More new construction along the railway thanks to quieter trains

The Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management recently announced that it plans to lower the current standards for permissible noise along railway lines, also known as noise production ceilings (gpps), in many locations , including around Oss, Venlo, Tilburg, and Zwolle.

Building along railway lines is subject to strict regulations due to the noise trains generate. But that noise has decreased significantly in recent years. Trains and tracks have become much quieter thanks to new technologies. Therefore, there is less actual noise than the ceilings anticipate.

Good news

And that's good news for municipalities that want to build along the railway line. They use the standards to determine whether and how construction can take place along the railway line and, for example, how far homes should be located from the line. Less noise therefore means more space for new construction.

"Sound is a key factor in creating a pleasant living environment," says Alderman Sidney van den Bergh of the municipality of Oss. Currently, expensive measures are often required when building along railway lines, such as extra insulation or thick "protective" facades.

With the new regulations, all of that is no longer necessary. According to Van den Bergh, this won't suddenly make construction much cheaper, but it will make it go more smoothly. Oss wants to build 10,000 homes along the railway line in the coming years. "Close to existing amenities, such as schools and the GP."

Important development

Urban planner Gijs van den Boomen calls the quieter trains "fantastic news." "So much more can now be done along the tracks, and that's incredibly important." He adds that many more homes need to be built around stations in the future so people can continue to travel quickly to and from work.

Quieter railways mean cheaper construction, but according to Van den Boomen, they also improve the quality of life, because residents living along the railway can simply open a window without being immediately exposed to the noise. "In some places, it reduces the noise by more than half," he says of the railway noise.

No numbers

Thierry Aartsen, the outgoing State Secretary for Public Transport and the Environment, couldn't pinpoint how many additional homes will need to be built along the railway line now that the standards have been adjusted. "About half of all noise ceilings in the Netherlands will be lowered because we've gotten quieter trains. So that will have a huge impact on housing construction."

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