days!
Programme
Please click each images if you wish to reach programmes.
Registration
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Documents
- If you missed the seminars or would like to keep the information in your archive, please take a look at UIC’s playlist on YouTube:
- Links to additional information about the conference can be found at these following links:
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- All Presentations for Day 1: Is railway a good neighbour?
- Welcome remarks of the UIC Director General by Mr. François DAVENNE
- Concluding Remarks by Jakob OERTLI, UIC Noise and Vibration Sector & SBB
- Please consult the documents that UIC has published at these seminars from the links below.
- Survey on Railway Noise - Poll of Railway Noise Days [1]
Contact
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