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.
Mandatory data collection at EU level is based on legal act, the Regulation EU 2018/643 and covers goods and passengers. Data is collected as following:
Annex I (annual data) –goods transport,
Annex II (annual data)–passenger transport,
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.
The codes of regions used in the region-to-region statistics are indicated in Regulation (EC) 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council.
3.3. Coverage - sector
Railway undertakings providing transport of passengers or goods.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
The main concepts used in rail domain are:
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 kilometer. Only the distance on the national territory of the reporting country shall be taken into account. 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 kilometer. 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.
3.5. Statistical unit
Statistical units for rail transport statistics are all railway stations.
3.6. Statistical population
Data on passenger and freight transport are collected from the railway undertakings operating at national territory within thresholds mentioned in the rail regulation. Data on traffic are collected from infrastructure managers and railway undertakings.
3.7. Reference area
Operational railway network on national territory.
3.8. Coverage - Time
Data on passengers and goods are covered from 2004 onwards.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
The volume and performance of rail freight traffic are measured in tonnes (mass) 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.
According to the Rail regulation (EU) 2018/643 data is collected as following: Annual data – Annex I –goods transport collected for a reference period of one year with a deadline for data transmission as 5 months after the reference period, – Annex II –passenger transport, yearly data with eight months deadline after the end of reference period – Annex III – quarterly data for goods and passengers with a deadline of three months after the end of the reference period, – Annex IV and V data every five years on regional statistics on goods and passengers and rail network with deadline of 12 respectively 18 months after the end of reference period and – Annex VIII goods and passengers transport for small undertakings with 5 respectively 8 months deadline after the end of reference period.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
National level is based on Statistics Law and Council Regulation No 741 "Official Statistics Programme for 2023–2025" (in Latvian only) Council Regulation No 741 .
Confidentiality of the information provided by respondents is protected by the Section 17 of the Statistics Law
European level:
Regulation (EC) 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.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
All rail freight and passenger micro-data are treated as if they were confidential. This means the following:
data transmission to Eurostat takes place in encrypted format using the eDAMIS data transmission tool,
data are treated on a secured server, to which access is restricted and strictly controlled,
all people working with the rail freight and passenger micro-data must sign an agreement stipulating that they respect the rules of the treatment of confidential data.
If the data are declared confidential under Article 7 of Regulation 2018/643, they may normally not be disseminated.
8.1. Release calendar
Rail transport statistics (Statistics Database) is published monthly 30 days (1 month) after the reference month, (News releases and Statistics Database) quarterly 60 days (two months) after the reference quarter. Annual data (Statistics Database) is published 150 days (five months) after the reference year. Annual data (Publication) is published 230 days after the reference year.
Main results of rail transport statistics are available free of charge to all users. More detailed data can be obtained with subscription. At the release data rail transport statistics is available to all users at the same time.
Official statistics (News releases and Statistics Database) are available on the website at 13.00 on the date announced in the release calendar.
The tables of monthly data in Statistics Database are published monthly 30 days (1 month) after the reference month.
Quarterly data in News releases and Statistics Database is published quarterly 60 days (two months) after the reference quarter.
Monthly and quarterly data are updated once a year after comparison with the railway undertakings and after receiving annual questionnaire.
Annual data (Statistics Database) is published 150 days (five months) after the reference year.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
The results of the 1st quarter, first half of the year, 9 months and year of rail transport as a part of a press release are published quarterly 60 days after the reference quarter. CSP publishes two separate press releases: one for freight transport, other for passenger transport. The example of the first half of the 2023 press releases can be found under this links Freight Transport, Passenger transport
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
Publication “Transport in Latvia, 2024” includes chapter “Rail transport”. The publication is available on our website Publication "Transport in Latvia 2024"
If statistical data are not available in publications or in the CSB online data base, data users should send CSB an information request by e-mail info@csp.gov.lv.
Rail transport data are validated before being entered into the database and disseminated to the public. The validation rules are intended to assure:
consistency between the tables and datasets
common structure of nomenclatures (classifications)
year to year comparability of the same indicators
11.2. Quality management - assessment
There are no serious issues with data quality. Testing and comparing microdata exclude errors. In order to improve data quality, at the end of the year data is compared with railway undertakings.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
The basic users of rail statistics are
International data users:
Eurostat,
United Nation,
International Transport Forum.
National data users:
Ministry of Transport,
Bank of Latvia,
Public administrations,
Students,
Mass media.
Railway data users are mostly interested in passenger and freight transport data. The needs of data users are taken into account when creating new database tables.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Not applicable.
12.3. Completeness
Railway data collected within the scope of the legal acts are complete.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
Not applicable.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Not applicable.
14.1. Timeliness
First monthly results are available 25 days after the end of the reference month, quarterly data – 30 days after the end of the reference quarter, annual data – 130 days after the end of the reference year.
14.2. Punctuality
All datasets are transmitted to Eurostat within the deadlines set in Regulation 2018/643:
Annex I – 5 months after the reference year,
Annex II – 8 months after the reference year,
Annex III – 3 months after the reference quarter,
Annex IV and V – 12, respectively, 18 months after the end of reference year,
Annex VIII – 5, respectively, 8 months after the end of reference year.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
No geographical comparability problems. The data covers the whole country.
15.2. Comparability - over time
Comparable time series are available from 2004. Time series exist from 1992, but in 2004 there was a break in series because of other definition of transit was used previously.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Not applicable
15.4. Coherence - internal
Data is always compared with the responsible institution and discrepancies (if any) are eliminated.
Cost and burden are not systematically collected.
17.1. Data revision - policy
Data are revised once a year: at the end of reference year data are compared with railway undertakings and data discrepancies are eliminated. If quarterly data revised is 5% different from the data already sent to Eurostat, new data is sent to Eurostat.
17.2. Data revision - practice
The policy described in 17.1 is fully implemented.
18.1. Source data
The necessary data is obtained using monthly and annual questionnaires fulfilled by railway undertakings. Data for Annex V are obtained using annual questionnaire from infrastructure manager. In some cases, statistical estimation procedure is used as well.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
For Annex III monthly questionnaire is used and quarterly data are summed up from the monthly data. For Annex I, II, VIII one annual questionnaire and for Annex IV, V other annual questionnaires is used.
18.3. Data collection
The data for the purpose of the Regulation 2018/643:is collected by monthly and annually questionnaires received from railway undertakings and infrastructure manager . Rail statistics are based on the commercial data of railway undertakings that are aggregated afterwards.
18.4. Data validation
When monthly data is received from railway undertakings the following data validation methods are used:
comparison with the previous period
calculation of the average distance transported in order to determine the conformity of the ton-km with tonnes.
For annual data cross-table checks are used additionally in order to verify the consistency between the datasets and quarterly and annually data comparison.
18.5. Data compilation
After various plausibility checks, the monthly data received from all responsible railway undertakings are compiled into quarterly data. Annual data are not compiled from quarterly data, they are compiled from received annual data from all responsible railway undertakings and infrastructure manager.
The summaries are drawn up in accordance with Regulation 2018/643 and in accordance with paragraph 24.1 of the Official Statistics Program 2023-2025 for national needs.
There are two types of summaries:
1. Quarterly summaries of key figures (tonnes and tkm by type of transport, number of passengers and passenger-km) are provided in 30 days after the reference quarter.
2. Annual summary data by different breakdowns are prepared in 100-120 days following the reference year.
18.6. Adjustment
Rail transport data are not seasonally adjusted.
Rail transport data are collected, compiled and published in full accordance with the requirements of the Regulation 2018/643 and Official Statistics Program.
Mandatory data collection at EU level is based on legal act, the Regulation EU 2018/643 and covers goods and passengers. Data is collected as following:
Annex I (annual data) –goods transport,
Annex II (annual data)–passenger transport,
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 October 2024
The main concepts used in rail domain are:
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 kilometer. Only the distance on the national territory of the reporting country shall be taken into account. 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 kilometer. 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.
Statistical units for rail transport statistics are all railway stations.
Data on passenger and freight transport are collected from the railway undertakings operating at national territory within thresholds mentioned in the rail regulation. Data on traffic are collected from infrastructure managers and railway undertakings.
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.
According to the Rail regulation (EU) 2018/643 data is collected as following: Annual data – Annex I –goods transport collected for a reference period of one year with a deadline for data transmission as 5 months after the reference period, – Annex II –passenger transport, yearly data with eight months deadline after the end of reference period – Annex III – quarterly data for goods and passengers with a deadline of three months after the end of the reference period, – Annex IV and V data every five years on regional statistics on goods and passengers and rail network with deadline of 12 respectively 18 months after the end of reference period and – Annex VIII goods and passengers transport for small undertakings with 5 respectively 8 months deadline after the end of reference period.
Not applicable.
The volume and performance of rail freight traffic are measured in tonnes (mass) 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 various plausibility checks, the monthly data received from all responsible railway undertakings are compiled into quarterly data. Annual data are not compiled from quarterly data, they are compiled from received annual data from all responsible railway undertakings and infrastructure manager.
The summaries are drawn up in accordance with Regulation 2018/643 and in accordance with paragraph 24.1 of the Official Statistics Program 2023-2025 for national needs.
There are two types of summaries:
1. Quarterly summaries of key figures (tonnes and tkm by type of transport, number of passengers and passenger-km) are provided in 30 days after the reference quarter.
2. Annual summary data by different breakdowns are prepared in 100-120 days following the reference year.
The necessary data is obtained using monthly and annual questionnaires fulfilled by railway undertakings. Data for Annex V are obtained using annual questionnaire from infrastructure manager. In some cases, statistical estimation procedure is used as well.
The tables of monthly data in Statistics Database are published monthly 30 days (1 month) after the reference month.
Quarterly data in News releases and Statistics Database is published quarterly 60 days (two months) after the reference quarter.
Monthly and quarterly data are updated once a year after comparison with the railway undertakings and after receiving annual questionnaire.
Annual data (Statistics Database) is published 150 days (five months) after the reference year.
First monthly results are available 25 days after the end of the reference month, quarterly data – 30 days after the end of the reference quarter, annual data – 130 days after the end of the reference year.
No geographical comparability problems. The data covers the whole country.
Comparable time series are available from 2004. Time series exist from 1992, but in 2004 there was a break in series because of other definition of transit was used previously.
