On October 15 and 16 2024, UIC participated in the annual meeting of the Coordinating Group for Statistics on Transport, which took place at Eurostat in Luxembourg.
The main developments in transport statistics over the past year were presented. Firstly, progress made in terms of data compliance and quality for each mode of transport was discussed. For rail transport specifically, it was reported that data submission deadlines were generally respected, although some inconsistencies were highlighted in international freight and passenger transport data, with paired comparison analysis between countries showing volume discrepancies of up to 30%.
The discussion also covered the streamlining process of the Common Questionnaire (EUROSTAT/UNECE/ITF-OECD) and the revision of the Glossary for Transport Statistics. It was emphasised that UIC is actively taking part in technical meetings for the railway chapter’s revision. The new version of the glossary is expected to be released in 2025.
The interesting topic of modal share indicators, particularly the inclusion of pipelines, was also discussed. Pipeline data is often missing due to confidentiality in certain countries, although, estimates can still be made using various sources. Thus, modal shares for the EU-27 region can be estimated based on six modes of transport: road, rail, inland waterway, maritime, air, and pipelines.
The EU Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE) then informed the group about EU transport policies, with the goal of making European transport faster, simpler, and more resilient in achieving the 2030 targets of the European Green Deal. Over the next five years, the mission is to strengthen the single market for transport services, and for rail, to achieve a single European railway area. The directive on combined transport aims to develop intermodal and combined transport operations by removing authorisation procedures and quantitative restrictions, as well as providing financial support for certain combined transport operations.
Following this, UIC presented the work ongoing within the Statistics Platform, such as measuring the density of engineering structures (e.g. railway tunnels and bridges) on infrastructure networks and developing a new classification of stations based on train service types (international, long-distance, and regional). Train punctuality is also currently being analysed, as the provided data appears to require higher levels of consistency.
The meeting concluded with a reminder of the main points discussed and decisions made. More information is available on the extranet at https://extranet.uic.org/en/folder/279386?grp=296.
