COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EVALUATION of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/429 and the rules for noise differentiated track access charges
Date: 2021-03-26
Institutions: Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport, European Commission
Subjects: carriage of goods, charges for use of infrastructure, noise level, noise pollution, noise protection, rail network, safety device, transport infrastructure, vehicle on rails

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  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 26.3.2021  SWD(2021) 72 final  COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EVALUATION  of     Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/429 and the rules for noise differentiated track access charges {SWD(2021) 71 final}  
 
 
1  Introduction 

Commission  Implementing  Regulation  (EU)  2015/429  of  13  March  2015  setting  out  the 
modalities  to  be  followed  for  the  application  of  the  charging  for  the  cost  of  noise  effects1, 
provides  Member  States  (hereinafter  ‘the  Implementing  Regulation’)  with  the  legal 
framework to establish a noise-differentiated track access scheme (NDTAC) for their national 
railway  infrastructure  in  accordance  with  Article  31(5),  first  subparagraph,  of  Directive 
2012/34/EU2. The voluntary scheme proposes an  optional  bonus per kilometre travelled for 
‘silent’  freight  wagons  and  an  optional  surcharge  (known  as  a  malus)  for  ‘noisy’  freight 
wagons. 

The  Commission  evaluated  the  scheme  between  2016  and  2018  focussing  on  the  NDTAC 
schemes of Austria, Germany and the Netherlands3. Of these three Member States, Germany 
and the Netherlands already had schemes in place before the Implementing Regulation with 
characteristics that were very similar to the requirements set by the Implementing Regulation. 
Therefore, the quantitative analysis is based solely on Austria’s scheme. This means that the 
evaluation of quantitative elements is rather limited. However, input from stakeholders on all 
aspects of the evaluation, complements the data from the quantitative assessment. 

2  Evaluation results 

Effectiveness 

The  Implementing  Regulation  has  had  a  positive,  yet  limited,  effect  in  reducing  the  noise 
levels of rail freight in Austria: retrofitting of an additional 1 500 freight wagons and a saving 
of approximately €21.8 million in external costs. The national schemes in Germany and in the 
Netherlands  were  found  to  be  effective  in  incentivising  retrofitting.  Although  these  effects 
cannot  be  attributed  to  the  Implementing  Regulation,  it  suggests  that  measures  aiming  to 
increase  the  number  or  effectiveness  of  NDTAC  schemes,  such  as  the  Implementing 
Regulation, will also be effective. 

The  effectiveness  of  the  Implementing  Regulation  was  also  likely  reduced  by  the  fact  that 
there is no explicit mechanism describing how the bonus should be passed on. The railway 
undertakings  initially  receive  the  bonus  and  are  expected  to  reimburse  the  wagon  keepers, 
who  pay  for  the  retrofitting,  (if  they  are  not  part  of  the  same  entity).  This  means  that  the 
allocation  of  costs  and  benefits  are  partially  misaligned.  According  to  the  evaluation,  the 
Implementing Regulation has not influenced the competitive position of railway undertakings 
within  the  rail  market  and  it  has  had  only  a  limited  effect  on  the  position  of  railway 
undertakings  compared  to  other  modes  of  transport.  The  evaluation  of  the  Implementing 
Regulation did not identify any unexpected or unintended effects.  

Efficiency 

The  direct  annual  costs  for  national  authorities  to  implement  a  NDTAC  scheme  are 
equivalent to around 0.2% of the annual bonus payments. The annual costs for infrastructure 
managers  are between 2 and 5%.   In Austria, the combined introduction and ongoing  costs 

1   https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32015R0429&from=EN  
2   OJ L 343, 14.12.2012, p. 32.  
3   Czechia has introduced a scheme in 2019 and the evaluation therefore does not cover this scheme.  

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for  2018  for  authorities,  infrastructure  managers  and  railway  undertakings,  amounted  to 
€4.5 million and led to an estimated benefit to society of €21.8 million. The Dutch NDTAC 
scheme has achieved the lowest operational costs of €427 per million axle-kilometres and a 
bonus of €1 294 for each railway undertaking. 

The bonuses paid out under the NDTAC schemes between 2016 and 2018 cover on average 
around 60% of the retrofitting costs and around 40% of retrofitting and additional operational 
costs  combined.  For  a  6-year  NDTAC  scheme,  the  minimum  bonus  level  set  in  the 
Implementing  Regulation  provides  ample  cover  for  retrofitting  costs,  but  is  lower  than  the 
additional  operational  costs  per  axle-kilometre.  Industry  stakeholders  have  not  identified 
unnecessary regulatory burdens. 

Relevance 

The general objectives of the Implementing Regulation remain relevant: to contribute to the 
reduction of rail-freight noise and to maintain the competitiveness of the rail-freight sector. In 
general,  rail  sector  stakeholders  recognise  that  noise  pollution  is  a  problem  for  rail  freight. 
They accept that operators need to contribute to the additional cost in combatting this issue. 
The public are disturbed by rail noise and this raises concerns about their acceptance of the 
rail  freight  sector.  Stakeholders  generally  agree  that  it  is  still  relevant  in  today’s  market  to 
reduce  risks  to  the  competitiveness  of  the  rail  freight  sector.  According  to  the  stakeholders 
concerned,  the  method  set  out  in  the  Implementing  Regulation  to  calculate  the  level  of 
bonuses properly reflects sources of cost and allows infrastructure managers some flexibility. 

Financial sustainability 

The  existing  NDTAC  schemes  have  proven  to  be  financially  sustainable  both  for  Germany 
that  has  introduced  a  malus,  and  for  Austria  and  The  Netherlands,  which  use  government 
funding to finance the bonuses. With the introduction of ‘quieter’ routes in December 2024 
(see below), the effects of the Implementing Regulation are highly likely to last. There will 
be  more  silent  freight  wagons  among  the  stock  and  these  wagons  will  be  used  more 
frequently. 

Coherence 

The Implementing Regulation’s objectives and functioning are consistent with the other EU 
rail  noise  policy  tools,  with  no  overlaps,  divergence  or  contradictions.  Under  the 
Implementing Regulation, which aims to speed up retrofitting, NDTAC schemes must end by 
December 2021. However, in 2019 the revised Technical Specification for Interoperability on 
‘Noise’4  (NOI  TSI)  introduced  the  concept  of  ‘quieter  routes’  to  be  launched  by 
December 2024. This  means  that on railway lines with  a high level  of freight  traffic  'noisy' 
freight wagons are no longer able to operate. Stakeholders recognise that a large number of 
freight  wagons  still  need  to  be  retrofitted  in  the  run-up  to  December  2024.  Therefore,  the 
final  date  by  which    NDTAC  schemes  should  end,  as  prescribed  by  the  Implementing 
Regulation  (31  December  2021),  might  need  to  be  reconsidered.  Apart  from  some 
differences,  the three national schemes studied are consistent with each other.  

4   Commission  Regulation  (EU)  No  1304/2014  of  26  November  2014  on  the  technical  specification  for 
interoperability  relating  to  the  subsystem  ‘rolling  stock  —  noise’  amending  Decision  2008/232/EC  and 
repealing Decision 2011/229/EU as amended by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/774. 

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Summary of the analysis of the evaluation criterion for EU added value 

The Implementing Regulation has aligned two existing schemes (Germany’s scheme and the 
Netherlands’ scheme) and a scheme recently introduced in Austria (it also helped Czechia to 
introduce a scheme but  this  was after the evaluation period). The  Implementing Regulation 
has  therefore,  albeit  to  a  limited  extent,  prevented  diverging  national  schemes  from 
developing. This is especially important considering that around 50% of rail freight in Europe 
crosses borders. 

3  Conclusions 

The  impact  of  the  Implementing  Regulation  on  reducing  rail  noise  has  been  positive,  but 
rather limited. After the adoption of the Implementing Regulation, only two Member States 
have introduced a new NDTAC scheme, one of which started after the evaluation period. It is 
not possible to determine whether these two schemes would also have been implemented in 
the  absence  of  the  Implementing  Regulation.  Moreover,  the  impact  of  the  Implementing 
Regulation  is  difficult  to  identify  in  the  presence  of  other  (EU  and  national)  initiatives 
incentivising the retrofitting. 

One of the aspects limiting the effectiveness of the Implementing Regulation is the absence 
of an explicit mechanism for passing on the bonus from RUs to WKs. This is necessary if the 
latter bear the costs of retrofitting and are not the same entity as the former. 

Implementation costs for authorities and industry are low. The bonus payments are more than 
enough to cover the retrofitting costs. However, these bonus payments have been set by the 
implementing  Member  States  at  too  low  a  level  to  also  fully  cover  increased  operational 
costs.   

The general objectives of the Implementing Regulation remain relevant: to contribute to the 
reduction of rail-freight  noise and to  maintain the competitiveness  of the rail-freight  sector. 
Furthermore, in the run-up to the coming into force of ‘quieter routes’ from December 20245, 
there  is  still  a  need  to  provide  financial  support  to  retrofit  existing  noisy  wagons.  In  this 
context, the obligatory end date of the NDTAC schemes (i.e. 31 December 2021 as specified 
in Article 3(2)), which was meant to speed up retrofitting, may need to be reconsidered – and 
possibly extended – to allow Austria, Czechia and the Netherlands to prolong their schemes 
and to encourage other Member States to introduce a scheme.  

The Implementing Regulation is in line with the overall EU framework and mechanisms that 
aim  to  reduce  rail  noise.  The  EU’s  many  initiatives  to  help  reduce  rail  noise  at  the  source 
through  economic,  financial  and  technical  measures  remain  valid.  The  effects  of  the 
Implementing Regulation, having led to an increased number of retrofitted wagons, are likely 
to last, even after the expiry of the NDTAC schemes. 

The  Implementing  Regulation  helped  to  avoid  a  patchwork  of  national  schemes  that  could 
have  led  to  higher  transaction  costs  and  an  uneven  playing  field  for  market  competitors. 
However, the voluntary basis of the Implementing Regulation means that the added value of 
the Implementing Regulation has a limited effect in directly incentivising Member States to 
adopt  an  NDTAC  scheme.  Some  Member  States  have  even  introduced  State  Aid  schemes 
instead of NDTAC schemes. 

5   The  TSI  Noise  revision  of  2019  introduces  the  concept  of  ‘quieter  routes’:  railways  with  intense  freight 

traffic on which, from December 2024, only silent freight wagons may be operated.  

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Based  on  this  evaluation,  the  Commission  will  assess  whether  to  give  Member  States  the 
opportunity to extend the validity of their NDTAC schemes beyond 31 December 2021 (or to 
introduce a scheme after that date) or to repeal the Implementing Regulation. 

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