Construction site: high noise level and flood area

If the railway line is electrified, there is also the issue of electromagnetic fields to be assessed separately. The exposure decreases with the distance from the tracks and the number of trains. I recently was interested in a property near a railway line and therefore did some research - my conclusion: if the house can be built 50m, preferably 75m away, the exposure is apparently acceptable according to the current state of knowledge.

Three kilometers further is the freight yard, where countless freight trains slow down every day. Hardly anyone can stand living in the apartment buildings next door for long.

Yes, freight trains really sound awful; I know the situation very well from my own experience of 5 years. However, DB has been legally obliged for several years to replace the axles (? or some other part), because these are the ones that cause such loud noise, but DB does not do this or has not done it yet on all freight trains. :-( And I do not know the regulations for foreign freight train noise. I also know ICE very well, you can hardly hear it at all.

No one says that finding the dream property is easy. Some creativity and building a network of contacts help. Anyone who only searches online has a harder time finding their luck. ....

My nephew walked through the village for more than a week and asked about the owner at every vacant lot (and there are exactly 0! properties for sale online in our area). Also through the municipality (which then passed on his contact details). That’s how it worked out. It was certainly also a lucky coincidence, but if he hadn’t been committed, nothing would have happened.

My nephew walked through the village for more than a week and asked the owner at every empty plot (and we have exactly 0! plots listed online for sale). He also checked with the municipality (which then passed on his contact details). That's how it worked out. It was probably also a lucky coincidence, but if he hadn’t been so committed, it wouldn’t have worked.

In my opinion, this is also how you get to the "wobbly candidates" who "actually" don’t want to sell their plot or at least don’t want to actively sell it. But if a likeable, young couple, maybe pregnant/with a child, inquires, then maybe after all. :)

whenever I hear about flood damage, I think to myself: "serves them right".

I know areas where no one ever thought they would have problems with flooding.. but it always turns out different than you think. Even dry streams become rushing rivers because humans tamper with nature.

If the railway line is electrified, there is still the issue of electromagnetic fields to assess for oneself. The exposure decreases with the distance from the tracks and the number of trains. I was recently interested in a property near a railway line and did some research – my conclusion: if the house can be built 50m, preferably 75m away, the exposure is apparently okay according to current knowledge.

But that is quite cautious. As a rule of thumb, 1m distance per 1 kV applies; for a typical railway line with 15kV (the Wikipedia list of various systems is really interesting too), that would be 15m. Anyone who worries about electromagnetic fields in their front yard near a railway line is clearly putting the wrong priorities on their health. In general, when building/buying near a railway line, I would only do so if it’s not disturbingly audible even at night.