Railway freight transport statistics

From Statistics Explained

Data from December 2011, most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database.

This article takes a look at recent statistics on rail freight transport in the European Union (EU). The total performance in the EU-27 was estimated at 389 billion tonne-kilometres in 2010, a rise of 7.9 % compared with 2009. This increase reflects the recovery of rail freight transport following the economic crisis (which brought to an end a sustained period of growth over recent years).

Figure 1: Rail transport of goods by country in 2010 - in billion tkm Eurostat (rail_go_typeall)

Main statistical findings

Strong recovery in rail freight transport performance in the first nine months of 2010

The recovery in transport performance between 2009 and 2010 could be observed in a large majority of the Member States: the main exception was Greece, with a decrease of 20 % of the total transport performance.

Looking at the development by quarter, the most significant changes were concentrated in the first nine months of the year. The quarterly increases were +9 %, +15 % and + 9 % respectively, compared with the same quarters of 2009. The upwards trend slowed down at the end of 2010, with the last quarter registering a growth of +3 % compared with the fourth quarter of 2009.

In absolute terms, France recorded the largest decrease (-2.2 billion tonne-kilometres between 2009 and 2010). Nevertheless, this country recorded the third highest rail transport performance in Europe, with 30 billion tonne-kilometres in 2010. Two other countries reported absolute decreases of more than 0.5 billion tonne-kilometres over the same period, Latvia (-1.5) and the United Kingdom (-0.6).

The share of international transport in the various countries is strongly linked to their geographical position within Europe. For the EU-27 as a whole, the share of international transport was around 37 % in 2010, remaining quite stable over recent years.

Different patterns at country level for rail freight transport performance

Figure 2: The development of rail transport - change between 2009 and 2010 - in million tkm Eurostat (rail_go_typeall)

Table 1: Evolution of total freight transport by rail - change between 2009 - 2010 - in million tkm and in % Eurostat (rail_go_typeall)

Table 2: Quarterly evolution of total freight transport by railways - in million tkm Eurostat (rail_go_quartal)

Despite the general increasing trend, the patterns at national level show substantial differences among countries. Of the 27 reporting countries for which data are available, 7 countries recorded a fall in freight transport performance between 2009 and 2010.

The highest increase was recorded by Denmark (+31.7 %), followed by Slovenia (+21.4 %) and Ireland (+16.6 %). On the other end of the scale, the largest decrease between 2009 and 2010 was observed in Greece (-20.1%), followed by Latvia (-8.3 %) and France (-6.7 %).

In absolute terms, Germany recorded a significant rise of 11.5 billion tonne-kilometres (+12 %), well ahead of Poland, with an increase of 5.3 billion tonne-kilometres. In contrast, France, Latvia and the United Kingdom registered the highest absolute falls among the reporting countries.

Focusing on the share of international transport, the geographical location of the countries plays a key role. Countries registering the highest share of international transport are located in key corridors within the European market. In the Baltic States of Latvia and Estonia, situated at the border between Europe and Russia, international transport accounted for 91 % and 89 % respectively of the total transport in 2010.

The Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium, also strategically situated in the heart of the European market, registered shares of 79 %, 78 % (2009 data) and 68 % respectively. The key import harbours of Rotterdam and Antwerp, with important sea/rail transfers of goods dispatched within the European Union, strongly influence these figures.

In contrast, countries with specific geographical characteristics (at the periphery of the European Union or islands) recorded a low share of international transport by rail. Small shares are observed in the United Kingdom (2 %) and in Portugal (11 %). Turkey also recorded a low percentage (9 %) which may also be linked to its peripheral position.

Assessing the recovery from the economic crisis, it is interesting to examine closely the evolution of quarterly figures (Table 2). While the recovery of rail transport performance at EU level remained noticeable over the course of 2010, the growth was more pronounced for the first half of the year. The first two quarters of 2010 showed increases of 9 % and 15 % respectively in freight transport performance compared with the corresponding quarter of 2009. This increasing trend was less marked for the second half of the year: while the increase recorded for the third quarter was 9 %, it was only 3 % for the last quarter of 2010.

Differences can be observed in the development of freight transport performance at country level. For example, Bulgaria and Portugal were the only countries registering a year-to-year decrease for the first half of 2010 (-6 % and -5 % respectively) followed by an increase for the second half of the year (+1 % and +7 % respectively).

Based on the figures available for the first half of 2011, Denmark registered the highest increase (+25 % between the first six months of 2010 and 2011). Latvia was the only other country recording a rise of more than 20 % (+21 %). Five further reporting countries show year-to-year rises of more than 15 % for the first half-year of 2011: Ireland, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovenia.

Data sources and availability

Data availability

The figures presented in this article have been extracted from the Eurostat rail transport database on the 5th December 2011. They include data on national, international and transit transport of the Member States, collected according to the current Regulation 91/2003 (that has replaced the Council Directive 80/1177/EEC since 2003).

The following table presents some characteristics of data availability:

Country characteristics of data availability (see list of country codes)

• IE - Irish rail ceased international freight traffic in 2004
• FR - Quarterly data (Table 2) include all railway undertakings (under detailed and simplified reporting).
• CY, MT - No railway transport.

Methodology

The various elements present data collected under the detailed and simplified reporting systems. Simplified reporting is an alternative to normal detailed reporting for undertakings for which the annual total performance of freight transport is less than 500 million tonne-kilometres.

Railway lines in Liechtenstein are operated by ÖBB (Austria) and statistics are reported by Austrian authorities under simplified reporting.

Quarterly figures are only collected under detailed reporting. For CZ, DE, EE, IE, EL, LV, LT, PT (2009), FI, SE and UK, the detailed reporting covers all undertakings, so quarterly aggregates and annual data are comparable.

Figure 1, Figure 2 and Table 1 combine both simplified and detailed reporting statistics while Table 2 is based on detailed reporting only (quarterly data). Moreover, detailed reporting in Figure 1, Figure 2 and Table 1 is based on annual figures while it is based on quarterly figures in Table 2.

Symbols

: not available

- not applicable

0 actual zero or very negligible transport

c confidential

Context

The statistics of the national, international and transit transport of the Member States, collected according to the current Regulation 91/2003 (that has replaced the Council Directive 80/1177/EEC since 2003).

Further Eurostat information

Publications

• Strong recovery in rail freight transport performance in the first nine months of 2010 - Statistics in focus 10/2012
• The fall in rail freight transport performance slowed down toward the end of 2009 - Statistics in focus 11/2011
• Six years of road freight growth lost to the crisis - Statistics in focus 12/2011
• Goods transport by rail declining by the end of 2008 - Statistics in focus 19/2010
• Illustrated glossary for transport statistics - 4th edition
• Energy, transport and environment indicators

Main tables

• Transport, see:

Railway transport (t_rail)

Goods transport by rail (ttr00006)

Database

• Transport, see:

Railway transport (rail)

Railway transport measurement - Goods (rail_go)

Dedicated section

• Transport

Other information

• Regulation 91/2003 of 16 December 2002 on rail transport statistics
• Directive 80/1177/EEC of 4 December 1980 on statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods by rail, as part of regional statistics

See also

• All articles on freight transport
• Trans-European networks in transport (TEN-T)
• Transport infrastructure at regional level