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Consultation on proposals for transposition and implementation of Directive 2002/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 June 2002 relating to the assessment and management of environmental noise

6. Railways

6.1. The END requires the mapping of noise from 'major railways' which must be designated by Member States in line with the definition set out in the END. In agglomerations, noise from every railway which is likely to produce noise levels of greater than 55 dB L_den or 50 dB L_night at 4 metres above ground level.

6.2. Action plans for managing, and reducing if necessary, noise from major railways must then be made on the basis of the results of the maps. In agglomerations the action plans must also take into account noise from railways.

The Definition of Major railways

6.3. The END defines a major railway as "[a railway] designated by the Member State which has more than 30,000 train passages per year" (approximately 80 train passages per day) (Article 3(o)). However, for the first round of mapping in 2007 the qualifying figure is 60,000 train passages per annum (Article 7, paragraph 1). The END requires that, no later than 30 June 2005 (and thereafter every five years), Member States shall inform the Commission of the major railways which have more than 60,000 train passages per year (Article 7, paragraph 1). Therefore, to do this we will need to assess all railways in terms of the number of trains using them (i.e. train flow). For the purposes of the END, the Scottish Executive understands train passages as meaning the number of trains going in either direction passing a given point along a rail corridor.

6.4. It is likely that most of the railway lines which qualify as major are owned by Network Rail. However other networks, such as the Glasgow Underground, may also have to be designated as major railways and other tram systems may have to be mapped in the future. It is likely that most of these networks, not owned by Network Rail, will fall within agglomerations and thus are likely to be mapped in any case. A list of the railway lines that will be mapped can be seen in Annex C.

Assessment method for rail noise indicators

6.5. As discussed in Chapters 2 and 3, the END requires that strategic noise maps using the noise indicators L_den and L_night are made for major railways. The END allows Member States to determine values of L_den and L_night by either computation or measurement. The Scottish Executive proposes that noise assessment as in the rest of the UK should be carried out by computation (supported where appropriate by validation measurement) given the cost and technical difficulties associated with measurement. If a Member State decides to use computation, then the END initially gives a choice of using national computation methods or the recommended interim computation methods. Once adopted the END will require Member States to use harmonised computation methods. These are currently being developed through EU-funded projects such as Harmonoise and Imagine.

6.6. A national method already exists for the assessment of railway noise, called the Calculation of Rail Noise (CRN)³⁰. This method produces results in terms of the L_Aeq indicator and as long as the input data relates to the day, evening and night period required by the END, it will be possible to generate the indicators required by the END.

6.7. Concern has been expressed, though, that this method (in common with most other methods in Europe), does not adequately take account of the rail roughness that is generally found across the network at any one time. Research has been carried out and a technique has been devised that could be applied to CRN and would enable the average roughness of the railhead to be reflected in the results generated³¹. The Scottish Executive proposes to include this technique in the mapping of railways (effectively a modified CRN) as this would mean that more representative results would be achieved than would otherwise be the case.

6.8. It has also been recognised that CRN does not include information on all the rolling stock using the existing network. Work has been carried out to obtain the required source noise level terms through a combination of measurement and calculation.

6.9. The Scottish Executive therefore proposes to use a version of Calculation of Rail Noise modified in the manner outlined above – 'CRN modified' – as the method for calculating noise from railways until the harmonised method becomes available. A more detailed discussion of the process for developing maps can be found in Chapter 3.

Q6.1: Do you agree with the use of 'CRN modified' for calculating noise from railways until the harmonised method is adopted by the Commission?

Designation of the competent authority to make noise maps for major railways

6.10. As explained in Chapter 2, the Scottish Executive proposes that the Scottish Ministers should be the competent authority for making noise maps for all major railways. The competent authority’s functions will include collecting and collating the data to make the noise maps and then using that data to produce the noise maps. The Scottish Ministers will need to enter into agreements with other organisations and possibly commercial companies in order to fulfil some of these functions. Any requirements placed on other bodies would be subject to consultation with the relevant authorities or organisations.

6.11. There are a number of options available to take the mapping forward after the designation of the Scottish Ministers as the competent authority in the Regulations, set out as follows:

i) Scottish Executive undertaking the mapping; that is, officials, possibly through the letting of contracts to technical consultants;
ii) Scottish Executive Agencies or other non-local authority bodies such as Network Rail undertaking the mapping under agreement with the Scottish Ministers;
iii) Local authorities undertaking the mapping under agreement with the Scottish Ministers.

6.12. The Scottish Executive favours option (i), with Scottish Executive officials making the rail noise maps on the Scottish Ministers behalf through the letting of contract(s) to specialist noise mapping consultants.

6.13. The Scottish Executive is proposing this approach to making maps of railway noise because it has a number of advantages:

• Scottish Executive officials already have access to a large amount of the necessary data so potentially reducing administration and costs;
• One organisation co-ordinating the mapping process and the efforts of the organisation or authorities will avoid duplication and is more likely to ensure consistency in the approach to noise mapping, particularly in the quality and form of the data collected;
• It provides a relatively simple approach that can be easily modified should the need arise.

6.14. We do not propose, at this stage, that Local Authorities should be named as competent authorities as there might be difficulty in achieving a consistency of approach and access to the range of data required. Also it is possible that not all Local Authorities currently have the resources and experience in the field necessary to carry out the work. However, should the majority of Local Authorities express a wish to be more heavily involved in the preparation of the maps and plans, the Scottish Executive envisages that option iii) could be introduced at a later stage when practical experience of implementing the END has been established. Any change would be subject to consultation at the appropriate time.

Q6.2: Do you agree with the proposal that Scottish Executive officials produce the rail noise maps on the Scottish Ministers behalf?

Q6.3: Would you support the Scottish Ministers entering into agreements with Local Authorities for the production of rail noise maps at some point in the future?

Data Requirements for Making Rail Noise Maps

6.15. In order to make the maps, data will need to be collected and supplied to the organisation carrying out the mapping. CRN uses the following parameters to calculate noise levels:

Railway Input Data

• Train "traffic" flow;
• Train flow composition (i.e. different train types);
• Train speed;
• Track type (e.g. metal bridges, type of track bed).

Geographical Input Data

• Locations where diesel locomotives are ‘on power’;
• Location of track(s);
• Location and type of bridges;
• Gradient of rail;
• Location of rail;
• Topology of surroundings – e.g. location and height of buildings;
• Topography of surroundings – e.g. embankments and cuttings;
• Surface cover of topography – i.e. whether the ground is hard or soft.

6.16. It is anticipated, based on experience to date, that the necessary data would be supplied through provision by other Scottish Executive organisations, local authorities and in some cases organisations in the private sector such as Network Rail or through existing commercial arrangements. It may also be necessary for Scottish Executive to obtain some data through network owners and operators outside of the "national" rail system. The contract let to make the maps could include provisions for the collection of data. The data would then be modified for use where necessary before it was entered into the noise calculation model.

6.17. In the event that some data was found to be unavailable the Scottish Executive would follow the suggested approach for generating data as proposed in WG-AEN’s GPG³².

Q6.4: Do you agree with the proposed list of data that will be needed to produce the maps and their potential sources?

Q6.5: Do you agree with the proposed use of the WG-AEN Good Practice Guide Toolkits for the generation of any necessary missing data?

Designation of the competent authority to develop action plans to address noise near major railways

6.18. As discussed in Chapters 2 and 4, the END requires that once the strategic noise maps are made, action plans to manage and, where necessary, reduce noise are made. The Scottish Executive proposes that the Scottish Ministers should be the competent authority for developing rail action plans. The Scottish Ministers will need to enter into agreements with other organisations and possibly commercial companies in order to fulfil some of his/her functions. The relevant authorities or organisations would be consulted before any requirements, legally binding or otherwise, would be placed on them.

6.19. There are a number of options available to take the making of action plans forward after the designation of the Scottish Ministers as the competent authority. However, the Scottish Executive favours the general approach as set out in Chapter 4 on the basis that key partners with the powers to implement measures to control noise should be tasked to make the draft action plans, on behalf of the Scottish Ministers, in their respective area. In the case of rail noise action plans we propose that Network Rail would be nominated as the key partner to draw up plans to manage noise for places near major railways. This would result in a single action plan for major railways.

6.20. It is proposed that the key partner should work up proposals for the action plan seeking close consultation with other relevant authorities, in particular those likely to have the power to implement the plans and to seek a means of receiving input from the public (possibly through local residents and passenger groups or open workshops). The Scottish Executive proposes that the regulations should incorporate a requirement for the key partner to consult certain other organisations. For rail we suggest that this might include:

• local authorities;
• the train operating companies (passenger and freight); and
• the key bodies working up action plans for other sources or agglomerations within or bordering the relevant area.

This list is not exhaustive. It would also be expected that the key partner would include other relevant stakeholders where appropriate.

6.21. The key partner would then put the draft action plan proposals out to public consultation. Once the public consultation has taken place, the key body would amend the draft plan in the light of comments made during the consultation and would submit the draft for the Scottish Ministers approval. Once the Scottish Ministers have approved the draft plan as complete and in accordance with the END they would forward the finalised plan to the Commission and the plan would be published. More details on how the generic action plan process would work are set out in Chapter 4.

Q6.6: Do you agree with this proposed approach to drawing up a rail noise action plan?

Q6.7: Do you agree with the list of consultees to be stipulated in the regulations?

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