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.
SO SR (Štatistický úrad Slovenskej republiky - Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic)
1.2. Contact organisation unit
Business Statistics Section
Cross-Sectional Statistics Department
1.3. Contact name
Confidential because of GDPR
1.4. Contact person function
Confidential because of GDPR
1.5. Contact mail address
Statistical Office of the Solvak Republic
LAMAČSKÁ CESTA 3/C
840 05 BRATISLAVA 45
SLOVAKIA
1.6. Contact email address
Confidential because of GDPR
1.7. Contact phone number
Confidential because of GDPR
1.8. Contact fax number
Confidential because of GDPR
2.1. Metadata last certified
30 October 2024
2.2. Metadata last posted
30 October 2024
2.3. Metadata last update
30 October 2024
3.1. Data description
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 tonnestones (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 undertakings performing railway transport and are registered at national territory.
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 periodreference 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
Protection of statistical confidentiality (protection of confidential statistical data) is a system of interrelated measures in the legislative, methodological, organizational, technical, security and personnel fields, preventing the leakage of confidential statistical data or the premature publication of statistical information. Authorities performing state statistics are obliged to ensure the protection of confidential statistical data from misuse in the manner set out in § 25a and § 29 and 30 of Act No. 540/2001 Coll. on State Statistics, as amended. The principles of the application of confidential statistical data protection are available on the website of the SOSR weblink:
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
See 7.1.
8.1. Release calendar
Railway transport statistics is published at national level annually.
8.2. Release calendar access
Not applicable.
8.3. Release policy - user access
Not applicable.
Railway transport statistics is published at national level annually.
A Standard-documentation with Meta information (Definitions, comments, methods, quality) on Rail Transport Statistics is available at national level.
10.7. Quality management - documentation
Not available.
11.1. Quality assurance
The SOSR has a quality management system in place. The Quality Manual includes a description of the quality management system and the fulfillment of ISO 9001 requirements. The application of the Manual ensures that all activities that affect the quality of the products being produced are planned, managed, reviewed, evaluated and meet the requirements accepted in the order. The Quality Guide is available in this website.
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.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
The key users of railway transport statistics are:
Ministry of Transport and Construction of the Slovak Republic;
Universities and research institutions.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Since 2009, the Statistical Office of the SR has been conducting customer satisfaction surveys with its products and services at two-year intervals. The aim of the surveys is to get information about the interest and opinions of users on providing and quality of statistical products and services. The information obtained is a valuable source for the further activities of the SO SR.
The result of the satisfaction survey in 2017 is available on the website of the SOSR at (only in slovak language).
12.3. Completeness
Not available.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
The SO SR makes great efforts to prevent the occurrence of errors in data and performs a thorough verification of data to detect errors.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable for railway transport data collection.
13.3. Non-sampling error
To avoid non-selectable errors, i. errors in the process of collection and processing The SO SR has integrated logical and data controls in the integrated statistical information system at the level of micro-data as well as at the level of aggregated data that are performed during data collection and processing.
14.1. Timeliness
Publication of data in the public database of the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic „DATACUBE" is in accordance with the schedule of its updating.
14.2. Punctuality
Publication dates are respected.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
There are no problems of comparability for railway transport data collection with a very high data comparability across countries due to the common legal basis.
15.2. Comparability - over time
Comparable time series are available since January 2004.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Not applicable.
15.4. Coherence - internal
There are no deviations, statistical outputs are internally consistent.
It is estimated on the basis of the reporting unit of the time required to complete the form.
17.1. Data revision - policy
The revision policy governs the basic rules and general procedures by which the pre-drafted data is later revised as well as applied in revisions for other reasons.
The revision policy and calendar is available on the SOSR website.
17.2. Data revision - practice
The policy described in 17.1 is fully implemented.
18.1. Source data
Statistical surveys:
Dop/VDP 7-01 - Annual questionnaire in railway transport in big enterprises;
Dop/MDP 7-01 - Annual questionnaire in railway transport in small enterprises;
Dop/L 7-01 - Annual questionnaire in railway transport with licence and European licence.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Annually.
18.3. Data collection
Data collection is provided by the SO SR. Electronic data collection is obligatory from 1 January 2016 in accordance with the obligation stipulated by the Act of the Slovak National Council no. Amending and supplementing the Act of the Slovak National Council no. 540/2001 Coll.
All statistical surveys for railway transport are exhaustive.
18.4. Data validation
Data validation is embedded in the integrated statistical information system of the SO SR. The following checks are distinguished when collecting data:
formal checks carried out automatically in the data collection process;
informal controls to check the complexity and relationships between variables.
From the point of view of the severity of errors:
I - Informatic Errors - Provide additional information that is needed for the process of checking and correcting data. They provide information on possible overruns of specified limits, partial non- response, etc.
Z - material errors - indicating specific errors that need to be corrected or justified by the reporting agent. These errors are discussed by the SO SR staff with the reporting unit and corrected.
The ISIS system also defines controls and algorithms for creating outputs that ensure their desired quality.
18.5. Data compilation
See 18.4.
18.6. Adjustment
Not relevant.
No further comments.
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.
30 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 tonnestones (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 undertakings performing railway transport and are registered at national territory.
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 periodreference 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.
The SO SR makes great efforts to prevent the occurrence of errors in data and performs a thorough verification of data to detect errors.
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).
See 18.4.
Statistical surveys:
Dop/VDP 7-01 - Annual questionnaire in railway transport in big enterprises;
Dop/MDP 7-01 - Annual questionnaire in railway transport in small enterprises;
Dop/L 7-01 - Annual questionnaire in railway transport with licence and European licence.
Railway transport statistics is published at national level annually.
Publication of data in the public database of the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic „DATACUBE" is in accordance with the schedule of its updating.
There are no problems of comparability for railway transport data collection with a very high data comparability across countries due to the common legal basis.
Comparable time series are available since January 2004.
