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Berlin (dpa) - Deutsche Bahn has promised further improvements in noise protection along its routes: After the retrofitting of all freight wagons with new brake systems was completed last year, which should make the fleet quieter overall, the locomotives are now following.

"By 2025, our electric mainline locomotives for DB Cargo's freight trains in Germany will be running with quiet braking systems," says the Group's current noise protection report with a view to its own freight subsidiary.

In addition, all diesel locomotives in shunting operations are to be replaced by quieter hybrid drives.

"And by 2030, DB Cargo will have taken out of service all the noisy diesel locomotives used in long-distance areas."

The retrofitting of the fleet is only one pillar of the noise protection concept at Deutsche Bahn.

The other consists of noise barriers and devices along the railway lines as well as subsidies for noise protection measures in thousands of homes. 

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But here the group is making much slower progress.

The federal government assumes that around 6500 kilometers of route are in need of renovation because the noise pollution is too high for the residents there.

This affects around 2200 cities and municipalities.

Between 1999 and 2020, however, only 2000 of these route kilometers were renovated accordingly.

The federal government has announced that another 1,250 kilometers will be added by 2030.

That means 125 kilometers a year, for which the government wants to provide 140 million euros a year.

But that would be just half of the track kilometers in need of renovation.

According to the railway, the remaining half of the route should be equipped with noise protection systems by 2050.

So it will be almost 30 years before all residents have to suffer less from the noise.

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The rail subsidiary DB Cargo controls almost half of the rail freight traffic in Germany.

They and their competitors were legally obliged to equip their wagons with quieter braking systems by the end of last year.

The new brakes ensure smoother wheel treads and thus reduce the rolling noise when driving past by around 10 decibels.

According to Bahn, this corresponds to a halving of the noise in human perception.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210428-99-381077 / 2

Noise mapping by the Federal Railway Authority

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Federal noise protection target 2030

Press releases Deutsche Bahn