Rail noise Vocal against noise pollution

Rhein Sieg Country · An action group run by Gerd Kirchhoff and Stephan Martin is fighting against the noise caused by goods trains.

Exactly 21 metres away from Ste­phan Mar­tin’s house it is rush hour, day and night. The 50-year-old lives in Kö­nigs­win­ter-Nie­der­dol­len­dorf with his family, directly on the railway line on the right hand side of the river Rhine. In 24 hours over 200 goods trains travel past his house, he explains during a conversation in his living room – while a train is going past. “And around half of these during the night”, he adds – as another train rolls by. Goods trains make a lot of noise and this is unacceptable to the architect. Mar­tin is deputy Chairman of the Citizen Action Group against Rail Noise (Bür­ger Ini­tia­ti­ven Netz­werks (BIN) ge­gen Bahn­lärm). He has been involved in the Group since 2013 and fights against rail noise together with his co-campaigners – and not just on the international action day against noise which was last Wednesday.

The non-party BIN group was founded in 2012 by Bad Hon­ne­f resident Gerd Kirch­hoff with the objective of taking action against the increasing amount of rail noise in the Rhine valley. According to Kirch­hoff, there are now around 70 supporters from Re­ma­gen through to Bonn and up to Trois­dorf. The issue affects many people in the re­gi­on and is always a discussion point: in Born­heim, where the Deutsche Bahn wants to put up noise barriers, or in Sieg­tal, where the federal government is planning to expand the line with a double track.

“Rail noise is caused by the rolling noise between the rough wheels and the rough tracks,” says Kirch­hoff. The cast iron brakes cause the wheels to become rough. The brakes pads made of gray cast iron grind grooves into the wheels. The noise of the wagons is particularly loud when they are also travelling on rough tracks. Martin explains that many of the wagons as well as large parts of the tracks in Germany are neglected and not maintained.

Rail noise causes stress and makes people ill, says Mar­tin. The noise disrupts sleep and reduces concentration abilities and people who are already ill are particularly affected. Furthermore, the buildings near to the railway lines shake and property value is reduced. Mar­tin has some figures at the ready. Rail noise costs the German property market at least five billion Eu­ro per year, he says. Add the health costs and you come to a sum of around 20 billion Euro per year.

The Mar­tin family has been living near to the railway line for five years. At the time of buying the house, he was not aware of the issue of rail noise, he says. As the noise became a problem, he started to do some research and came across Gerd Kirch­hoff. The family also thought about selling the house, but then decided to wait until 2020 to see if there were any improvements.

The year 2020 is an important one. The federal government’s coa­li­ti­on agreement in 2013 stipulated that half of the wagons travelling in Germany should be fitted with lighter brakes by the end of 2016. It is unclear whether this target has been met. A recent law passed by parliament states that by 2020 no more loud goods trains will be allowed to travel in Germany. This should be passed by the Federal Council (Bun­des­rat) in May. But due to the interests of other countries the EU wants to wait until 2022, says Kirch­hoff. “We are trying to support the federal government in this”, adds the 75-year-old, who devotes most of his voluntary work to the fight against rail noise – whether it be at home on his computer or by taking part in discussions and talks at national and EU level.

By his own account Kirch­hoff also founded a parliamentary group ‘Bahn­lärm’ (rail noise) in the Bun­des­tag. Due to his efforts, around 130 members of parliament are now part of the non-party group. The up and coming legislation is the first step, say Kirch­hoff and Mar­tin. So far peak levels of up to 100 decibels per train have been recorded on the building fronts, says Mar­tin: “Now we have the prospect to come down to 90 decibels by the end of the decade”. In any case the World Health Organisation sets a limit of 40 decibels during the night, says Ste­phan Mar­tin: “With 40 decibels measured on the building front, you have 25 decibels on your pillow”. An expert attested to him that it would be possible to manufacture trains this quiet.

What about the technology? As Kirch­hoff explains, the modification of wagon brakes would cost, depending on the type, between 1500 to 1800 Eu­ro or between 5000 and 8000 Eu­ro. Kirch­hoff says that the modifications would be subsidised by the state. But the expensive brake model is cheaper than fighting against the consequences of rail noise. What’s more, Martin finds that the government’s voluntary measures for noise protection “are a hundred times undersized”. He refers to the example of a mere two-meter-high sheet metal panel in front of his house. According to Kirch­hoff, around 500 goods and passenger trains travel on both sides of the river Rhine in a 24-hour period.

Kirchhoff thinks that an alternative route between Sankt Au­gus­tin and Mainz-Bi­schofs­heim must be found, in order to improve life for local residents and encourage tourism in the Rhine valley. This is however not part of the ‘urgent requirement’ section of the current Plan for Federal Traffic Routes. The government sees the two-track extension of the Siegtal route as more urgent. Goods trains will benefit from this as they currently use the route to a lesser extent. More goods trains mean more noise and this is the fear for this route. Therefore, the CDU and Green Party have spoken out against the extension in Rhine-Sieg-County. The SPD and FDP see more positives from the expansion – also with a view to the noise pollution. Both parties qualify the significance of the route for international goods traffic.

There are many aspects to the issue of rail noise. Mar­tin refers not only to health issues but also to the construction and property markets. He and Kirch­hoff continue with their fight against the noise. Martin hopes that people can curtail the noise from the railway: “just like the river Rhine was cleaned up”. In the meantime, countless trains have gone past his house.

(Original text: Christ­oph Meu­rer, Translation: Caroline Payne)

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