"A quick and tangible reduction of railway noise at the source is a common objective for the German Federal Government and German Railways DB AG. It is in the interest of inhabitants living along railway lines and good for the development of an efficient rail freight transport system that we urgently need to master transport growth within the next period, by simultaneously achieving CO2 emissions reduction targets”, said Dr. Rüdiger Grube, Chairman of the Management Board of DB AG, as Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer handed over the confirmation of the public funding scheme for noise reduction on freight wagons.

For the first time the German government will provide financial support not only for noise reduction measures on railway lines but also for freight rolling stock. The support from the Federal Government will finance the pilot retrofitting of 1,250 freight wagons from the existing fleet with silent composite brake blocks. DB Schenker Rail is the first railway undertaking to have requested financial support for the retrofitting of freight cars in the context of the “Silent Rhine” (“Leiser Rhein”) project.

Source: DB