Effects of Locomotive Noise Reduction to Freight Train Noise in Switzerland and Europe

As freight trains are very frequently operated at night there is still big concern about freight train noise in Europe. Freight wagons in Switzerland and Germany are now all equipped with composite brake blocks instead of cast iron brake blocks which results in significant noise reductions. Using data from the Swiss noise monitoring stations the contribution of different locomotives to the overall train noise was evaluated. For locomotive types without cast iron brake blocks the year of construction is not related to the noise behavior. Newer types are not in general less noisy than old ones. The 30 years old type Lok 2000 is significantly less noisy than all other locomotive types, even if operated by different companies. European regulations concerning type approval allow higher noise levels for locomotives than for wagons. Therefore, the question was addressed how the overall noise can be reduced by noise abatement at the locomotive.