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.
[DE1] Federal Statistical Office (Statistisches Bundesamt)
1.2. Contact organisation unit
Section E 36 (freight): Goods transport, Air transport.
Section E 35 (passengers): Public Transportation, Accidents.
1.3. Contact name
Confidential because of GDPR
1.4. Contact person function
Confidential because of GDPR
1.5. Contact mail address
Federal Statistical Office of Germany
Postal adress: 65180 Wiesbaden, Germany
Local adress: Gustav-Stresemann-Ring 11, 65189 Wiesbaden, Germany
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
15 October 2025
2.2. Metadata last posted
15 October 2025
2.3. Metadata last update
15 October 2025
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 objective of statistics is to obtain reliable, comprehensive, differentiated, up-to-date and comparable data on railway transports across member states. Statistics on the transport of goods and passengers by rail are necessary to enable the European and national authorities to monitor and develop the common transport policy, as well as the transport elements of policies relating to the regions and to Trans-European networks. The users of the statistics include ministries, federal authorities, scientific institutes, rail transport companies, rail infrastructure companies, port authorities, associations or organisations involved in rail transport. These institutions use the data as a basis for decisions on infrastructure planning, capacity expansion and the assessment of environmental issues. Statistics at Union level on all modes of transport should be collected according to common concepts and standards, with the aim of achieving the fullest practicable comparability between transport modes.
3.2. Classification system
The following classifications are used in the rail transport statistics:
NUTS: The Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Official Statistics is a hierarchical structure for the clear identification of regional territorial units in the Member States of the European Union, the current candidates for accession to the EU and the countries of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). 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.
Classification of dangerous goods: The categories are described in Annex VII of the Regulation. These categories match those defined in the regulations concerning the international carriage of dangerous goods by rail, usually known as the RID, as adopted under Directive 2008/68/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council.
3.3. Coverage - sector
The statistics covers railway enterprises providing transport of passengers or goods.
Depending on the amount of their transports, more or less information is collected. For goods transport, the threshold for detailed reporting in Germany is well below the EU threshold. All companies with more than 10 million tonne-kilometres in total or more than 1 million tonne-kilometres in combined transport per year submit data for detailed reporting. For these enterprises, data for Annexes I, III and IV are reported to Eurostat. Data for the remaining enterprises is reported in the data set for Annex VIII.1.
For passenger transport, all enterprises report to the statistics quarterly and annually.
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 transported 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.
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.
Full train load means any consignment comprising one or more wagonloads transported at the same time by the same sender at the same station and forwarded with no change in train composition to the address of the same consignee at the same destination station.
Full wagon load means any consignment of goods for which the exclusive use of a wagon is required, whether or not the total loading capacity is utilised.
TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit) means a standard unit based on an ISO container of 20 feet length (6,10 m), used as a statistical measure of traffic flows or capacities. One standard 40' ISO Series 1 container equals 2 TEUs. Swap bodies under 20 feet correspond to 0,75 TEU, between 20 feet and 40 feet to 1,5 TEU and over 40 feet to 2,25 TEU.
3.5. Statistical unit
Statistical units are freight transports and the number of passenger and goods trains on the public German rail network. Traffic on industrial railways is not included.
3.6. Statistical population
Data on freight transport are collected from the domestic and foreign railway enterprises operating at national territory. Data on the number of trains (freight and passenger) by network segment are collected from infrastructure managers.
Currently, domestic and foreign passenger transport companies report to long-distance train passenger transport. Foreign companies that do not have a branch in Germany cannot be obliged to be surveyed, therefore not all of them are covered. This limits the coverage on figures especially for international passenger rail transport.
3.7. Reference area
Operational railway network on the territory of Germany.
3.8. Coverage - Time
Data on passengers and goods are covered from 2004 onwards. The NSI collects data since 1950. Until 1991, the data cover the territory of the former Federal Republic of Germany. From 1991 onwards, results for the entire Federal Republic of Germany are published.
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:
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 traffic flows 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:
Gesetz über die Statistik der See- und Binnenschifffahrt, des Güterkraftverkehrs, des Luftverkehrs sowie des Schienenverkehrs und des gewerblichen Straßen-Personenverkehrs (Verkehrsstatistikgesetz - VerkStatG).
Gesetz über die Statistik für Bundeszwecke (Bundesstatistikgesetz - BStatG).
European level:
Regulation (EU) 2018/643 of the European Parliament and of the Council.
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
Not applicable.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
National level:
German Transport Act: Gesetz über die Statistik der See- und Binnenschifffahrt, des Güterkraftverkehrs, des Luftverkehrs sowie des Schienenverkehrs und des gewerblichen Straßen-Personenverkehrs (Verkehrsstatistikgesetz - VerkStatG).
Pursuant to Section 28 (1) of the German Transport Statistics Act, the Federal Statistical Office and the statistical offices of the federal states may transmit tables with statistical results from the surveys to the supreme federal or state authorities for use vis-à-vis the legislative bodies and for planning purposes, but not for the purpose of regulating individual cases, even to the extent that table fields only show one single case.
Pursuant to Section 29 (3) of the German Transport Statistics Act, the results of the survey may be published broken down by NUTS-3 regions, even if they contain individual data if the name of the undertakings obliged to provide information is not published.
Federal Statistic Law: Gesetz über die Statistik für Bundeszwecke (Bundesstatistikgesetz - BStatG).
The individual information collected is generally kept secret in accordance with Section 16 BStatG. Individual data may only be transmitted in exceptional cases expressly regulated by law or if the respondents have consented. The transmission of individual data is generally permissible:
public authorities and institutions within the statistical network which are entrusted with the implementation of federal or European statistics (e.g. the statistical offices of the Länder, the Bundesbank, the Statistical Office of the European Union [Eurostat]),
Service providers with whom a contractual relationship exists (e.g. ITZBund, data centres of the Länder).
The obligation of confidentiality also applies to persons receiving individual data.
European level:
Regulation (EC) N°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.
The data provided to Eurostat contains no confidential information.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
The procedures with regard to statistical confidentiality folllows the Handbook on Statistical Disclosure Control (2010) and the Federal Statistical Act.
Only the information about the company is subject to confidentiality, but not transmitted to Eurostat. The data provided to Eurostat contains no confidential information.
The data output does not contain any confidentiality cases.
The dissemination of individual data is impossible.
8.1. Release calendar
For freight transport, monthly results are typically published about eight weeks after the end of the reporting period. Yearly results have been published about ten month after the end of the reporting period so far. The data of the quinquennial statistics on the number of trains by network segments is published ten months after the end of the reporting period.
For passenger transport, quarterly data are available 10 weeks after the reference quarter. First results for yearly data are available 10 months after the reference year. Complete yearly results are published about 1 year after the reference period.
8.2. Release calendar access
Not applicable.
8.3. Release policy - user access
Main results of rail statistics are available free of charge to all users.
More detailed results can be obtained with subscription for freight data.
More detailed user-specific data can be provided on request for freight data.
At the national level, rail freight transport statistics are available at monthly, annual and quinquennial intervals.
Monthly data is collected from enterprises above the threshold for detailed reporting on the volume and performance of transport, broken down by NST group of goods, NUTS-3 region of embarkation and disembarkation (NUTS-2 for foreign regions) and type of transport unit (rail waggon, container, trailer...).
On a yearly basis the enterprises report information on type of consignment, the transportation of dangerous goods and the number of train kilometres. Companies below the threshold report transport quantities and transport performance by type of transport (national, incoming, outgoing, transit) once a year.
On a quinquennial basis, the number of trains by network segment and train type (goods transport, passenger trasport or other) is collected from network operators.
Data on infrastructure is collected annually. Every five years, additional information is requested.
At the national level, rail passenger transport statistics is available at quarterly, annual and quinquennial intervals. On a quarterly basis, short distance and long distance passenger transport by large enterprises are published (number of passengers, passenger-km).
At an annual basis short-distance passenger transportation figures are available for transport supply, vehicle performance (driven distance) in addition, quinquennially the length and numbers of lines, number of vehicles and their seats and the number of employees in short-distance are collected.
For long-distance rail passengers, annual data cover international transport by state of embarkation and disembarkation, vehicle performance and transport supply differentiated by national territory and foreign territory. Quinquennially the number of vehicles and their seats and the number of employees in long-distance rail passenger transport are collected.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
Press releases are published as and when required. They are available on the website of the NSI website.
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
Publications on rail transport statistics are available on the NSI’s website. These comprise publications specifically on rail traffic and on topics affecting all modes of transport.
10.3. Dissemination format - online database
Most results of the statistics can be found in the “Genesis Online” database (GENESIS-Online Database; Tables No. 46131 and 46132 (freight), 46181(passengers). The results are available free of charge. Large tables can be retrieved by registered users only.
10.4. Dissemination format - microdata access
Not applicable.
10.5. Dissemination format - other
Not applicable.
10.6. Documentation on methodology
A Standard-documentation with Meta information (Definitions, comments, methods, quality) on Rail Transport Statistics is available at national level.
A Standard-documentation with Meta information (Definitions, comments, methods, quality) on Rail Transport Statistics is available at national level.
For more information, see 10.6.
11.1. Quality assurance
The system follows as far as possible the European Statistics Code of practice and Quality Assurance Framework of the European Statistical System.
Moreover Destatis has introduced standard quality reports to be produced an 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.
Data quality in general can be assessed as good. There have been put in place a set of validation rules and quality checks, 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. Checks for consistency are implemented and the results are crosschecked with other data published by firms, regulatory authorities or other bodies. Annually, Eurostat provides a data quality report with a summary of the main findings affecting quality. Mirror checks and checks for the consistency over times are prepared as well. In addition to the extensive plausibility checks, key factor of high quality is the nearly completely automatic data transmission by and the excellent cooperation with the relevant railway companies. In nearly all cases the data is transmitted on time. Some foreign companies do not contribute data to the survey on rail freight transport.
Due to the improvements in quality management during the last years there have been some revisions of earlier results in rail freight transport.
For rail passenger transport statistics, systematic plausibility checks have been in place for a long time. Cross-checks with association statistics and company statistics show no differences in results. However, comparisons to population surveys on transportation show different long term developments in the number of passengers and transport performance for public transport in general (not rail specifically). One main reason for differences in the number of passengers is different concepts regarding people that change means of tranport. Further reasons for differences still have to be assessed.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
The main users of the statistics include ministries (Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs), Federal authorities, scientific institutes, railway firms, ports and associations or organisations of rail traffic (e.g. Netzwerk Europäischer Eisenbahnen). The data is used by various institutions, for example, as a basis for decision-making on infrastructure and route planning, capacity expansions, the assessment of environment-related issues and intergovernmental rail transport negotiations.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Within the framework of an expert committee, users have the opportunity to bring up their suggestions and requirements to our attention.
12.3. Completeness
The data collection on rail transport statistics follows the provisions of the Regulation 2018/643. All variables and data sets are provided.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
The quality of the freight transport results correlates with the completeness of the reporting units and the quality of the reporting. The overall quality of the reports can be classified as good. In individual cases, deviations from the methodology of official statistics were found, which could be corrected in cooperation with the undertakings concerned. The completeness of the reporting entities has improved significantly in the years 2016 to 2018.
Overall, the accuracy of passenger transport figures can be assessed as good. The transport companies manage their survey samples for passenger countings and surveys. For NUTS2 relations and international relations in passenger transport mirror checks show inconsistencies that indicate that sample sizes are inadequate for this level of detail. For the NUTS2 relations, data have already been pooled for three years for the current reporting but mirror check inconsistencies remain a problem. For international relations, statistics do not include all foreign companies running trains in Germany, thus travellers travelling with foreign companies are partially undercovered.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable for freight transport.
For passenger rail transport, the companies manage their survey samples for passenger countings and surveys. The NSI does not interfere with these processes and thus has no figures on sampling errors within reporting companies.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Non-sampling errors may occur if new enterprises cannot be integrated into the statistics without delay. In addition, errors can occur if values for (especially foreign) undertakings can neither be obtained nor estimated. This is a constant issue for long-distance passenger rail companies which leads to an inadequate coverage of international passenger rail transport. Freight transport is also affected by an insufficient coverage due to an increasing internationalization of transports.
14.1. Timeliness
Data-transmission takes place as soon as possible. The timeliness depends on the availability of the national statistics:
Annex I – goods transport is partly taken from the monthly national statistics (available within eight weeks after the reference period) and partly from the yearly national statistics (available within 9 month after the reference period),
Annex II – passenger transport, first results are available 10 months after the reference year. Complete results are published about 1 year after the reference period,
Annex III – quarterly data for goods is taken from the monthly national statistics and available within eight weeks after the reference period,
Annex III – quarterly data for passengers are available 10 weeks after the reference quarter,
Annex IV – regional statistics on goods is taken from the monthly national statistics and available within eight weeks after the reference period,
Annex IV – regional statistics on passengers are taken from the quinquennial results and are usually available 12 months after the reference period,
Annex V – rail network traffic flows is usually available after ten month after the reference period,
Annex VIII goods transport for small undertakings is taken from the yearly national statistics and available within nine month after the reference period,
Annex VIII passengers transport for small undertakings, first results are available 10 months after the reference year. Complete results are published about 1 year after the reference period.
14.2. Punctuality
The data can be delivered in time for most cases. For some tables on goods transport there is still a minor delay as the yearly national statistics are not yet available five months after the reference period.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
The data is comparable for the entire German federal territory. Until the 1990 reference year, the data is limited to the territory of the old federal states.
15.2. Comparability - over time
Freight data:
The data published by the NSI on rail freight transport is principally comparable over time. However, minor methodological adjustments have been made over the years to account for ongoing developments. Until the 1990 reference year, the data is limited to the territory of the old federal states.
Between the years 1998 and 2004 there was an under-reporting of container transport. For the variables added in the Transport Statistics Act (VerkStatG) in 2004 (combined transport, wagon load transport / full trainload transport, transport of dangerous goods by class of dangerous goods and mileage in train-kilometres, transported goods by tonne and tonne-kilometres for small enterprises) comparisons are only available from this date. In addition, from 2005 onwards, the carrier weight of loaded loading units (containers, swap bodies, vehicles, vehicle trailers) was included; this was not the case from 1998 to 2005. Methodologically uninterrupted comparisons in a more detailed breakdown are therefore only available since 2005.
For the reference years 2016 to 2019, there was a major revision of the published data. The revisions result from deviations in reports by a few companies from the methodological requirements of official statistics, which were not known at the time of initial publication. Among others, they led to double counting of transports. No revisions were made for reporting years further back due to the large time lag.
For the reporting years 2016 and 2017, a major update of the group of reporting units was made in the annual statistics in order to correct under-reporting of transports in the previous years. The companies can only be included in the monthly statistics after a delay. For this reason, the reporting group update does not appear in the monthly statistics until the reporting months of 2018 and 2019.
As of January 2018, the calculation of TEU units was redefined. 25-foot containers are now converted into TEUs with a higher factor (1.5 instead of 1). The increase in TEU units in this period therefore results not only from the expanded reporting group, but also from this methodical adjustment.
In the year 2023 there was a data clearing executed for the reporting periods 2005 to 2020. With sufficient certainty it was possible to identify some records which only contained data regarding transhipments. These processes are not part of the official survey. The key figures in these years changed as follows: Tonnes -0,37 %; TEU -0,26 % on average
For the reference period 2016 until 2023, a revision was published in April 2024 and transmitted to Eurostat. The revision refers mainly to the variable “Tkm”. Other variables are affected at a less significant level only and are in line with usual annual corrections while some variables are affected not at all. Before 2024, some railway undertakings were not able to transmit their transport performance based on the actual route of a transport. This was the reason for why these railway undertakings estimated their transport performance based on commercial data. Due to the introduction of new technical calculation procedures at these railway undertakings, they are now able to submit their real transport performance. For the reporting years 2016 to 2023, the total transport performance (“Tkm”) increased around 8% on average.
Passenger data:
Data for passenger rail transport are comparable from 2004 onwards. Samples for smaller enterprises are drawn every five years after a full survey of all enterprises.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
The concept of rail freight and passenger transport statistics is based on a high degree of comparability to other modes of transport. This facilitates cross-modal analysis (e.g. modal split).
For passenger rail transport, cross-checks with association statistics and company statistics show no differences in results. However, comparisons to population surveys on transportation show different long term developments in transport performance for public transport in general (not rail specifically). Reasons for these differences are partly different concepts regarding passengers who change transport means but partly, they have to be assessed.
15.4. Coherence - internal
Internal coherence is given.
The NSI tries to reduce the response burden for the reporting units to a minimum – the data users provide the data via a data interface and are only contacted if plausibility errors cannot be solved by the NSI or the federal states’ statistical institutes.
17.1. Data revision - policy
In some cases there may be (non-scheduled) revisions of the data on rail freigth transports. Mostly, those revisions only concern a small amount of data and do not change the overall results of the already published preliminary data. In addition, revisions may be required if respondents revise their original reporting and a significant impact on the results of the statistics is given.
Revisions of passenger transport can be reported for the last four quarters by the enterprises themselves but are usually not of big differences. The corona crisis is an exception, as enterprises had difficulties estimating the number of passengers and transport performance and estimates are revised.
17.2. Data revision - practice
See 17.1.
18.1. Source data
Rail freight data is obtained from three different national statistics. Enterprises with more than 10 million tonne-kilometres in total or 1 million tonne-kilometres in combined transport per year provide data for both monthly statistics and annual statistics (detailed reporting).
The results of the monthly data collection enter the following tables:
Table I1: goods transported, by type of transport
Table I2: goods transported, by type of goods
Table I3: goods transported (for international and transit traffic) by country of loading and country of unloading
Table I6: goods transported in intermodal transport units, by type of transport and by type of transport unit
Table I7: number of loaded intermodal transport units carried, by type of transport and by type of transport unit
Table I8: number of empty intermodal transport units carried, by type of transport and by type of transport unit
Table III1: goods transported, by quarter of the year
Table IV1: national goods transport by region of loading and region of unloading (every five years)
Table IV2: international goods transport by region of loading and unloading (every five years)
The data from the annual survey with detailed reporting is included in the following tables:
Table I4: goods transported, by category of dangerous goods
Table I9: goods train movements
Enterprises below the threshold report a significantly reduced number of variables (non-detailed reporting) once a year. The results are transmitted to Eurostat in Table VIII.1.
New enterprises are first included in the statistics for reporting units below the threshold (non-detailed reporting). If they exceed the threshold in their first reporting year, they are moved to the two statistics on enterprises above the threshold. It should be noted that inclusion in the monthly statistics is one year later than in the annual statistics with detailed reporting. This is due to the fact that the annual data collections are carried out in the year following the reference year, whereas the monthly survey is carried out in the same year.
Also rail passenger data is obtained from quarterly and yearly statistics. Once every five years, additional information is collected from all passenger transport enterprises.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Monthly (freight), quarterly (passengers), annual and quinquennial. See 18.1 for further details.
18.3. Data collection
Companies that transport goods as main freight carrier on the German rail network are obliged to provide information. The statistics thus also include enterprises located abroad. For goods transport the obligation to report is put on the contract holding undertaking. The NSI conducts an online survey with an obligation to provide information. According to the companies, the majority of the data is automatically obtained from the operational accounting and disposition systems. Further information is compiled from various databases and documents of the companies.
Companies that have an operating branch in Germany are obliged to provide information on rail passengers. Some foreign companies provide data voluntarily.
18.4. Data validation
In the process of statistics production, a wide range of measures is implemented to ensure the quality of the data. The quality assurance methods, which address various aspects of statistics production, are adapted as required and standardized methods of Quality assessment and assurance are also added. The data is checked for plausibility when received. For example, it is verified whether correct codes have been used for NUTS-regions and goods. In the event of missing or implausible data, the companies responsible for providing information are contacted. Further quality assurance methods for the rail transport statistics include regular comparisons with published data from the reporting companies, railway associations or other institutions. In addition, it is regularly monitored whether there are any new companies that are required to report (reporting entity update). In particular, information from the Federal Railway Authority is used for this purpose in freight transport. Company statistics and association statistics serve for cross-checks in passenger transport.
18.5. Data compilation
The data for the Eurostat tables are extracted from national statistics and aggregated to the tables according to the EU regulation.
18.6. Adjustment
Rail data are not adjusted (e. g. for seasonality).
No 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.
The objective of statistics is to obtain reliable, comprehensive, differentiated, up-to-date and comparable data on railway transports across member states. Statistics on the transport of goods and passengers by rail are necessary to enable the European and national authorities to monitor and develop the common transport policy, as well as the transport elements of policies relating to the regions and to Trans-European networks. The users of the statistics include ministries, federal authorities, scientific institutes, rail transport companies, rail infrastructure companies, port authorities, associations or organisations involved in rail transport. These institutions use the data as a basis for decisions on infrastructure planning, capacity expansion and the assessment of environmental issues. Statistics at Union level on all modes of transport should be collected according to common concepts and standards, with the aim of achieving the fullest practicable comparability between transport modes.
15 October 2025
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 transported 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.
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.
Full train load means any consignment comprising one or more wagonloads transported at the same time by the same sender at the same station and forwarded with no change in train composition to the address of the same consignee at the same destination station.
Full wagon load means any consignment of goods for which the exclusive use of a wagon is required, whether or not the total loading capacity is utilised.
TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit) means a standard unit based on an ISO container of 20 feet length (6,10 m), used as a statistical measure of traffic flows or capacities. One standard 40' ISO Series 1 container equals 2 TEUs. Swap bodies under 20 feet correspond to 0,75 TEU, between 20 feet and 40 feet to 1,5 TEU and over 40 feet to 2,25 TEU.
Statistical units are freight transports and the number of passenger and goods trains on the public German rail network. Traffic on industrial railways is not included.
Data on freight transport are collected from the domestic and foreign railway enterprises operating at national territory. Data on the number of trains (freight and passenger) by network segment are collected from infrastructure managers.
Currently, domestic and foreign passenger transport companies report to long-distance train passenger transport. Foreign companies that do not have a branch in Germany cannot be obliged to be surveyed, therefore not all of them are covered. This limits the coverage on figures especially for international passenger rail transport.
Operational railway network on the territory of Germany.
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:
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 traffic flows 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 quality of the freight transport results correlates with the completeness of the reporting units and the quality of the reporting. The overall quality of the reports can be classified as good. In individual cases, deviations from the methodology of official statistics were found, which could be corrected in cooperation with the undertakings concerned. The completeness of the reporting entities has improved significantly in the years 2016 to 2018.
Overall, the accuracy of passenger transport figures can be assessed as good. The transport companies manage their survey samples for passenger countings and surveys. For NUTS2 relations and international relations in passenger transport mirror checks show inconsistencies that indicate that sample sizes are inadequate for this level of detail. For the NUTS2 relations, data have already been pooled for three years for the current reporting but mirror check inconsistencies remain a problem. For international relations, statistics do not include all foreign companies running trains in Germany, thus travellers travelling with foreign companies are partially undercovered.
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 data for the Eurostat tables are extracted from national statistics and aggregated to the tables according to the EU regulation.
Rail freight data is obtained from three different national statistics. Enterprises with more than 10 million tonne-kilometres in total or 1 million tonne-kilometres in combined transport per year provide data for both monthly statistics and annual statistics (detailed reporting).
The results of the monthly data collection enter the following tables:
Table I1: goods transported, by type of transport
Table I2: goods transported, by type of goods
Table I3: goods transported (for international and transit traffic) by country of loading and country of unloading
Table I6: goods transported in intermodal transport units, by type of transport and by type of transport unit
Table I7: number of loaded intermodal transport units carried, by type of transport and by type of transport unit
Table I8: number of empty intermodal transport units carried, by type of transport and by type of transport unit
Table III1: goods transported, by quarter of the year
Table IV1: national goods transport by region of loading and region of unloading (every five years)
Table IV2: international goods transport by region of loading and unloading (every five years)
The data from the annual survey with detailed reporting is included in the following tables:
Table I4: goods transported, by category of dangerous goods
Table I9: goods train movements
Enterprises below the threshold report a significantly reduced number of variables (non-detailed reporting) once a year. The results are transmitted to Eurostat in Table VIII.1.
New enterprises are first included in the statistics for reporting units below the threshold (non-detailed reporting). If they exceed the threshold in their first reporting year, they are moved to the two statistics on enterprises above the threshold. It should be noted that inclusion in the monthly statistics is one year later than in the annual statistics with detailed reporting. This is due to the fact that the annual data collections are carried out in the year following the reference year, whereas the monthly survey is carried out in the same year.
Also rail passenger data is obtained from quarterly and yearly statistics. Once every five years, additional information is collected from all passenger transport enterprises.
At the national level, rail freight transport statistics are available at monthly, annual and quinquennial intervals.
Monthly data is collected from enterprises above the threshold for detailed reporting on the volume and performance of transport, broken down by NST group of goods, NUTS-3 region of embarkation and disembarkation (NUTS-2 for foreign regions) and type of transport unit (rail waggon, container, trailer...).
On a yearly basis the enterprises report information on type of consignment, the transportation of dangerous goods and the number of train kilometres. Companies below the threshold report transport quantities and transport performance by type of transport (national, incoming, outgoing, transit) once a year.
On a quinquennial basis, the number of trains by network segment and train type (goods transport, passenger trasport or other) is collected from network operators.
Data on infrastructure is collected annually. Every five years, additional information is requested.
At the national level, rail passenger transport statistics is available at quarterly, annual and quinquennial intervals. On a quarterly basis, short distance and long distance passenger transport by large enterprises are published (number of passengers, passenger-km).
At an annual basis short-distance passenger transportation figures are available for transport supply, vehicle performance (driven distance) in addition, quinquennially the length and numbers of lines, number of vehicles and their seats and the number of employees in short-distance are collected.
For long-distance rail passengers, annual data cover international transport by state of embarkation and disembarkation, vehicle performance and transport supply differentiated by national territory and foreign territory. Quinquennially the number of vehicles and their seats and the number of employees in long-distance rail passenger transport are collected.
Data-transmission takes place as soon as possible. The timeliness depends on the availability of the national statistics:
Annex I – goods transport is partly taken from the monthly national statistics (available within eight weeks after the reference period) and partly from the yearly national statistics (available within 9 month after the reference period),
Annex II – passenger transport, first results are available 10 months after the reference year. Complete results are published about 1 year after the reference period,
Annex III – quarterly data for goods is taken from the monthly national statistics and available within eight weeks after the reference period,
Annex III – quarterly data for passengers are available 10 weeks after the reference quarter,
Annex IV – regional statistics on goods is taken from the monthly national statistics and available within eight weeks after the reference period,
Annex IV – regional statistics on passengers are taken from the quinquennial results and are usually available 12 months after the reference period,
Annex V – rail network traffic flows is usually available after ten month after the reference period,
Annex VIII goods transport for small undertakings is taken from the yearly national statistics and available within nine month after the reference period,
Annex VIII passengers transport for small undertakings, first results are available 10 months after the reference year. Complete results are published about 1 year after the reference period.
The data is comparable for the entire German federal territory. Until the 1990 reference year, the data is limited to the territory of the old federal states.
Freight data:
The data published by the NSI on rail freight transport is principally comparable over time. However, minor methodological adjustments have been made over the years to account for ongoing developments. Until the 1990 reference year, the data is limited to the territory of the old federal states.
Between the years 1998 and 2004 there was an under-reporting of container transport. For the variables added in the Transport Statistics Act (VerkStatG) in 2004 (combined transport, wagon load transport / full trainload transport, transport of dangerous goods by class of dangerous goods and mileage in train-kilometres, transported goods by tonne and tonne-kilometres for small enterprises) comparisons are only available from this date. In addition, from 2005 onwards, the carrier weight of loaded loading units (containers, swap bodies, vehicles, vehicle trailers) was included; this was not the case from 1998 to 2005. Methodologically uninterrupted comparisons in a more detailed breakdown are therefore only available since 2005.
For the reference years 2016 to 2019, there was a major revision of the published data. The revisions result from deviations in reports by a few companies from the methodological requirements of official statistics, which were not known at the time of initial publication. Among others, they led to double counting of transports. No revisions were made for reporting years further back due to the large time lag.
For the reporting years 2016 and 2017, a major update of the group of reporting units was made in the annual statistics in order to correct under-reporting of transports in the previous years. The companies can only be included in the monthly statistics after a delay. For this reason, the reporting group update does not appear in the monthly statistics until the reporting months of 2018 and 2019.
As of January 2018, the calculation of TEU units was redefined. 25-foot containers are now converted into TEUs with a higher factor (1.5 instead of 1). The increase in TEU units in this period therefore results not only from the expanded reporting group, but also from this methodical adjustment.
In the year 2023 there was a data clearing executed for the reporting periods 2005 to 2020. With sufficient certainty it was possible to identify some records which only contained data regarding transhipments. These processes are not part of the official survey. The key figures in these years changed as follows: Tonnes -0,37 %; TEU -0,26 % on average
For the reference period 2016 until 2023, a revision was published in April 2024 and transmitted to Eurostat. The revision refers mainly to the variable “Tkm”. Other variables are affected at a less significant level only and are in line with usual annual corrections while some variables are affected not at all. Before 2024, some railway undertakings were not able to transmit their transport performance based on the actual route of a transport. This was the reason for why these railway undertakings estimated their transport performance based on commercial data. Due to the introduction of new technical calculation procedures at these railway undertakings, they are now able to submit their real transport performance. For the reporting years 2016 to 2023, the total transport performance (“Tkm”) increased around 8% on average.
Passenger data:
Data for passenger rail transport are comparable from 2004 onwards. Samples for smaller enterprises are drawn every five years after a full survey of all enterprises.
