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
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 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
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
National level: -Government Decree on The National Statistical Data Collection Programme enacting the surveys of the reference period International level: -REGULATION (EU) 2016/2032 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 26 October 2016 amending Regulation (EC) No 91/2003 on rail transport statistics, as regards the collection of data on goods, passengers and accidents
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
Not applicable
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
National level: -Statistical Act (2016 CLV Law about Official Statistics) European level: -Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24and Article 20(4)) of 11 March (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 rhe requirements of users in a democratic society.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
The most of performance is due to some major companies in Hungary therefore if confidential flags are not applied then in that case the companies can become identifiable. The procedures with regard to statistical confidentiality follows the Statistical Act (2016 CLV Law about Official Statistics)
8.1. Release calendar
Rail transport statistics is published quarterly 60 days (about two months) after the reference quarter within the quarterly publication of the statistical performances.
8.2. Release calendar access
The dissemination calendar (in xls format) is publicly available on the website of HCSO.
8.3. Release policy - user access
Rail transport statistics is published quarterly 60 days (about two months) after the reference quarter within the quarterly publication of the statistical performances. This is free of charge to all users.
Rail transport statistics is published quarterly 60 days (about two months) after the reference quarter within the quarterly publication of the statistical performances. Annual publication of the statistical performances is published about 9 months after the reference year.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
Rail transport statistics is published quarterly 60 days (about two months) after the reference quarter within the quarterly publication of the statistical performances.
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
Publication of rail transport statistics is done through the website of HCSO.
A Standard-documentation with Meta information (Definitions, comments, methods, quality) on Rail Transport Statistics is available at national level.
10.7. Quality management - documentation
Quality report is made annually in Hungarian language for internal use.
11.1. Quality assurance
Railway transport data are checked before being entered into the database and disseminated to the public; the validation rules are intended to assure: -consistency between the tables and datasets (within tables and cross-table checks) -common structure of datasets and nomenclatures (classification)
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Year to year comparability of indicators is assured and assessed.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
The basic users of rail statistics are: -Ministry for Innovation and Technology (in 2017 its name was Ministry of National Development) -universities/research institutes -international and governmental bodies -railway undertakings -press and private users -Commission departments
Railway data users are mostly interested in: -passanger and freight transport data -network traffic
Rail statistics are mostly used for: -trend analysis -forecasting -modeling -market research
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Not available
12.3. Completeness
Railway data collected within the scope of the legal acts are complete. Data based on the voluntary questionnaires (Common Questionnaire and REGWeb questionnaires) are very often incomplete and not very up to date.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
Warning email letters will be sent (before deadline)and warning phone calls will be conducted to the data providers (after the deadline) in order to increase the response rate.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable
13.3. Non-sampling error
Not applicable
14.1. Timeliness
Eurostat receives the quarterly data three months and annual data 5-12 months after the end of the refernce period. After reception, the data are validated and (if there are no errors or inconsistencies to be clarified with the data providers) uploaded to Eurostat's dissemination tables.
14.2. Punctuality
Dissemination of the data depends on the punctuality of data provider.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
There could be problems of comparability for rail transport data collection. Comparisons of the data regarding freight declared by partner reporting destination country (so-called mirror checks) by Eurostat allow further the detection of possible inconsistencies. Sameness of the data depend (in regards of countries) on the punctuality of data providers.
15.2. Comparability - over time
Data for the current period are compared to the same period of the previous year per data provider and we try to filter out the data providers that make an magnitude error.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
not applicable
15.4. Coherence - internal
The quarterly and annual data collections shall be consistent with each other. For a total of four quarters, the data must match with the annual aggregated data. After the consultation quarterly data are considered to be final which sometimes requires modification by quarter. If the observed data are the same, the quarterly and annual data are considered to be final.
Cost and burden for supplying data by data providers is acceptable.
17.1. Data revision - policy
The Data Revision Policy of the HCSO can be found on its homepage.
17.2. Data revision - practice
Type of revision is routine revision. Planned date of revision is 60 days (about two months) after the reference period. Revision of quarterly data is common practice due to incoming of annual data.
18.1. Source data
The rail license list is sent by Ministry for Innovation and Technology.The data on traffic are mostly collected from the infrastructure managers or/ and from the railway undertakings.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
quarterly for performance data, annual for detailed data and infrastructure
18.3. Data collection
Rail statistics are in most cases based on the commercial data of railway undertakings that are, in addition to their original use, aggregated and published for statistical purposes after being structured to meet the needs of the legislation.
18.4. Data validation
Essential consistency check is applied to the datasets.
18.5. Data compilation
European aggregates are compiled by Eurostat. The railway undertakings base their data collection on loading, inloading and movement of goods registered in their databases as "consignment notes". Ticket sales can be used for passenger data.
18.6. Adjustment
Rail data are not seasonally adjusted.
no comment
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
20 February 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 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
Warning email letters will be sent (before deadline)and warning phone calls will be conducted to the data providers (after the deadline) in order to increase the response rate.
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)
European aggregates are compiled by Eurostat. The railway undertakings base their data collection on loading, inloading and movement of goods registered in their databases as "consignment notes". Ticket sales can be used for passenger data.
The rail license list is sent by Ministry for Innovation and Technology.The data on traffic are mostly collected from the infrastructure managers or/ and from the railway undertakings.
Rail transport statistics is published quarterly 60 days (about two months) after the reference quarter within the quarterly publication of the statistical performances. Annual publication of the statistical performances is published about 9 months after the reference year.
Eurostat receives the quarterly data three months and annual data 5-12 months after the end of the refernce period. After reception, the data are validated and (if there are no errors or inconsistencies to be clarified with the data providers) uploaded to Eurostat's dissemination tables.
There could be problems of comparability for rail transport data collection. Comparisons of the data regarding freight declared by partner reporting destination country (so-called mirror checks) by Eurostat allow further the detection of possible inconsistencies. Sameness of the data depend (in regards of countries) on the punctuality of data providers.
Data for the current period are compared to the same period of the previous year per data provider and we try to filter out the data providers that make an magnitude error.
