Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
Freight Transport covers the transport of goods conducted by domestic as well as foreign railway undertakings and integrated railway undertakings. Railway undertakings which operate entirely or mainly within industrial and similar installations as well as railway undertakings which mainly provide local tourist services are excluded. For example, transport operations on company property or within ports are not recorded. This statistics are conducted quarterly by Statistics Austria. Moreover a survey concerning the national and international goods transport by region of loading and region of unloading (NUTS 2) is done every five years.
Passenger transport covers the transport of passengers by domestic as well as foreign railway undertakings and integrated railway undertakings in Austria. Railway undertakings which operate entirely or mainly within industrial and similar installations as well as railway undertakings which mainly provide local tourist services are excluded, as are metro, light rails and tram systems. The passenger transport survey is conducted quarterly by Statistics Austria for railway undertakings with an annual transport performance of at least 100 million passenger-kilometres (pkm). The collection of data on passenger transport with an annual transport performance below this threshold is conducted once a year by Schienen-Control GmbH (SCG). Moreover a survey concerning the national and international passenger transport by region of embarkation and region of disembarkation (NUTS 2) is done every five years.
Data on Operating Performances (Goods respectively passenger train movements) of rail vehicles by domestic and foreign railways in Austria are collected by SCG.
The data collection is based on national and international legal acts:
National level:
BGBl. Nr. 142/1983 Bundesgesetz vom 21. Februar 1983 über statistische Erhebungen im Bereich des Straßen- und Schienenverkehrs (Straßen- und Schienenverkehrsstatistikgesetz); BGBl. Nr. 393/1995 Verordnung des Bundesministers für öffentliche Wirtschaft und Verkehr über statistische Erhebungen im Bereich des Straßen- und Schienengüterverkehrs (Straßen- und Schienengüterverkehrsstatistik-Verordnung) idF: BGBl. II Nr. 119/2005 (Änderung der Straßen- und Schienengüterverkehrsstatistik-Verordnung);
Annex III – (quarterly data) goods and passengers,
Annex IV and V (data every five years) regional statistics on goods and passengers and rail network and
Annex VIII (annual data) goods and passengers transport for small undertakings.
3.2. Classification system
On the basis of national regulations, the transported goods must be collected in accordance with the NST/R goods classification.
On 1.1.2008 the NST/R was replaced by the newly created product classification NST 2007. Goods transported by rail are classified according to the 20 divisions of goods following the 'Standard Goods Classification for Transport Statistics 2007’. According to this classification data must be transmitted to Eurostat.
NHM „Nomenclature harmonisée marchandises“ (Harmonised Commodity Code). It is a nomenclature provided by the International Unit of Railways (UIC) designed specifically for statistics relating to rail freight. It is linked to the Harmonized System (HS) and Combined Nomenclature (CN). Respondents also have the possibility to give the required information about transported goods by using the NHM-codes. By the help of a conversation table NHM-codes can be assigned to NST 2007-codes.
Type of dangerous goods is a mandatory variable. These categories are defined in the regulation concerning the inland transport of dangerous goods by rail, usually known as the RID, as adopted under Directive No 2008/68/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council.
Codes of regions used in the region-to-region statistics are indicated in Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council. NUTS „Nomenclature des unités territoriales statistiques“.
Most detailed regional breakdown:
Freight Transport in Austria: political districts, NUTS3
Passenger Transport in Austria: NUTS0, every 5 years NUTS2
Operating Performances of rail vehicles in Austria: NUTS0 respectively network segments
3.3. Coverage - sector
Railway undertakings providing transport of passengers or goods. Rail transport statistics relate to rail transport on Austria's national territory. The participation of the related survey is obligatory.
Freight Transport covers the transport of goods conducted by domestic as well as foreign railway undertakings and integrated railway undertakings. Railway undertakings which operate entirely or mainly within industrial and similar installations as well as railway undertakings which mainly provide local tourist services are excluded. For example, transport operations on company property or within ports are not recorded.
Passenger transport covers the transport of passengers by domestic as well as foreign railway undertakings and integrated railway undertakings in Austria. Railway undertakings which operate entirely or mainly within industrial and similar installations as well as railway undertakings which mainly provide local tourist services are excluded, as are metro, light rails and/or tram systems.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
The main concepts used in rail domain are:
Railway undertaking means any public or private undertaking which provides services for the transport of goods and/or passenger by rail. Undertakings whose only business is to provide services for the transport of passengers by metro, tram and/or light rail are excluded.
Transport of goods by rail means the movement of goods using railway vehicles between the place of loading and the place of unloading.
Weight means the quantity of goods in tonnes (1 000 kilograms). The weight to be taken into consideration includes, in addition to the weight of the goods transported, the weight of packaging and the tare weight of containers, swap bodies, pallets as well as road vehicles transported by rail in the course of combined transport operations. If the goods are transported using the services of more than one railway undertaking, when possible the weight of goods shall not be counted more than once.
Tonne-km means the unit of measure of goods transport which represents the transport of one tonne (1 000 kilograms) of goods by rail over a distance of one kilometre. Only the distance on the national territory of the reporting country shall be taken into account.
Transport of passengers by rail means the movement of passengers using railway vehicles between the place of embarkation and the place of disembarkation. The transport of passengers by metro, tram and/or light rail is excluded.
Rail passenger means any person, excluding members of the train crew, who makes a trip by rail. For accident statistics, passengers trying to embark/disembark onto/from a moving train are included.
Passenger-km means the unit of measure representing the transport of one passenger by rail over a distance of one kilometre. Only the distance on the national territory of the reporting country shall be taken into account.
Train means one or more railway vehicles hauled by one or more locomotives or railcars, or one railcar travelling alone, running under a given number or specific designation from an initial fixed point to a terminal fixed point. A light engine, that is to say, a locomotive travelling on its own, is not considered to be a train.
Train-km means the unit of measure representing the movement of a train over one kilometre. The distance used is the distance actually run, if available, otherwise the standard network distance between the origin and destination shall be used. Only the distance on the national territory of the reporting country shall be taken into account.
More details concerning the definitions can be found in the Regulation (EU) No 2018/643 of the European Parliament and of the Council on rail transport statistics, Article 3, but also in the Reference Manual on Rail transport statistics.
3.5. Statistical unit
The reporting units concerning freight and passenger transport on Austria's territory network are domestic and foreign railway undertakings.
Referring to the number of goods and passenger trains by network segment the required data are provided by rail infrastructure managers.
3.6. Statistical population
Data on freight andpassenger transport are provided from the railway undertakings operating at national territory.
Data on railway traffic are provided from infrastructure managers.
3.7. Reference area
Operational railway network on national territory.
3.8. Coverage - Time
Data on goods and passengers are covered from 2004 onwards.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
The volume and performance of rail freight traffic are measured in tonnes and tonne-kilometres. Passenger transport by rail is measured in the number of passengers and in passenger-kilometres. Information on the number of train kilometres is also available. Traffic flows on the rail network are measured in number of trains - passenger, freight and others (optional).
The tables consist mostly of annual data. There are some tables providing quarterly and quinquennial (every five years) data.
Annex I – yearly data: goods transport collected for a reference period of one year with a deadline for data transmission of 5 months after the reference period,
Annex II – yearly data: passenger transport with 8 months transmission deadline after the end of the reference period,
Annex III – quarterly data: goods and passengers with a transmission deadline of 3 months after the end of the reference period,
Annex IV and V - every five years: data on regional statistics on goods and passengers and rail network with transmission deadline of 12 respectively 18 months after the end of reference period and
Annex VIII yearly data: goods (only for railway undertakings with a total volume of freight transport of less than 200 million tonne-km and less than 500 000 tonnes/year) and passengers transport (only for railway undertakings with a total volume of passenger transport of less than 100 million passenger-km/year) with 5 respectively 8 months transmission deadline after the end of the reference period.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
National level:
BGBl. Nr. 142/1983 Bundesgesetz vom 21. Februar 1983 über statistische Erhebungen im Bereich des Straßen- und Schienenverkehrs (Straßen- und Schienenverkehrsstatistikgesetz);
BGBl. Nr. 393/1995 Verordnung des Bundesministers für öffentliche Wirtschaft und Verkehr über statistische Erhebungen im Bereich des Straßen- und Schienengüterverkehrs (Straßen- und Schienengüterverkehrsstatistik-Verordnung) idF: BGBl. II Nr. 119/2005 (Änderung der Straßen- und Schienengüterverkehrsstatistik-Verordnung)
European level:
Regulation (EU) No 2018/643 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 April 2018 on rail transport statistics (recast)
The collection of data on passenger transport with an annual transport performance below 100 million passenger-kilometres is conducted once a year by Schienen-Control GmbH (SCG), which is, inter alia, an independent regulatory body responsible for ensuring non-discriminatory access to railway infrastructure.
Data on operating performances (Goods respectively passenger train movements) of rail vehicles by domestic and foreign railways in Austria are collected by SCG as well.
The survey of the number of trains by network segment for the analysis of traffic flows is conducted every five years by the Bundesministerium für Klimaschutz, Umwelt, Energie, Mobilität, Innovation und Technologie.
The data of the surveys mentioned above are provided by the above mentioned institutions.
Regulation (EU) No 223/2009 on European Statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.
For reasons of data protection it might be that data referring to freight respectively passenger transport must not be disclosed. Confidential data that must be transmitted to Eurostat according to Regulation (EU) No 2018/643 are marked with a "c" in the tables.
Confidential data concerning freight transport:
· Up to 2015, data by country of loading and country of unloading (table I3)
· Up to 2008, data by type of goods (table I2)
· Data by region (NUTS 2) of loading and region (NUTS 2) of unloading (tables IV1 and IV2)
· Intermodal transport units from 2014 onwards (tables I6, I7 and I8).
Confidential data concerning passenger transport:
· Quarterly data include data of detailed reporting referring to the transport of passengers (table III2)
· Data by country of embarkation and country of disembarkation (tables II1 and II2)
· Data by region (NUTS 2) of embarkation and region of disembarkation (NUTS 2) (tables IV3 and IV4)
8.1. Release calendar
In Austria preliminary freight transport statistics is published quarterly 90 days (three months) after the reference quarter. Final annual data are published at the latest 150 days (5 month) after the reference year in a press release. Release dates are publicly available in the release calendar of the National Statistical Institute (NSI). In case of changes of release dates the release calendar is updated continually.
Annual passenger transport data are published 240 days (8 months) after the reference year in Austria.
8.2. Release calendar access
The release calendar is publicly available on the website of the NSI.
8.3. Release policy - user access
Main results of rail transport statistics are available free of charge to all users. More detailed results (e.g. border crossings or distance classes referring to freight transport) can be obtained with subscription.
For special data requests alternative evaluations can be offered.
Next to the release calendar users are informed of the release of the annual press release if subscribed to the specific newsletter.
At the release data rail transport statistics is available to all users at the same time.
Freight transport statistics is published quarterly 90 days (3 months) after the reference quarter. Final annual data are published at the latest 150 days (5 months) after the reference year. When final annual data are available preliminary quarterly data are replaced.
Annual passenger transport data are published 240 days (8 months) after the reference year.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
Final freight transport data are published at the latest 150 days (5 months) after the reference year in a press release.
Passenger transport data are published 240 days (8 months) after the reference year. An example shows the following link.
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
Publication of rail transport statistics is done through our website.
The results can be found in the STATcube database (please have a look at Statistics > Tourism and transport > Freight transport > Rail freight transport and Statistics > Tourism and transport > Passenger transport > Rail passenger transport).
Main results are available free of charge. For more detailed results (e.g. border crossings or distance classes referring to freight transport) the data users have to pay for accessing the data.
Meta information (definitions, methods, quality, comments) in a standard-documentation referring to rail transport statistics is available at national level in German and English.
10.7. Quality management - documentation
Data quality can be assessed as high. There is a set of validation rules concerning freight and passenger transport and quality checks put in place, which detect various types of issues. In case of any issues detected, the data providers are contacted to provide explanations or/and revise the data accordingly.
Quality policy is defined and made available to the public. An organisational structure and tools are in place to deal with quality management. There are procedures in place to plan, monitor and improve the quality of the statistical processes. Procedures based on quality reporting are in place to internally monitor product quality. Results are analysed regularly and improving actions are undertaken, if needed (for example after obtaining annual summary results and mirror checks reports from Eurostat). There is a regular and thorough review of the key statistical outputs using also external experts where appropriate.
Moreover, in the framework of Statistics Austria Total Quality Management (TQM) approach, Statistics Austria has introduced standard quality reports (standard-documentation) to be produced and kept up-to-date for all statistics. The reports are based on the ESS definition of quality in statistics and follow the European standard quality report and provide users with information about the underlying concepts, definitions, methods used and the quality of the statistics (meta-information) in a standardised format.
In cooperation with the Statistic Committee’s Quality Assurance Committee, feedback meetings concerning the quality of the different statistical products on the basis of the standard documentation are held regularly within the framework of Statistics Austria’s quality management programme. They involve both internal (including the production domain, a peer domain and national accountants) and external experts (such as main users and methodologists).
The content and objectives of the feedback meetings concern critical examination of the quality aspects of statistics with particular consideration of the methods and processes used; identification of quality improvement potential; development of recommendations for improvement measures; and improvement of the standard documentation relating to the statistics in question, with special attention to the views of users and external experts.
For Rail Transport Statistics the last feedback meeting took place in March 2019.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Data quality can be assessed as high. There is a set of validation rules and quality checks put in place, which detect various types of issues. In case of any issues detected, the data providers are contacted to provide explanations or/and revise the data accordingly. Mainly these records contain incomplete information and/or have logical errors.
The micro-plausibility checks of the data sets show that approximately 1 200 data sets (about 1.5% of all data records) have to be corrected per year. Mainly these records contain incomplete information and/or have logical errors. A standard-documentation with meta information on rail transport statistics is available at national level (see point 10.6 in this document).
Within the subscribed time table (see point 5 of this document) data must be transmitted to Eurostat via eDAMIS (electronic Data files Administration and Management System). A system that offers standard solutions for collecting data files in the European Statistical System. Moreover additional plausibility checks are done by Eurostat. Detail information about eDAMIS and the checks can be found in the Reference Manual on Rail transport statistics.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
The key users of rail transport statistics are:
Bundesministerium für Klimaschutz, Umwelt, Energie, Mobilität, Innovation und Technologie
Universities and research institutions
Economic chambers and similar institutions
Private users interested in rail freight and/or rail passenger transport statistics
Data on rail transport statistics provide an important basis for decision-making politics, society and economy in the context of the development of transport projects.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Statistics Austria is regularly conducting a survey on the use of and satisfaction with statistical information from the Federal Institute. This biennial survey of important users serves Statistics Austria to obtain feedback on the use, relevance and quality of the statistical products it publishes. In doing so, the Federal Statistics Office also follows important indicators specified by the "European Statistics Code of Practice".
The most recent survey based on voluntary participation of experts was conducted in autumn 2021. There was no user survey, in particular on the rail transport statistics data carried out so far, but the direct feedback from main users such as the Bundesministerium für Klimaschutz, Umwelt, Energie, Mobilität, Innovation und Technologie, universities and chambers of commerce shows good satisfaction with data coverage and availability.
12.3. Completeness
The data collection on rail transport statistics follows the provisions of the Regulation (EU) No 2018/643. All variables in the different data sets are provided.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
Overall accuracy of the rail transport statistics data is good. The processing with several plausibility checks as well as checks done before transmitting data to Eurostat provides a high accuracy of the data.
13.2. Sampling error
Not relevant for rail transport data collection.
13.3. Non-sampling error
It can be assumed that there is no under- or over-reporting of the primary statistical complete surveys in question, since on the one hand there is good communication with the respondents and on the other hand it is assumed that the reports are made to the best of one's knowledge. If, after the publication of results, it turns out that errors have occurred in the transmission of data to Statistics Austria which have led to under- or over-coverage, corresponding corrections are carried out, commented on and documented by revisions.
It might be that foreign railway undertakings refuse to cooperate with Statistics Austria and no legal action can be taken against them. Currently, all foreign railway undertakings provide the data required for the compilation of rail transport statistics.
Micro and macro analyses and plausibility checks are used to avoid errors. Plausibility programs are continuously checked and adapted to the current circumstances in order to guarantee a high quality of the results.
14.1. Timeliness
All necessary data are collected and transmitted to Eurostat in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 2018/643 within the specified transmission deadlines (see point 5 in this document).
14.2. Punctuality
All required data are transmitted to Eurostat within the specified transmission deadlines in accordance to the Regulation (EU) No 2018/643 (see point 5 in this document).
15.1. Comparability - geographical
Data can include information from detailed and simplified reportings concerning the transport of goods and passengers.
For reasons of data protection it might be that data of freight or passenger transport must not be disclosed. Confidential data are marked with a "c" when data sets are transmitted to Eurostat. That means that this kind of data cannot be published. If data are not allowed to be published, a comparison (mirror statistics) with collected data of other National Statistical Instituts cannot be done.
Detailed reporting concerning freight transport or passenger transport (aggregated and anonymised) with an annual transport performance of at least 200 million tonne-kilometres or at least 500 000 tonnes (freight transport) respectively at least 100 million passenger kilometres (passenger transport) in Austria must be provided to Eurostat. For railway undertakings whose annual transport volume or transport performance is less than the mentioned thresholds (simplified reporting), detailed reporting is not necessary. If the countries to be compared collect data of all railway undertakings operating on their national territories a comparison might be possible if those data are published by Eurostat’s database.
15.2. Comparability - over time
Confidential data are not published and cannot be compared.
For reasons of harmonisation Eurostat recommended the rail freight waybill as data source to determine the types of transport (national, international incoming, international outgoing, transit). Moreover, the transportation of goods should only be counted once if more than one railway undertaking is involved in a transport. Since 2013, the transport volume (tonnes), based on the rail waybill, is only counted once if more than one railway undertaking is involved in a transport. That has to be noticed when comparing data with data of previous years.
Freight transport:
Quarterly data are provisional until final data are available. If final data are available preliminary quarterly data are replaced by final data. Final data refer to all railway undertakings with a transport performance of at least 500 million tonne-km per year up to the reporting year 2015. Concerning the reporting year 2016 and the following years, data refer to all railway undertakings on Austria’s rail network.
Up to 2008, data by type of goods are confidential.
Intermodal transport units data are confidential from 2014 onwards.
Up to 2015, data by country of loading and country of unloading are confidential.
Detailed data of freight transport, data by region of loading and region of unloading (NUTS 2) are always confidential.
Data concerning the reporting years 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 were revised in 2018. In April 2023 values referring to the reporting year 2021 were revised due to updated data.
Passenger transport:
Quarterly data are provisional and refer only to railway undertakings with a transport performance of at least 200 million pkm per year (detailed reporting) up to the reporting year 2015. Concerning the reporting year 2016 and the following years, data refer to railway undertakings on Austria’s rail network with a transport performance of at least 100 million pkm per year (detailed reporting). Detailed data of transported passengers, data by region of embarkation and region of disembarkation (NUTS 2) are always confidential.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
A comparison of rail freight transport statistics with other transport statistics based on the territoriality principle is possible. Rail freight transport statistics and road freight transport statistics are under certain conditions comparable, although rail freight transport statistics are based on the principle of territoriality and road freight statistics are based on the nationality principle.
Due to the nationality principle applicable to road transport, the share of the individual modes of transport in the total transport volume in Austria can only be calculated by taking into account surveys on road freight transport from other Member States of the European Union. Eurostat provides the national statistical offices data concerning the volume of traffic generated on Austrian territory by goods vehicles not registered in Austria. As European consolidated road freight transport statistics only provide the transport performance for the whole journey, a special model had to be developed to divide the transport performance into national and international journeys. The exact procedure can be found in the article "Estimation of domestic transport performance from consolidated European road freight transport data" in the Austrian Journal of Statistics, Vol 43, No. 1.
Since 2019, data from the Austrian toll system are also included in the results of freight traffic on Austria's roads (from reporting year 2015 on) which make it possible to present a complete picture of the transport volume on Austrias territory and therefore to present a modal split. A detailed description of the use of toll data in road freight transport statistics can be found in the article “Using Toll Data to Improve the Quality of Road Freight Transport Statistics (RFTS) on Austrian Roads" in the Austrian Journal of Statistics.
Passenger transports on road are not currently recorded. Therefore, a comparability with rail passenger transport is not possible.
The number of persons carried on the Austrian rail network can be compared with the number of persons carried by civil aircraft in Austria.
15.4. Coherence - internal
If between 2006 and 2012 a transport of goods was more than one railway undertaking involved, this transport was counted more than once because every transport of each railway undertaking was considered as an independent transport.
As this had an impact on the results (increase in transport volume, changed allocation of type of transport), these data could only be compared to a limited extent with older data. In order to comply with Eurostat's recommendation for a uniform approach to rail freight transport surveys in the European Union, from the 2013 reference year onwards, the data shown on the rail freight waybill (if available) are of relevance.
This approach leads to a break in the time series of rail freight transport statistics referring to the transport volume. The allocation of the types of transport (national, international incoming, international outgoing, transit) changed as well.
The Federal Statistics Law 2000 stipulates that the institutions of official statistics have to organize their statistical system in a way that the response burden is as small as possible. The response burden is out on the railway undertakings, but is reduced to a minimum. The respondents have the possibility to transmit the required data via SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) interface or via e-mail. Respondents are only contacted if plausibility errors cannot be solved by the National Statistical Institute.
17.1. Data revision - policy
Preliminary results are revised when the final annual data are available (at the latest 150 days after the reference year for freight transport). This is usually done once a year. Current results on freight transport are published in the statistical database STATcube in the form of quarterly and annual results. The preliminary results are considered as provisional until the results are available for a complete reference year. If this is the case, the provisional results are replaced by final data.
In case of any data change in the statistics after the annual results were published, the public is informed by an official notice (in case of the change to the Press Release) or footnotes (in case of pdf-publications or online-tables).
17.2. Data revision - practice
Data referring to freight transport in the period 2013 to 2016 had to be revised in 2018. A revision became necessary because in 2018 it turned out that the information on transport volume (tonnage) provided by one railway undertaking referring to the reference period from 2013 to 2016 did not correspond to the facts. A correction had to be done because the actual transport volume of the concerned railway undertaking was higher than that reported to Statistics Austria. Referring to the survey on Rail freight transport, the data basis for the reporting years 2021 and 2022 had to be updated in October 2023 due to changed input data. For this reason, it was necessary to revise the results for the reporting years 2021 and 2022 that had previously been published as final. The revised data for both reporting years were published on October 27, 2023.
With regard to the data on passenger transport revisions are carried out if necessary, but this hardly ever happens.
18.1. Source data
Freight transport transport: Domestic and foreign railway undertakings
Passenger transport with a transport performance of at least 100 million passenger-kilometres/Year: Railway undertakings
Passenger transport with a transport performance of less than 100 million passenger-kilometres/Year and operating performances of rail vehicles:
quarterly and yearly (freight transport, passenger transport of certain railway undertakings),
yearly (passenger transport of certain railway undertakings and operating performances of rail vehicles) and
at five-yearly intervals (train movements by network segments)
See point 5 in this document.
18.3. Data collection
Data are collected via Excel forms or individually designed datasets containing all necessary information to comply with the requirements of Regulation (EU) No 2018/643 are transmitted. The transmission is possible via SFTP interface or via e-mail.
18.4. Data validation
In general incoming data are checked for completeness, subjected to an extensive plausibility check and - if necessary - corrected manually.
The reports of each individual railway undertaking are compared in detail with the results of previous years as part of the macro plausibility checks, examined for anomalies and the changes are documented. On the basis of the available data, Statistics Austria can check whether the reported freight transport data are consistent. In the event of ambiguities, the responsible railway undertaking is contacted so that any questionable data can be corrected if necessary.
Incoming information on passenger transport and operating performances is checked for completeness. In addition, the reports of each individual railway undertaking are compared in detail with the values of previous years and examined for anomalies. In case of uncertainty, the individual source of data (see point 18.1 of this document) will be contacted and questionable information corrected when necessary.
Information from the network operators concerning train movements by network segments cannot be verified. However, it can be assumed that the reporting operators prepare their reports to the best of their knowledge and that they do not knowingly provide false information.
18.5. Data compilation
After the receipt of the individual data required for the compilation of the respective statistics, these shall be checked for completeness and plausibility and, if necessary, corrected before they are anonymised in order to comply with Regulation (EC) No 332/2007.
18.6. Adjustment
Not applicable for rail transport data collection.
No comments.
Freight Transport covers the transport of goods conducted by domestic as well as foreign railway undertakings and integrated railway undertakings. Railway undertakings which operate entirely or mainly within industrial and similar installations as well as railway undertakings which mainly provide local tourist services are excluded. For example, transport operations on company property or within ports are not recorded. This statistics are conducted quarterly by Statistics Austria. Moreover a survey concerning the national and international goods transport by region of loading and region of unloading (NUTS 2) is done every five years.
Passenger transport covers the transport of passengers by domestic as well as foreign railway undertakings and integrated railway undertakings in Austria. Railway undertakings which operate entirely or mainly within industrial and similar installations as well as railway undertakings which mainly provide local tourist services are excluded, as are metro, light rails and tram systems. The passenger transport survey is conducted quarterly by Statistics Austria for railway undertakings with an annual transport performance of at least 100 million passenger-kilometres (pkm). The collection of data on passenger transport with an annual transport performance below this threshold is conducted once a year by Schienen-Control GmbH (SCG). Moreover a survey concerning the national and international passenger transport by region of embarkation and region of disembarkation (NUTS 2) is done every five years.
Data on Operating Performances (Goods respectively passenger train movements) of rail vehicles by domestic and foreign railways in Austria are collected by SCG.
The data collection is based on national and international legal acts:
National level:
BGBl. Nr. 142/1983 Bundesgesetz vom 21. Februar 1983 über statistische Erhebungen im Bereich des Straßen- und Schienenverkehrs (Straßen- und Schienenverkehrsstatistikgesetz); BGBl. Nr. 393/1995 Verordnung des Bundesministers für öffentliche Wirtschaft und Verkehr über statistische Erhebungen im Bereich des Straßen- und Schienengüterverkehrs (Straßen- und Schienengüterverkehrsstatistik-Verordnung) idF: BGBl. II Nr. 119/2005 (Änderung der Straßen- und Schienengüterverkehrsstatistik-Verordnung);
Annex III – (quarterly data) goods and passengers,
Annex IV and V (data every five years) regional statistics on goods and passengers and rail network and
Annex VIII (annual data) goods and passengers transport for small undertakings.
15 November 2023
The main concepts used in rail domain are:
Railway undertaking means any public or private undertaking which provides services for the transport of goods and/or passenger by rail. Undertakings whose only business is to provide services for the transport of passengers by metro, tram and/or light rail are excluded.
Transport of goods by rail means the movement of goods using railway vehicles between the place of loading and the place of unloading.
Weight means the quantity of goods in tonnes (1 000 kilograms). The weight to be taken into consideration includes, in addition to the weight of the goods transported, the weight of packaging and the tare weight of containers, swap bodies, pallets as well as road vehicles transported by rail in the course of combined transport operations. If the goods are transported using the services of more than one railway undertaking, when possible the weight of goods shall not be counted more than once.
Tonne-km means the unit of measure of goods transport which represents the transport of one tonne (1 000 kilograms) of goods by rail over a distance of one kilometre. Only the distance on the national territory of the reporting country shall be taken into account.
Transport of passengers by rail means the movement of passengers using railway vehicles between the place of embarkation and the place of disembarkation. The transport of passengers by metro, tram and/or light rail is excluded.
Rail passenger means any person, excluding members of the train crew, who makes a trip by rail. For accident statistics, passengers trying to embark/disembark onto/from a moving train are included.
Passenger-km means the unit of measure representing the transport of one passenger by rail over a distance of one kilometre. Only the distance on the national territory of the reporting country shall be taken into account.
Train means one or more railway vehicles hauled by one or more locomotives or railcars, or one railcar travelling alone, running under a given number or specific designation from an initial fixed point to a terminal fixed point. A light engine, that is to say, a locomotive travelling on its own, is not considered to be a train.
Train-km means the unit of measure representing the movement of a train over one kilometre. The distance used is the distance actually run, if available, otherwise the standard network distance between the origin and destination shall be used. Only the distance on the national territory of the reporting country shall be taken into account.
More details concerning the definitions can be found in the Regulation (EU) No 2018/643 of the European Parliament and of the Council on rail transport statistics, Article 3, but also in the Reference Manual on Rail transport statistics.
The reporting units concerning freight and passenger transport on Austria's territory network are domestic and foreign railway undertakings.
Referring to the number of goods and passenger trains by network segment the required data are provided by rail infrastructure managers.
Data on freight andpassenger transport are provided from the railway undertakings operating at national territory.
Data on railway traffic are provided from infrastructure managers.
Operational railway network on national territory.
The tables consist mostly of annual data. There are some tables providing quarterly and quinquennial (every five years) data.
Annex I – yearly data: goods transport collected for a reference period of one year with a deadline for data transmission of 5 months after the reference period,
Annex II – yearly data: passenger transport with 8 months transmission deadline after the end of the reference period,
Annex III – quarterly data: goods and passengers with a transmission deadline of 3 months after the end of the reference period,
Annex IV and V - every five years: data on regional statistics on goods and passengers and rail network with transmission deadline of 12 respectively 18 months after the end of reference period and
Annex VIII yearly data: goods (only for railway undertakings with a total volume of freight transport of less than 200 million tonne-km and less than 500 000 tonnes/year) and passengers transport (only for railway undertakings with a total volume of passenger transport of less than 100 million passenger-km/year) with 5 respectively 8 months transmission deadline after the end of the reference period.
Overall accuracy of the rail transport statistics data is good. The processing with several plausibility checks as well as checks done before transmitting data to Eurostat provides a high accuracy of the data.
The volume and performance of rail freight traffic are measured in tonnes and tonne-kilometres. Passenger transport by rail is measured in the number of passengers and in passenger-kilometres. Information on the number of train kilometres is also available. Traffic flows on the rail network are measured in number of trains - passenger, freight and others (optional).
After the receipt of the individual data required for the compilation of the respective statistics, these shall be checked for completeness and plausibility and, if necessary, corrected before they are anonymised in order to comply with Regulation (EC) No 332/2007.
Freight transport transport: Domestic and foreign railway undertakings
Passenger transport with a transport performance of at least 100 million passenger-kilometres/Year: Railway undertakings
Passenger transport with a transport performance of less than 100 million passenger-kilometres/Year and operating performances of rail vehicles:
Freight transport statistics is published quarterly 90 days (3 months) after the reference quarter. Final annual data are published at the latest 150 days (5 months) after the reference year. When final annual data are available preliminary quarterly data are replaced.
Annual passenger transport data are published 240 days (8 months) after the reference year.
All necessary data are collected and transmitted to Eurostat in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 2018/643 within the specified transmission deadlines (see point 5 in this document).
Data can include information from detailed and simplified reportings concerning the transport of goods and passengers.
For reasons of data protection it might be that data of freight or passenger transport must not be disclosed. Confidential data are marked with a "c" when data sets are transmitted to Eurostat. That means that this kind of data cannot be published. If data are not allowed to be published, a comparison (mirror statistics) with collected data of other National Statistical Instituts cannot be done.
Detailed reporting concerning freight transport or passenger transport (aggregated and anonymised) with an annual transport performance of at least 200 million tonne-kilometres or at least 500 000 tonnes (freight transport) respectively at least 100 million passenger kilometres (passenger transport) in Austria must be provided to Eurostat. For railway undertakings whose annual transport volume or transport performance is less than the mentioned thresholds (simplified reporting), detailed reporting is not necessary. If the countries to be compared collect data of all railway undertakings operating on their national territories a comparison might be possible if those data are published by Eurostat’s database.
Confidential data are not published and cannot be compared.
For reasons of harmonisation Eurostat recommended the rail freight waybill as data source to determine the types of transport (national, international incoming, international outgoing, transit). Moreover, the transportation of goods should only be counted once if more than one railway undertaking is involved in a transport. Since 2013, the transport volume (tonnes), based on the rail waybill, is only counted once if more than one railway undertaking is involved in a transport. That has to be noticed when comparing data with data of previous years.
Freight transport:
Quarterly data are provisional until final data are available. If final data are available preliminary quarterly data are replaced by final data. Final data refer to all railway undertakings with a transport performance of at least 500 million tonne-km per year up to the reporting year 2015. Concerning the reporting year 2016 and the following years, data refer to all railway undertakings on Austria’s rail network.
Up to 2008, data by type of goods are confidential.
Intermodal transport units data are confidential from 2014 onwards.
Up to 2015, data by country of loading and country of unloading are confidential.
Detailed data of freight transport, data by region of loading and region of unloading (NUTS 2) are always confidential.
Data concerning the reporting years 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 were revised in 2018. In April 2023 values referring to the reporting year 2021 were revised due to updated data.
Passenger transport:
Quarterly data are provisional and refer only to railway undertakings with a transport performance of at least 200 million pkm per year (detailed reporting) up to the reporting year 2015. Concerning the reporting year 2016 and the following years, data refer to railway undertakings on Austria’s rail network with a transport performance of at least 100 million pkm per year (detailed reporting). Detailed data of transported passengers, data by region of embarkation and region of disembarkation (NUTS 2) are always confidential.
