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Noise emission standards SEC(2008) 2203, SEC(2011) 1505

FACT SHEET NO.: Cat-No.5 / Subcat-No.5.3-4

General Information

Title

FACT SHEET NO.: Cat-No.5 / Subcat-No.5.3-4

Category

5. Efficiency standards & Flanking measures

Subcategory

5.3 Standards: environment

Transport policy measure (TPM)

Noise emission standards SEC(2008) 2203, SEC(2011) 1505

Description of TPM

Introduction: Noise emissions, caused by humans, animals or machines disrupt the activity or balance of human or animal life. Particularly noise from road traffic, but also from rail and aviation, is a major problem in urban and suburban areas. Noise represents the third biggest environmental burden causing disease (after air pollution and exposure to smoking). The abatement of noise is necessary not only for comfort for residents near for instance motorways, but also because of other important health effects such as cardiovascular diseases and cognitive impairment. Research determined that during the day people start to get moderately annoyed by noise at 50dB (A) and seriously at 55 dB(A). [1] [3]
Noise emission standards: Currently, legislation for noise emissions is different between and within member states. This is time-consuming, expensive and negatively effecting the internal market (with high bureaucracy effort leading to frustration and additional prodcution costs). It is therefore necessary to harmonize rules at the EU level including the limitation of the noise emissions from transportation. [6] This TPM will solely assess noise pollution from road and rail transport. SEC(2008)2203 assumes that rail noise emission can be reduced by 8 dB(A) in average by retrofitting wagons with low noise blocks
What causes noise emissions? Noise from rail transport is basically caused by the wheel - rail contact. Roughness of rails and train wheels cause noise emissions. Higher rail roughness, caused by intensive traffic and by the use of damaged wheels, will lead to increasing noise emissions. [5] Noise caused by road transport is generated by many sources, like tyre-road noise, power train, engine noise and exhaust noise. [6]

Implementation examples

- Road vehicle noise is covered by two European directives. Motor vehicle noise emission has been covered by legislation since the 1970s (Directive 70/157) and tyre-road noise since 2001 (Directive 2001/43).
- Railway noise is addressed by directives on railway interoperability for high-speed rail (Directive 96/48/EC) and conventional rail (Directive 2001/16/EC), which provide a legislative framework for technical and operational harmonisation of the rail network.

Objectives of TPM

The objective of this TPM is to ensure a high level of health and environmental protection for European citizens while ensuring the good functioning of the internal market for road and rail transport. [5] [6] The current legal framework is insufficient (mainly because measurement methods do not reflect reality and limits are too weak/low to solve the problem) to solve noise pollution and therefore needs to be replaced based on new standards and testing procedures. [2]

Choice of transport mode / Multimodality

A minor change to slow modes can be expected (minor because of the limited competitiveness between road/rail transport and slow modes), because of rising transport costs for road and rail transport and increasing attractiveness of slow modes. Although it is questionable whether less exposure to noise a reason is to switch modes.

Origin and/or destination of trip

Trip frequency

Choice of route

Timing (day, hour)

Occupancy rate / Loading factor

Energy efficiency / Energy usage

Traffic management (mainly based on technology used to optimise traffic flows) leads to more energy efficient driving behaviour (less petrol use, tire weir, etc.). Trains will be forced to run smoother which is beneficial for their energy consumption. [5] [6]

Main source

[1] European Commission (2011): Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area – Towards a competitive and resource efficient transport system, Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.
[2] Centrum für Europäische Politik (2012): EU Regulation Sound Level of Motor Vehicles - Policy Brief, Freiburg: CEP
[3] World Health Organization (2010): Health and Environment in Europe: Progress Assessment, Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe
[4] CE Delft (2007): Traffic noise reduction in Europe - Health effects, social costs and technical and policy options to reduce road and rail traffic noise, Delft: CE Delft publications
[5] European Commission (2008): Rail noise abatement measures addressing the existing fleet, SEC(2008) 2203, Brussels
[6] European Commission (2011): Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the sound level of motor vehicles, SEC(2011) 1505 final, Brussels.
[7] INFRAS/IWW (2004): External Costs of Transport, Update Study, Zürich/Karlsruhe: INFRAS/IWW
[8] IPG (2007): Innovatieprogramma Geluid (Noise Innovation Programme (in Dutch))
[9] Dutch Ministry of Transport (2006): Evaluatie 80 km zones (Evaluation of 80-km zones (in Dutch), letter from the Minister of Transport to the Dutch parliament, DGP/WV/u

Traffic Impacts

Passengers 

         

Transport operators 

           

Unassigned 

         

Travel or transport time

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Risk of congestion

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Vehicle mileage

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Service and comfort

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Overall impacts on social groups

Implementation phase

Operation phase

Summary / comments concerning the main impacts

- Risk of congestion decreases on motorways where traffic management (realtime traffic information to prevent congestion and warnings on emissions) will be implemented to reduce noise emissions.
- Service and comfort will increase for road passengers, rail passengers and slow modes. These modes will all benefit from the noise emissions standards. Road vehicles and trains will be more quiet which increases travel comfort. Slow modes in urban areas will be less exposed to traffic noise and will become more attractive. [3] [5] [6]

Quantification of impacts


Economic Impacts

Passengers 

         

Transport operators 

           

Unassigned 

         

Transport costs

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Private income / commercial turn over

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Revenues in the transport sector

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Sectoral competitiveness

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Spatial competitiveness

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Housing expenditures

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Insurance costs

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Health service costs

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Public authorities & adm. burdens on businesses

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Public income (e.g.: taxes, charges)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Third countries and international relations

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Overall impacts on social groups

Implementation phase

Operation phase

Summary / comments concerning the main impacts

Concerning road transport:
- Vehicle maintenance costs will change. New wheels and braking systems will generate different maintenance costs per vehicle-km mainly depending on vehicle characteristics, type of operation, type of brake blocks. Old vehicles will have to be adjusted to new standards which leads to additional costs (replacement costs). [6]
- Lowering noise limit values for road transport creates incentives for car producers (and other road transport producers) to develop quieter propulsion / vehicles. This will increase the demand for more funds and expertise for research and development, leading to more jobs in transport. [6] On the other had, higher prices of road vehicles will decrease the demand which has negative impact on employment in transportation (production). [2]
- Production, development-, engineering- and testing-costs for road vehicles will increase due to new noise emission standards. This will lead to more employment and higher costs. These higher costs will probably be charged on vehicle prices and thus higher the transport costs for the road passengers. [2]
Concerning rail transport:
- Reduced maintenance costs for infrastructure: noise emission standards will lead to smoother braking(systems) for trains which lead to less friction and therefore less damage to rail infrastructure. This will save public bodies (mainly responsible for railway infrastructure) costs and will increase the revenues of operators [5].
- Production, development-, engineering- and testing-costs, which are relevant for new models or model upgrades in rail transport, will increase due to new noise emission standards [5]. It is uncertain who is going to pay for the additional costs (the user, the transport operator, both?). It is assumed that costs (short-term) will rise for both transport operators (leading to lower revenues) as for rail passenger (higher transport costs). [2]
- Additional costs due to administrative burdens are not expected as the required manpower for testing and administration of new trains will not change significantly. [5]
- 3rd level impact: Sectoral competitiveness of road and rail transport is negatively affected by higher costs. Transport by IWW will benefit from these increasing costs for road and rail transport.

Quantification of impacts

- The Dutch Noise Innovation Programme (IPG) calculated that every decibel of noise reduction at-source will save € 100 million in national expenditure on noise barriers and building insulation. [8]

Social Impacts
Environmental Impacts

Passengers 

         

Transport operators 

           

Unassigned 

         

Air pollutants

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Noise emissions

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Visual quality of the landscape

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Land use

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Climate

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Renewable or non-renewable resources

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Overall impacts on social groups

Implementation phase

Operation phase

Summary / comments concerning the main impacts

-Reducing noise emissions at their source, through measures relating to vehicle propulsion, tyres, road surfaces and traffic management, is far more effective than end-of-pipe measures (like noise barriers). Moreover, e.g. through traffic management (optimising traffic flows), not only noise emissions can be reduced. Traffic management will also lead to several other (mostly positive) environmental impacts like reduced air pollution, less CO2 emissions and more economical driving behaviour (which leads to less petrol use). [4]
- End-of-pipe measures to reduce noise (by increasing the distance between source and recipient or by hampering noise propagation by insulating buildings or constructing noise barriers) will lead to more land use and have a negative impact on the visual quality of the landscape. This will mostly count for residents near motorways or (busy) railroad tracks. [4]

Quantification of impacts

- A new speed limit on a few dutch motorways near cities (from 100 to 80 km/h) has had a positive effect on air quality, but noise emission has also been reduced by up to 1.5 dB(A). [9]
- Studies have stated that a reduction of 8-10 dB(A) can be achieved if all tread-braked rail freight wagons are retrofitted with composite brakes [4].
- Night time restrictions on heavy vehicles can reduce up to 7 dB(A) at night time [4].
- A very effective way to reduce noise emissions is to simply reduce traffic. A 20 % reduction of traffic on a certain road will decrease noise emissions with 1.0 dB(A) [4].

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