The International Union of Wagon Keepers (UIP) recognises that noise is the most significant environmental burden of rail that affects not only society, but also the performance and perspectives of the whole railway system around Europe. With that in mind, UIP fully understands and supports the objective of reducing rail freight noise, but calls for a unified approach on Noise reduction at European level.
This position paper stresses the importance to carefully consider the impact of any future EU legislation and both future and existing national rail noise abatement programmes on transaction, operational and maintenance costs for the rail freight sector. Despite the fact that the level of concerns with regard to rail noise actually differs amongst the Member States, if we want to see a reduction of noise emissions in rail, without jeopardising further rail freight competitiveness and efficient cross border traffic, UIP asks for appropriate funding, suitable incentive schemes and harmonised implementation across Europe in order to promote the retrofitting of the existing wagons fleet.