Noisy freight wagons will effectively be banned from the German rail network from the December 13 2020 timetable change, after Federal Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt announced on March 30 that the Bundesstag had passed legislation requiring the use of low-noise freight wagons as part of his 'Quiet Rail Strategy'. Wagons will be required to generate no more noise than a new vehicle conforming to the European noise TSL. It will be acceptable for wagons to be fitted with composite brake blocks, provided that this requirement is met. Enforcement will be the responsibility of the Federal Tailway Office, which will be able to impose fines of up to €50,000 for non-compliance. The decision may not be welcomed by the European Commission, which was seeking more widespread agreement about moves to reduce railway noise across the EU before measures were implemented. It has urged that measures introduced by individual countries could fall foul of interoperability regulations as operators or wagon keepers in other countries could be disadvantaged.
Railway Gazette International, May.2017. pp.24-25.