Page 18 - Port of Hamburg Magazine - 02.18

■ GREEN PORT
By the end of this year, the number of quiet freight cars in DB Cargo Germany’s fleet will have grown to over 50,000. By the end of 2020, the entire active fleet will be on the move with a low noise level
18 | Port of Hamburg Magazine | June 2018
DB freight cars whispering brakes
The majority of freight trains frequently criss-cross the country during the low-traffic night hours, causing noise and disturbing many citizens’ rest.
This is why Deutsche Bahn or German Rail is investing major resources to considerably reduce rail traffic noise caused by its freight cars. What is pleasing is that DB Cargo – German Rail’s freight specialist, with its approximately 64,000 freight cars, already sends out a good 70 percent of them on the tracks with “whispering wheels”. Added to this are the 1,700 kilo- metres of track – equalling more than one-third of the 3,700 kms of particularly affected track – that have al- so been fitted with sound abatement measures. This includes equipping more than 58,000 homes with pas- sive noise-emission protection, such as sound-resist- ant windows. For Manuela Herbort, German Rail’s de- cision-maker for the federal states of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein, quiet rail freight traffic is one of the pre-conditions for seaport hinterland traffic switch- ing from road to ‘green’ rail and continuing to make re-
al progress. Rail freight transport reduces damaging CO2 emissions and contributes towards climate pro- tection.
“We are making great strides towards our goal of cut- ting sound emissions in rail freight traffic. Reducing noise directly at the source has an impact on the entire rail network. The application of quiet-brake technolo- gies is the most important noise abatement measure in rail freight traffic,” explains Manuela Herbort. Fitting what we call ‘whispering brakes’ prevents the wheels from becoming roughed up, which otherwise makes them louder.
By the end of 2020, DB Cargo will only be deploying quiet cars in Germany. At the end of 2017, roughly two- thirds of all freight cars were quiet. By 2020, the com- pany’s own fleet of freight cars will have been convert- ed to the LL composite brake shoe. Since 2001, new
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