Society demand for more sustainable transports is increasing, starting a modal shift from road to railway. The resulting increase in railway traffic intensity is leading to more activities on the track, even during the night time. For many years continuous urbanization has been resulting in a higher density of residents in areas close to railway tracks. The combination of these factors is raising the issue of noise disturbances from railway transports, which is forcing infrastructure managers to take action to combat noise from railway traffic systematically. There are different types of noise emanating from railways and one of the most annoying is curve squeal noise. This paper deals with the curve squeal phenomenon, the places where it occurs, and different methods for reducing it. The curving behaviour of a vehicle plays an important role in the generation of curve squeals, and therefore the way in which different rail profiles affect the capability to steer in a sharp curve is dealt within this paper. The paper is based on two case studies with investigated curves in urban regions that suffer from squeal noise, and in which comparisons between measurements and simulations were performed. The outcome of these studies is a workflow for combating squeal noise, results concerning the effects of a top-of-rail friction modifier on noise mitigation, and a proposed rail profiles for improving the steering capability of vehicles.