One technology being employed to signifi cantly reduce noise made by freight trains is composite brake blocks. ‘K-blocks’, also known as ‘whispering brakes’, are now being fi tted to all new freight wagons in accordance with the ‘Noise TSI’ (Technical Specifi cations for Interoperability). K-blocks reduce noise at source by 8-10 decibels (dB) which, to human ears, sounds like cutting the noise by half. Rolling stock has a high life expectancy of up to 40 years, so the retrofi tting of the existing fl eet is crucial in order to meet EU noise targets. The.
