one of my former jobs had to do with trains, as a student engineer I had to work for a year on a train engine and one of my later jobs was the conception of a rail-road, but europe is too small for a normal market; I sold trains for a while (real ones), and as far as I recall the grinding is an automatic procedure in europe, being build in in the wheelsystem
robert k commented on 05.11.09
if they wait too long before grinding the tracks it can get pretty screechy. i think by law they are suppose to do it once a year. Where we live it is underground, but in West Oakland yeah it was loud.