Noise remediation and prevention continues

¹⁾ Previous years’ figures adjusted.

Since 1999, we have been reducing noise pollution for residents living near railway lines by the “Voluntary noise remediation program for existing rail lines of the Federal Government” and by statutory noise remediation measures. By the end of 2020, we aim to perform noise remediation on a total of 2,000 kilometers of track using fixed noise abatement measures no. 25. In the year under review, about € 98 million from the Federal budget was used for active and passive noise abatement measures under the noise remediation program. Other noise protection projects are also being financed using funds from the program.

In the year under review, we tightened up the definition of the key indicator track kilometers noise remediated in total, removed parts of the noise remediation and added some sections of the route for which acoustic reports during implementation established a need for additional noise remediation measures. The previous year’s figures have been adjusted accordingly. We have revised the key indicator on the progress of the construction of sound barriers. We have changed the name of the key indicator from “sound barriers erected” to “sound barriers completed” to distinguish it from the old indicator. It was therefore not possible to fully achieve the forecast in the 2017 Integrated Report for the total noise remediated track.

The abolition of the rail bonus and a further reduction of the threshold values of the Federal Government’s voluntary noise remediation program to 57 dB at night in residential areas have laid the groundwork to provide residents with even better protection against rail noise. As a result, the Federal Government’s voluntary noise remediation program no. 101 has been fundamentally revised. The number of routes covered by the revised noise remediation program has increased significantly as a result of the reduced thresholds. The sections of track that have already been remediated based have been taken into consideration as well due to the reduced threshold. The new overall concept was published by the BMVI on January 31, 2019.