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Silencing freight trainsA small country’s perspective

Martine Serbruyns

BeWag 27 april 2015 - Brussels

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Content

1. Impact of noise

2. Noise differentiated track access charge

3. Encourage silent wagons in Belgium

4. European financial assistance retrofit

5. Belgian financial assistance freight

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1. Impact of noise

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Impact assessment of noise• Directive 2002/49/EC of 25 June 2002 relating

to the assessment and management of environmental noise– Modelling traffic (road, rail, air) and noise– Publication noise maps priorities– Action plans

• Responsable authorities: Belgian regions (see their websites)

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Fase 1 2007-2008Lines > 60.000 trains/year

Fase 2 2012-2013Lines > 30.000 trains/year

(example: Flemish region)

Source: website Région wallonne

Source: website Vlaams gewest LNE

Noise contours on maps (example: Walloon Region)

Statistics on number of people disturbed

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Infrastructure manager•noise barriers•maintenance and renewal procedures

• acoustic grinding• choice of railpads

Operator / keeperSilent wagons•up to -10dBA this is equal tot -10Xtraffic•carrot or stick

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2. Noise differentiated track access charge

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Legal basis

• Directive 2012/34/EU (recast)– establishing a single European railway area

• Commission implementing regulation (EU) 2015/429 of 13 March 2015 – setting out the modalities to be followed for the

application of the charging for the cost of noise effects (NDTAC)

– applicable from 16 June 2015 – http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?

uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2015.070.01.0036.01.ENG

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Application

• The Member State decides whether the infrastructure manager should apply an NDTAC scheme

• Duration of the scheme: – Start as soon as possible– End on 31 December 2021

• What is silent ?– Silent wagon = TSI noise or retrofitted– Silent train = 90% silent wagons

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Basic principles• Bonus

– mandatory discount for retrofitted wagons– minimum level = 0,0035 € per axle km– can take into account the cost of use

• Train bonus– optional discount for a silent train– maximum level = 50% of bonus of wagons in train

• Malus– optional surcharge for a noisy train– can take into account sensitivity of the area (city,..)– malus < bonus for the period of the scheme

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3. Encourage silent wagons in Belgium

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Sense of urgency

• Health impact population• Ban on noisy freight wagons envisaged

– at night– on certain corridors– in certain countries, CH 2020

• NDTAC schemes– bonus/malus in DE and NL– bonus in CH– limited to 2021

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Conceivable measures

• No action• Ban (night, geographical zones,…)• Implement a NDTAC scheme

– bonus wagons– bonus train– malus

• Subsidy scheme for retrofit• Subsidy scheme for renewal• …

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Prepare a silent wagon policy

• Study launched January 2015, 6 months• To gain insight the application of measures

– the effort needed (budget, administrative burden, cost for the sector, …)

– the expected impact on use of silent wagons – the impact on sector and on modal shift

• No budget available for measures now

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Analysis

• Benchmark (DE, NL, CH, FR)• Collect information

– wagon market, actors involved– usage of the different wagon types, LL/K/CI– retrofit: cost of investment and exploitation

• Difficult to obtain complex information

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Small country

• Number of wagons

• International / domestic traffic– Antwerp – Italy – Antwerp – Athus

• Belgian wagons in Belgian traffic

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Important impact from outside

• Influence of policies of – neighbouring countries (DE, FR, NL, LUX) – corridor countries (CH, IT, …)

• Different policies concerning silent wagons– Measures are taken : DE, NL, CH– No measures are taken : FR

• Variable impact of Belgian measures on– Traffic to DE, NL, CH – Traffic to FR– Domestic traffic

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4. European financial assistance retrofit

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Legal basis

• Regulation 1315/2013 on Union guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport networkTEN-T

• Regulation 1316/2013 establishing the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) for the union financial assistance to TEN-T

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Noise

• TEN-T program will finance actions to reduce rail freight noise

• Funding rate : max. 20% of the eligible costs• Several calls for proposals will be launched during

the period 2014-2020

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First Call

• Actions to reduce rail freight noise, including retrofitting of existing rolling stock– Budget : € 20 million– Final date to introduce proposal was 26 February 2015

• Very few proposals where introduced

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Why?

• Budget inappropriate?• Too much administration?• Information unavailable?

– Wagons (Identification of the wagon(s) type(s), supplier, serial numbers of wagons to be retrofitted, a date of authorisation of placing into service)

– Current braking system (description, blocks per vehicle, type of cast iron blocks)

– Networks and lines (present and future use)

– Workshop (where, when, what)

• Other reasons?

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5. Belgian financialassistance freight

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Inverse modal shift

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Subsidy scheme domestic freight transport

• 2014 – Combined transport: 4,5 mio €– Single wagonload: 10,5 mio €

• Proposal for 2015 and 2016– Same amounts per year– Impact study of km charging (2016)

• Information: – http://www.mobilit.belgium.be/nl/mobiliteit/goederen/subsidies/– michel.devos@mobilit.fgov.be

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Website railhttp://www.mobilit.belgium.be/nl/spoorwegverkeer/

http://www.mobilit.belgium.be/fr/traficferroviaire/

Contactsbenjamin.lemaire@mobilit.fgov.be (noise, CEF)

martine.serbruyns@mobilit.fgov.be

BeWag 27 april 2015