More quiet freight cars on the rails
| Freight cars in operation equipped with V brake shoes of DB Cargo in Germany as of Dec 31 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | |
New freight cars | 8,470 | 8,323 | 8,302 | |
Freight cars refitted with whisper brakes | 41,939 | 31,281 | 24,094 | |
Quiet freight cars | 50,409 | 39,604 | 32,396 | |
The number of new and existing freight cars with the noise reducing composite technology has increased further. In the year under review, about 11,000 cars in the active freight fleet were equipped with whisper brakes no. 5. About 80% of DB Cargo Germany’s active fleet are thus running on quiet brake shoes. This is in line with our forecast in the 2017 Integrated Report.