Transport Yearbook 2012

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Transport sector development in 2012

INFRASTRUCTURE

Infrastructure expenditures

The total transport infrastructure expenditure volume has been decreasing since 2009, i.e. for the fifth year in a row. The year-on-year reduction in 2012 amounted to 25% which is 3 % less that in the previous year and in total reached approximately 11 billion CZK. The volume of investment financial resources spent on infrastructure in 2012 was the lowest since 2003, i.e. lowest in the past ten years and amounted to approximately 33 billion CZK. If expressed in current prices, this financial amount represents just 40% of the 2008 investment costs when almost 83 billion CZK were invested into transport infrastructure. Similarly as in the preceding years, also in 2012 the majority of investment financial resources were provided by the State Fund for Transport Infrastructure; its share on the total amount remained approximately 91% as in 2011. Investment expenditure from the State Fund for Transport Infrastructure saw a year-on-year reduction of approximately 10 billion CZK, which represented 26%.

In 2012, investment expenditures in transport infrastructure represented 0.87% of GDP (excluding expenditures into local roads and other infrastructure for urban public transport). As investments in 2011 amounted to 1.2 % of GDP, a significant year-on-year reduction can be observed also in this indicator, and when compared to 2010, the reduction is almost to half of the amount as the investment expenditure into infrastructure in 2010 represented 1.7% of GDP.

Investment funds spent on roads continued to decrease significantly also in 2012. Even though the reduction of the financial volume was not as significant as in 2011 and amounted to approximately 10 billion CZK, the reduction in percentage was substantially higher than in 2011 with 17% as it reached 30%. Of this, the investment expenditures in class II and class III roads, namely roads in the ownership of regions, amounted approximately to 6 billion CZK in 2012 which is approximately the same as in 2011. The percentage share of investments into these roads of the total investment expenditure was thus significantly higher in 2012 than in the previous year, amounting to 27%.

The drop in investment expenditures also continued in rail transport with a year-on-year decrease of approximately 1.4 billion CZK which is less than in the previous year when the reduction amounted to 3 billion CZK; the financial volume of the 2012 investment costs thus dropped to 42% of the 2008 value. The year-on-year decline in rail investments represents approximately 13%. As for other investment expenditure, a very slight increase was also recorded in air transport infrastructure, namely by approximately 2%, and also in pipeline transport, namely by 10%. The reduction in inland waterway infrastructure expenditure was significantly lower than in 2011, namely 21%.

Also in 2012, the total transport infrastructure repair and maintenance expenditures did not follow the steep declining trend in investment expenditures. The measures aimed at savings the financial resources did not affect this area so much and even a slight increase was observed in 2012, namely by 1.5%. Generally, the development of this indicator has been stable over the past 6 years. An increase was observed in all modes of transport except for railway transport that saw a very minor reduction not exceeding 1%. Road maintenance and repair expenditures increased by approximately 340 million CZK in 2012 which represents about 2.5%; air transport infrastructure maintenance and repairs experienced an increase of approximately 30%, for inland waterway infrastructure expenditure the increase was about 70% while in pipeline transport the increase represented approximately 25% compared to 2011.

Road infrastructure

In the context of motorway network development, another part of the motorway D47 Lipník nad Bečvou – Ostrava – state border with Poland was put into operation, namely the construction “D47 47092 Bohumín – state border ČR/PL”. The construction includes one grade separated junction, 21 bridge structures and its total length amounts to 6.1 km. Construction of class I roads including expressways also continued in 2012. Expressway “R6 Nové Sedlo - Sokolov” with the total length of 7.5km (the construction includes 2 grade separated junctions and 10 bridge structures) and “R48 Rychaltice – Frýdek-Místek” with the total length of 7.1km (the construction includes one tunnel, one grade separated junction and 16 bridge structures, culverts and underpasses) can be used as examples of the most important expressway constructions put in operation in 2012.

As for the construction of other Class I roads in 2012, for example the following projects were implemented: “I/42 Brno VMO Dobrovského B”, “I/42 Brno VMO GSJ Dobrovského Svitavská radial road”, “I/56 Ostrava - extension of Místecká, Construction II” (full profile put in operation), “I/49 Malenovice – Otrokovice, district of Zlín” (partially in operation) “I/9 Sosnová GSJ”, “I/37 Hrobice – Ohrazenice” (a part put in operation already in 2011), “I/55 Kunovice – border of district Hodonín”, “I/42 Brno Žabovřesky bridges Reg. No 42-002.1.2 42-002A.1.2”, “I/37 Trhová Kamenice – bridge Reg. No 37-041” or “I/27 Klatovy, roundabout by the hospital”. Other important constructions put in operation in 2012 include the projects ““I/38 Kolín bypass” and “I/60 Javorník bypass”.

The following range among the most important constructions of class II and III roads implemented in 2012: “Reconstruction of road II/605 border of districts Tachov/Plzeň - North – Bor” and “III/0228 relocation Klatovy, Pod Borem - Tajanov” in the region of Pilsen, “II/610 Brandýs n/Labem, reconstruction of bridge Reg. No 610-013”and “II/126 interconnecting the D1 motorway with Road I/2 – Stage III” in the region of Central Bohemia, “Upgrading of access roads to border crossings in the Broumov District” and “II/321 Solnice, bypass, Stage 3” in the region of Hradec Králové or “Revitalisation of the space in front of railway station Svinov” and “Reconstruction of the road section Bílá - Klokočov - Turzovka” in the region of Moravia-Silesia. Other important investments into road infrastructure include the constructions “Upgrading of road II/315 Choceň – Loučky” in the region of Pardubice or “Reconstruction of III/15280 Modřice Bridge 15280 - 2” in the region of South Moravia.

Railway infrastructure

Works on upgrading of transit railway corridors continued also in 2012. The third transit railway corridor ČR/SR state border – Dětmarovice – Přerov – Česká Třebová – Prague – Plzeň – Cheb – ČR/FRG state border saw the completion of the project “Optimization of the line Beroun - Zbiroh” (construction works finished already in 2011) on the section Prague - Plzeň. On the same section, construction works were completed on the project “Optimisation of the line Zbiroh - Rokycany” with full project completion expected in 2013. On the section ČR/SR state border – Dětmarovice, implementation of the following projects continued in 2012: “Optimization of ČR/SR state border - Mosty u Jablunkova - Bystřice nad Olší line”, the completion of which is planned for 2013, and the construction works on the project “Optimization of Bystřice nad Olší - Český Těšín line” were completed.

On the fourth transit railway corridor ČR/Austria state border – České Budějovice – Tábor – Prague – Ústí nad Labem – Děčín - ČR/FRG state border, the construction part of the project “Upgrading of Votice - Benešov u Prahy line” was completed in 2012 with full project completion being expected in 2013, while the implementation of the project entitled “Upgrading of České Budějovice - Nemanice I line” also continued, with completion envisaged for 2014.

As a follow-up to the upgrading of railway transit corridors, the upgrading of important railway junctions is in progress, the purpose of which is to guarantee the same technological parameters as on connecting corridor lines. In 2012, the projects “Through pass of the Plzeň junction in the direction of 3rd TRC” with planned completion in 2013 and “Reconstruction of station Přerov, Construction 1”, with planned completion in 2015, continued with their implementation. At the end of 2012, the construction implementation of the project “Reconstruction of the railway junction Břeclav, Construction 2” was launched, with expected completion in 2015.

Projects aimed at ensuring interoperability of the railway network represent another example of substantial investments. In 2012, the implementation of the digital radio system GSM-R continued on sections Ostrava – Mosty u Jablunkova – state border with Slovakia, Přerov – Česká Třebová and Děčín – Všetaty – Kolín. Similarly as in previous years, also in 2012 the attention was directed onto upgrading of other lines that are part of the European railway system. The reconstruction of the Střelenský Tunnel continued on the line Horní Lideč – state border with Slovakia in order to improve the connection to Slovakia. Similarly, attention was paid in 2012 to crossings representing critical points for road and railway vehicles collision; implementation of projects necessary to improve the safety of railway crossings continued.

Inland waterway transport infrastructure

Particularly large projects aimed at ensuring of continuous navigability on Vltava from Týn nad Vltavou to České Budějovice were markedly involved in the drawing of available financial funds, similarly as in the previous period. A new lock chamber Hluboká nad Vltavou including modifications to the navigation path on the Vltava River was implemented in 2012. Other works on ensuring of navigability of Vltava continue and are expected to be completed in the following years.

Smaller projects completed in 2012 included, for example, the ports on the Bata Channel in Strážnice, Sudoměřice and Spytihněv, increasing the load dimensions of the waterway elevator for sport vessels on the Orlík Dam, the Roudnice nad Labem Dam – upgrading the control of a small lock chamber and modifications of the navigation marks on the bridges on the lower part of the Elbe River.

Air transport infrastructure

In 2012, investments into Stage I of the reconstruction of the main take-off and landing runway RWY 06-24 on Prague Airport represent the most important share of expenditure in air transport infrastructure, together with continuing investments into airplane access bridges on the same airport.

As for investment costs spent on other airports, the completion of the administrative building on the Brno Airport, investments into handling equipment on the Karlovy Vary Airport and upgrading of energy utilities on the Ostrava airport range among the biggest investment projects.

ROAD TRANSPORT FLEET

Due to the introduction of a new registration system within the Central Vehicle Register of the Ministry of Transport that is in compliance with EU legislation, the data on the number of registered vehicles that are standardly provided in this Yearbook as to 31 December 2012 are not available. The respective tables include information on the numbers of vehicles as to 1 July 2013.

The available data show that the growth tempo in the numbers of road vehicles slightly increased and could be estimated at approximately 2.3% year-on-year. Passenger cars saw an increase of about 2% in 2012, increase of road freight vehicles is estimated to 1.2% and of motorcycles to 2.6%.

TRANSPORT

As opposed to the preceding year, the total passenger transport performance slightly decreased in 2012, namely by approximately 1.3%, while the declining trend in the number of passengers carried from the previous three years was reversed into a very modest increase of almost 1%. The past 3 years can thus be characterised as a period of stagnation.

The overall reduction of passenger transport performance in 2010 was caused above all by the reduction of individual car transport where the relevant expert estimate is based also on data on vehicle-kilometres as produced by road traffic census – performed every five years in the Czech Republic. The methodology of national road traffic census has been changed in 2010. After a slight increase in individual car transport in 2011, in 2012 a drop was observed also for this indicator. As for public transport of passengers, the total number of carried persons slightly increased in 2012, namely by 2.6%, but the transport performance of public transport can be described as stagnating.

In railway transport, the growth trend continued both in the number of persons carried, namely by almost 3%, and in transport performance, where the increase was more significant and reached more than 8%. The transport performance values in passenger railway transport are thus the highest since 2000.

The decreasing trend in number of persons carried by bus transport and in transport performance continued also in 2012. The year-on-year reduction in the number of passengers carried amounted to 5.4% and is thus the lowest in the past 10 years while transport performance saw a year-on-year reduction of approximately 3%, reaching the lowest value in the past 7 years. As regards inland waterway transport, where particularly passenger transport of recreational character was involved, a significant reduction in the number of persons carried was observed in 2012 to less than half of the 2011 value, while transport performance on the contrary increased by about 17%. After years of growth in air transport, with the only exception of the decline in air transport performance in 2010, the sector experienced a reduction also in 2012. The number of passengers carried recorded a decrease of almost 15% while transport performance dropped by more than 8%. In 2012, also the number of passengers handled on the Czech airports decreased by approximately 7%, on a year-to-year basis.

As far as freight transport is concerned, the total volume of goods carried again dropped moderately in 2012, namely by 3%. The decrease is more substantial than in the previous year and this trend has been going on already since 2008. Similarly, the total volume of transport performance was reduced, but the long-term development trend for this indicator does not follow the development in the volumes of transport. Transport performance decreased by approximately 5% in 2012, i.e. after the increase of the same magnitude in 2011, transport performance levels returned to the 2010 results.

A similar development trend can be observed both in railway and road freight transport. After the increase in the volume of goods carried in 2011, railway freight volumes dropped again, namely by almost 5%, while transport performance on the contrary experienced a very minor reduction after the increase in the previous year and can thus be described as stagnating. The methodology of railway freight transport statistics changed in 2006 and newly also the carriers performing the non-public transport (also involving commercial transport, but on the basis of mutually agreed conditions) were included in the statistical surveys. This resulted in the increase both in transport performance expressed in tonne-kilometres and volume of goods carried in the given year. Consequently, the data for 2005 are not fully comparable with the values for the following year. However, on a methodological basis, the data available since 2007 are already fully comparable with the year 2006 and mutually.

The volume of goods carried by road freight transport decreased again, with the year-on-year reduction reaching approximately 3%, similarly as in the previous year. This indicator is experiencing a declining trend already since 2004. After 15 years of growth, transport performance for the same period also saw a year-on-year reduction of almost 7% and returned thus approximately to the 2010 values.

The volume of goods carried by air cargo as well as the air transport performance in 2012 followed the development of preceding years and continued to decline. Compared with 2011, the transport performance in 2012 saw a major reduction of 10%, while the volume of goods carried dropped by almost 24%. A reduction was observed also in the performance of airports on the territory of the Czech Republic, namely by 15%. Also the volume of goods transported by inland waterway transport decreased in 2012, namely by almost 7% and transport performance by about 4%.

ACCIDENTS

In 2012, the Police of the Czech Republic investigated altogether 81 404 traffic accidents, which represents a year-on-year increase of 8.3%. The number of accidents investigated by the Police of the Czech Republic in 2012 is the fourth lowest since 1990. The lowest number of investigated accidents was recorded in 2009, which was probably caused by a change in the legislation from 1 January 2009, increasing the “threshold” for obligatory notification of the accident, from original 50 thousand CZK to 100 thousand CZK. The highest number of accidents was investigated in 1990. However, when looking at the number of persons killed or seriously injured, 2012 can be assessed positively compared to the previous year. Even more, the number of persons killed - 681 (death within 24 hours after the accident; EC statistics and other international statistics use the number of persons dead within 30 days since the date of the accident – this number reached 742 in the same year) – was the lowest since 1955 and is less than 700 for the first time since that year. The number of persons killed did not exceed the limit of 100 persons per month in any of the months of 2012, similarly as in the previous year. The number of seriously injured persons decreased by 3.4% in 2012, becoming the second lowest since 1990. The number of slightly injured persons recorded a minor year-on-year increase of 0.3%. The estimated material damage amounted to CZK 4.88 billion which is by 5.3% more than in 2011.

As in preceding years, particularly the motor vehicle drivers were those who caused almost 87% of accidents during which 92% of the total number of persons killed died. Significant majority of these accidents were caused by drivers of passenger and freight vehicles; at the same time this category recorded the biggest absolute increase. There were also significantly more accidents caused by freight vehicles with a trailer and by buses, and more accidents caused by pedestrians and cyclists. The seriousness of accidents, i.e. the number of persons killed per 1000 accidents, saw the worst results in motorcycles, reaching 34.1. The average annual value of this indicator for the Czech Republic is 8.4. For accidents caused by pedestrians, the respective figure is 14.7 while for cyclists it reached 13.2 persons killed per 1000 accidents.

In 2012, the number of accidents caused under the influence of alcohol reached almost 5 000, i.e. 6.7% of the total number of accidents; 45 persons died during those accidents, i.e. 6.6% of the total number of persons killed. Cyclists have the highest share of these accidents –in 31% of all accidents caused by cyclists, alcohol was involved; followed by motorcyclists with 20% and pedestrians with 16%. The worst score in the numbers of persons killed was recorded in the category of vehicles manufactured in the period 1995 – 1999, involving 154 persons in absolute numbers, which is more than 32% of all persons killed. Next comes the category of vehicles manufactured in the period of 2005 -2010 (24%). Out of the total number of persons killed in accidents in 2012, drivers of passenger cars represent 35%, other passengers in passenger cars almost 16%, drivers of motorcycles almost 12%, cyclists almost 10% and pedestrians almost 22%.

In 2012, more than 12 000 incidents were recorded where the driver causing the accident drove away from the place of the accident, which is more than 17% of the total number of accidents caused by drivers of vehicles. The number of these accidents continues to rise, namely by 8% compared to 2011, and also the number of persons killed in these accidents increased.