Walls beside German railway lines

[peteb]

Just travelled from Dusseldorf to Koblenz and was shocked at the great lengths of metal panel walls being installed along the route.

DB seems intent on blocking all views of the line from urban areas, some walls being as high as a double deck train nd creating what must be very dismal dark gardens for those who border the track.

Not sure why this is being rolled out wholesale in some places whilst other locations remain completely unfenced.

I saw silly examples of this in Portugal too, by isolated houses next to the line in rural areas

Why? It'll make journeys very boring for passengers.

 

[pdeaves]

A guess based only on my gut feel but... might it be that those neighbours (particularly the Portuguese case) complained about noise?

Boring for passengers is way down the priority list.

 

[Bletchleyite]

They're not security, they're for reducing noise impact. HS2 is likely to have them in places too, and some UK motorways and parts of the 4-tracked Trent Valley already do.

It's nothing new, they've had them for years.

 

[Gloster]

Sound baffles were installed on some of the early neubaustrecke high-speed lines and upgraded traditional lines back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. I can remember them around 1987 in the Offenburg area, although they were probably only around 1.5 metres high.

 

[Welly]

They make excellent graffiti canvas as well.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

They're not security, they're for reducing noise impact. HS2 is likely to have them in places too, and some UK motorways and parts of the 4-tracked Trent Valley already do.
It's nothing new, they've had them for years.

It's also why many motorways are lined with banks of trees, or sunk in a low cutting.
The railway has a similar feel in many places, though it probably wasn't deliberate when built.
For example Chester-Birkenhead is either in a cutting or an avenue of trees over most of its length.
The wide views of the Liverpool waterfront after Rock Ferry have now vanished behind 30-odd years of tree growth on the abandoned route to Woodside.

 

[The exile]

The one by one of the Duesseldorf suburban stations (first south of the Hbf, I think) is there for a different reason - the building beyond it is /was a brothel. I’m not sure whether it was to protect the ladies from the prying eyes of commuters, or the sensitivities of the selfsame commuters!

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

The one by one of the Duesseldorf suburban stations (first south of the Hbf, I think) is there for a different reason - the building beyond it is /was a brothel. I’m not sure whether it was to protect the ladies from the prying eyes of commuters, or the sensitivities of the selfsame commuters!

I remember that vaguely too, or was it Hamburg?

The Laermschutzwaende, noise protection walls, are a mixed blessing, installing them makes money but many residents do not like the view being spoiled, especially if there is a decent gap between house and track. Some of the walls are transparent.

Most of the noise comes from the bogies, you might think the walls are higher than necessary. Experiments have been done with much lower walls nearer the rails, but there were problems with moving them for access, not sure if they have caught on, you might not even see them.

Noise from freight trains by the Rhein and elsewhere is being countered by installation of Fluesterbremsen, whispering brakes. I would have hoped that the brakes are not used much anyway.

 

[JB_B]

I thought that acoustic barriers were normal on (the relevant parts of) high speed lines across Europe. Is that not the case?

 

[yorkie]

I thought that acoustic barriers were normal on (the relevant parts of) high speed lines across Europe. Is that not the case?

Sadly it is; such barriers seem to be much more common than in the UK.

Conversely, fencing of railway lines is not universal as it is in the UK.

 

[Porty]

Just travelled back from Hamburg via Bremen, Osnabruck, Wuppertal, Dusseldorf and Arnhem to Rotterdam and I don't recall any significant lengths of acoustic barriers in Germany but there were various sections in the Netherlands and which were immediately obvious that I had crossed a boundary. I was also amused to see a windmill within a couple of minutes into the Netherlands after passing Emmerich - a bit of a cliche. However saw no-one wearing clogs!

Just travelled from Dusseldorf to Koblenz and was shocked at the great lengths of metal panel walls being installed along the route.

DB seems intent on blocking all views of the line from urban areas, some walls being as high as a double deck train nd creating what must be very dismal dark gardens for those who border the track.

Not sure why this is being rolled out wholesale in some places whilst other locations remain completely unfenced.

I saw silly examples of this in Portugal too, by isolated houses next to the line in rural areas

Why? It'll make journeys very boring for passengers.

 

[the sniper]

They're not security, they're for reducing noise impact. HS2 is likely to have them in places too, and some UK motorways and parts of the 4-tracked Trent Valley already do.

It's nothing new, they've had them for years.

Verney Junction's getting them on EWR. I can't believe the residents next to them will prefer looking at them over the potential noise without, I can't imagine they're even that effective for those right next to the line.

The reopened direct Dresdner Bahn route through the southern Berlin suburbs (along S-Bahn's S2 route) will make heavy use of them too.

Just travelled back from Hamburg via Bremen, Osnabruck, Wuppertal, Dusseldorf and Arnhem to Rotterdam and I don't recall any significant lengths of acoustic barriers in Germany but there were various sections in the Netherlands and which were immediately obvious that I had crossed a boundary. I was also amused to see a windmill within a couple of minutes into the Netherlands after passing Emmerich - a bit of a cliche. However saw no-one wearing clogs!

Ingolstadt - Munich sticks in my mind as a prime German example, particularly the Munich end:

 

[peteb]

They make excellent graffiti canvas as well.

Yes they have already been covered in tags all through Dusseldorf even though the contracts not yet finished

It is bizarre to see isolated Portuguese farmsteads part blockaded with the planked acoustic barriers, after all electric trains are much quieter than their steam predecessors.....

 

[duesselmartin]

tehy are a plague from a passengers point of view.
I once lived near a railway line. When they build that sound barrier, it took so much sunlight I moved out.

The worst place for sound barriers seems for me the West Bahn Salzburg to Vienna. You might as well tunnel that line.

As with tags in Düsseldorf, it is a very bad place for it since the mid 80s. Along with Hamburg a forerunner on vandalism.

 

[peteb]

tehy are a plague from a passengers point of view.
I once lived near a railway line. When they build that sound barrier, it took so much sunlight I moved out.

The worst place for sound barriers seems for me the West Bahn Salzburg to Vienna. You might as well tunnel that line.

As with tags in Düsseldorf, it is a very bad place for it since the mid 80s. Along with Hamburg a forerunner on vandalism.

For those needing a good close up view go to Bacarach between Mainz and Koblenz. A path runs along the old town walls at track level, some hotels and pubs have outdoor seating areas literally inches from the line. Impressive when the Swiss stock EC hurtles through, or a long freight. And no sound barriers here at all....

 

[Austriantrain]

The worst place for sound barriers seems for me the West Bahn Salzburg to Vienna. You might as well tunnel that line.

Quite a lot of tunnels as well I agree, it’s a disaster. Sound protection is for some reason a holy grail in Austria. I agree it is important, but it can be exaggerated. As things stand, every new line and every major renewal will suffer from it.

 

[kingston_toon]

Another plus one for finding this growing menace disappointing from a passenger experience perspective. Katowice to Krakow seems especially bad for this now, although Switzerland seems to mostly have gone for barriers that are only a few metres high meaning you can still see most of the view over the top.

 

[peteb]

Another plus one for finding this growing menace disappointing from a passenger experience perspective. Katowice to Krakow seems especially bad for this now, although Switzerland seems to mostly have gone for barriers that are only a few metres high meaning you can still see most of the view over the top.

That's good to know about Switzerland

 

[themiller]

Another plus one for finding this growing menace disappointing from a passenger experience perspective. Katowice to Krakow seems especially bad for this now, although Switzerland seems to mostly have gone for barriers that are only a few metres high meaning you can still see most of the view over the top.

Some of the Swiss barriers have glass panels where the views are particularly good e.g. at Bissone looking over Lake Lugano.