Transport Yearbook 2015

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Transport sector development in 2015

INFRASTRUCTURE

Infrastructure expenditures

In 2015, the total transport infrastructure expenditure volume increased again compared to the previous year. The increase was substantially higher than in the previous period and the total amount reached more than 57 billion CZK, thus approaching to the 2010 level. The year-on-year increase represented approximately 87%. One of the reasons behind this substantial increase was the drawing of the remaining resources from the Operational Programme Transport. Overall, the development trend of investment expenditure of the past 20 years can be characterised as increasing over the period 1993-1997, as stagnating over the next four years, i.e. until 2001, followed again by an increase until 2008 when the effects of the economic and financial crisis emerged and the trend thus changed again into a decreasing one. The volume of investment financial resources spent in infrastructure has been decreasing from 2009 to 2013, when it was the lowest since 2001, i.e. lowest in the past twelve years.

Despite the repeated increase in volume in 2015, if expressed in current prices, the financial volume represents 70% of the 2008 investment costs when almost 83 billion CZK were invested into transport infrastructure, this being the maximum financial volume of the past 20 years.

Similarly as in the preceding years, also in 2015 the majority of investment financial resources were provided by the State Fund for Transport Infrastructure (SFTI); its share of the total amount reaching approximately 90% which is 9% more than in 2014. Investment expenditure from the State Fund for Transport Infrastructure doubled compared to the previous year and reached the value of approximately 52 billion CZK.

In 2015, investment expenditures in transport infrastructure represented 1.26% of GDP (excluding expenditures into local roads and other infrastructure for urban public transport), which is a rather significant year-on-year increase of more than 60%, thus reaching the 2011 level. The respective figures for investment expenditure were 0.78% of GDP in 2014, 0.71% of GDP in 2013 and 0.87% of GDP in 2012. As investments in 2011 amounted to 1.2 % of GDP, a significant gradual reduction occurred also in this indicator, and when compared to 2010, the reduction in 2014 was to less than half of the amount as the investment expenditure into infrastructure in 2010 represented 1.7% of GDP.

The decreasing trend that lasted several years of the volume of investment financial resources spent on roads also changed in 2015 and for the first time since 2009 a year-on-year increase of 45% was recorded. The expenditures reached similar level as in 2012, but it is still less than a half of investment costs from 2009. Of this, the investment expenditure in class II and class III roads, namely roads in the ownership of regions, amounted approximately to 11.6 billion CZK in 2015, i.e. almost 4 billion more than in 2014, this being the highest amount in the last ten years. The percentage share of investments into these roads of the total investment expenditure in 2015 was again rather substantial, amounting to almost 48%.

The substantial increase in investment expenditure into rail transport infrastructure continued also in 2015. The year-on-year increase of the financial expenditure was 2.5 times more than in 2014 and even 3.5 times more compared with the 2013 value. The amount invested in 2015 is thus the highest in more than 20 years.

As for other investment expenditures, inland waterway infrastructure expenditures saw an increase, namely by almost 60%, almost reaching the 2012 level. Investments in air transport infrastructure were rather stagnating compared to 2014 and pipeline transport experienced a decrease to almost a half.

After several years of stagnation until 2013, the total transport infrastructure repair and maintenance expenditure increased in 2014 by approximately 20% and in 2015 saw a year-on-year increase of more than 50%. There were no substantial changes in the preceding 8 years and thus this type of expenditure did not follow the steep declining trend in general investment expenditure of the previous years. The measures aimed at savings did not affect this area so much and in 2013, even a slight increase was observed not exceeding 1%.

An increase has been observed in all modes of transport except for air and pipeline transport. Railway maintenance and repair expenditures increased by approximately 55%, for road transport by approximately 15%, and for inland waterway infrastructure by 66%. Air transport infrastructure maintenance and repairs experienced a slight decrease of less than 10% and the reduction for pipeline transport was very minor not exceeding 1%.

Road infrastructure

Development of the motorway network continued in 2015 by upgrading of the D1 Motorway Prague – Brno – Vyškov - Hulín - Přerov - Lipník nad Bečvou - Bělotín - Ostrava – state border CZ/Poland. The following construction sections were put into full operation: “Upgrading of D1 - Section 14, EXIT 104 Větrný Jeníkov - EXIT 112 Jihlava” in the length of 8.5 km and “Upgrading of D1 – Section 21, EXIT 153 Lhotka - EXIT 162 Velká Bíteš” in the length of 9.0 km (only one side was put into operation in 2014). In 2015, the following constructions were launched on the D1 motorway: “Upgrading of D1 – Section 03, EXIT 29 Hvězdonice - EXIT 34 Ostředek” in the length of 4.6 km, “Upgrading of D1 – Section 18, EXIT 134 Měřín - EXIT 141 V. Meziříčí západ” in the length of 7.2 km, “Upgrading of D1 – Section 25, EXIT 178 Ostrovačice - EXIT 182 Kývalka” in the length of 3.5 km and “D1 0137 Přerov – Lipník” in the length of 14.3km. Also the construction of the D3 Motorway Prague – Tábor – České Budějovice – state border CR/Austria continued in 2015. The following constructions were launched: “D3 0308C Veselí nad Lužnicí – Bošilec” in the length of 5.1 km and “D3 0309/III Borek – Úsilné” in the length of 3.2 km.

Construction of class I roads including expressways also continued in 2015. The most important constructions put into operation in 2014 are for example“R6 Lubenec - Bošov” or “R35 GSJ Opatovice – completion of the junction”. Also the reconstruction was completed of the grade-separated junction on the R46 expressway in Brodek u Prostějova as part of the construction “R46 Construction works on the GSJ Vranovice – Kelčice, GSJ Brodek u Prostějova – Stage II.B” (the grade-separated junction Vranovice – Kelčice was upgraded in 2011 and one side of the GSJ in Brodek u Prostějova was completed in 2013). In the same year, projects “R4 Skalka – junction with II/118” and “R1 510 Satalice - Běchovice, repairs” were started. As for the construction of other class I roads in 2015, for example the following projects were implemented: “I/11 Mokré Lazce – borders of districts Opava / Ostrava”, “I/37 - Chrudim bypass, section Medlešice - I/17” or “I/19 Žďár nad Sázavou - Mělkovice relocation”.

The following range among the most important constructions of Class II and III roads implemented in 2015: “II/214 South-East bypass of Cheb” and “II/221 Upgrading of the road network Hroznětín” in the region of Karlovy Vary, “II/290 Frýdlant - Bílý Potok (Stage II)” and “II/592 Chrastava (Stage II)” in the region of Liberec, “II/345 Golčův Jeníkov – Chotěboř” and “II/405 Příseka – bypass” in the region of Vysočina or “II/152 Modřice bridges” and “II/430 Rousínov – Tučapy” in the region of South Moravia. “. Other important investments into road infrastructure include the constructions “North-East Tangential Road in Mladá Boleslav” in the region of Central Bohemia, “Upgrading of the road II/315 Krasíkov - Tatenice – border of the Pardubice Region” in the region of Pardubice or “II/444 Uničov – Šternberk” in the region of Olomouc.

Railway infrastructure

Works on upgrading of transit railway corridors continued also in 2015. On the third transit railway corridor CZ/SK state border – Dětmarovice – Přerov – Česká Třebová – Prague – Plzeň – Cheb – CZ/DE state border, the construction “Optimisation of the line Cheb – state border, Construction 1- Stage I” was completed in the section Cheb – state border in 2015. On the section Prague – Pilsen, the construction “Upgrading of the line Rokycany – Plzeň” continued with the planned completion in 2016.

On the fourth transit railway corridor CZ/Austria state border – České Budějovice – Tábor – Prague – Ústí nad Labem – Děčín - CZ/DE state border, the project “Upgrading of the line Veselí n. L. - Tábor, Part II, section Veselí n. L. - Doubí u Tábora, Stage 1 Veselí n. L. – Soběslav” was completed in 2015. In parallel, the implementation of the projects “Upgrading of the line Ševětín - Veselí nad Lužnicí, Part 1, Ševětín – Horusice”, “Upgrading of the line Ševětín - Veselí nad Lužnicí, Part 2, Horusice – Veselí” and “Upgrading of the line Tábor – Sudoměřice” continued in 2015, all with planned completion in 2016.

As a follow-up to the upgrading of railway transit corridors, the upgrading of important railway junctions was also in progress, the purpose of which is to guarantee the same technological parameters as on connecting corridor lines. For example, the implementation of the projects “Reconstruction of station Přerov, Construction 1”, “Reconstruction of the railway junction Břeclav, Construction 2” or “Through pass of the Ústí nad Orlicí junction” was completed. The implementation of other important junctions continued in 2015, such as “Optimisation of the line Bystřice nad Olší - Český Těšín, Part 2 – Railway Station Český Těšín”, “Reconstruction of railway station Olomouc” or “Junction Pilsen, Construction 1 – the Prague Gridiron”, all with planned completion in 2016. In the Prague junction, the project “Optimisation of the line Praha-Bubeneč - Praha-Holešovice” was completed in 2015 and projects “Upgrading of the section Praha-Běchovice – Úvaly” and “Optimisation of the section Praha Hostivař - Praha main station, Part I – Railway Station Praha Hostivař” continued, both with planned completion in 2016.

Projects aimed at deployment of the digital radio system GSM-R represent another example of substantial investments. In 2015, for example the project “GSM-R Junction Praha (Beroun - Praha - Benešov)” was completed. Investments into railway infrastructure for development of suburban transport and integrated transport systems continued also in 2015. For example the construction “Upgrading of the line Hradec Králové - Pardubice - Chrudim, Construction 1, double tracking of the section Stéblová - Opatovice nad Labem” was completed.

Inland waterway transport infrastructure

Drawing of financial resources in 2015 was mostly focused on the investment project of the new lock chamber by the Hněvkovice Weir with related adjustments of the water bed, by which the Vltava waterway in the section WW Hněvkovice – Týn nad Vltavou was completed, and on completion of the upgrading of lock chambers Velký Osek and Brandýs nad Labem as the last not upgraded lock chambers on the continuously navigable section of the Elbe.

In 2015, the construction of the project Leisure port Petrov on the Bata Channel was completed that significantly increased the port capacity and the scope and quality of services offered on this waterway and Landing site Purkarec on the Vltava River was also completed.

Substantial financial resources were also spent on intense preparation of other investment projects aimed at complex development of the whole network of waterways with importance for transport.

Air transport infrastructure

The most important drawing of expenditure in air transport infrastructure in the Prague Airport was spent on ramp position No 14 for F-type airplanes, also on the expansion of the waste waters and municipal waters treatment plant, on the reconstruction of apron area SOUTH and further on the reconstruction of the taxiway TWY G. The reconstruction of hydro-insulation on the roofs of Terminal 1 buildings was also carried out.
A major part of repair and maintenance expenditure on the same airport was spent on repairs of buildings and equipment, repair of the take-off and landing runway RWY 12 / 30 and regular annual maintenance of RWY and TWY.

In relation to costs spent on other airports, the main projects were completion of the general reparation of the taxiway A and construction of the hall for assembling of air cargo at the Brno – Tuřany Airport.

ROAD TRANSPORT FLEET

Based on information from the Central Vehicle Register, the number of motor vehicles registered in the Czech Republic experienced a year-on-year increase of 5.8%. As at 1 January 2016, the Central Vehicle Register registered 5,819,599 motor vehicles, the total number of all registered vehicles including trailers of all types and categories amounted to approximately 7 million as to the same date.

The number of registered passenger cars continued in its growing trend also in 2015. In absolute numbers, this represents an increase of approximately 280,000 vehicles, which constitutes a year-to-year increase of almost 6%. The total number of passenger cars exceeded 5 million as to 1 January 2016 and represents almost 88% of the total number of vehicles registered in the Central Vehicle Register. As for the age of passenger vehicles, 60% are older than 10 years and approximately 80% are older than 5 years. This ratio does not show much change year-on-year.

The number of registered road freight vehicles also saw a year-on-year increase by more than 6%. The number of vehicles not older than 2 years increased again by almost 15% and at the same time an increase of more than 17% has been observed for vehicles older than 10 years. Over the past 5 years, the number of vehicles in this category increased by a third. The percentage share of freight vehicles older than 10 years of approximately 42 % is however substantially lower than in the category of passenger vehicles. There has been however a slight year-on-year increase by approximately 2%.

In 2015, a very minor increase was observed also in the number of registered mini buses and buses by less than 1%, by approximately 3% in trailers and by about 8% in semi-trailers.
The number of road tractors has been decreasing over the long term and based on information from the Central Vehicles Register, the numbers went down to around 25% over the past ten years. The year-on-year reduction in this category for 2015 amounted to 20%. In the same year, the category of special automobiles saw a very minor increase not exceeding 1% and the motorcycles saw an increase of almost 5%.

TRANSPORT

The total passenger transport performance again slightly increased in 2015, namely by approximately 3% and the number of passengers carried also increased by almost 3%. The development of this indicator over the past period does not show significant fluctuations and can thus be rather characterised as stagnation.

The overall reduction of passenger transport performance in 2010 was caused above all by the reduction of individual passenger 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. In 2013, this trend was reversed and both the performance and number of passengers in individual car transport increased. This increase also continued throughout 2014 and 2015. As for public transport of passengers, both the performance and the total number of passengers increased very slightly by 1%. These rather insignificant changes can be characterised as stagnation.

In railway transport, the growth trend continued also in 2015 and there has been a substantial increase in the growth tempo as compared to the previous year, in particular in transport performance. Transport performance saw a year-on-year increase of more than 6% while the number of passengers carried was rather stagnating as the increase was very minor. Transport performance values in passenger railway transport have been growing for the sixth year in a row and are the highest since 2000.

In 2015, the very slow growth trend in the number of passengers transported by bus transport continued, with a year-on-year increase of less than 1%. Transport performance in the same year was stagnating. Despite the increase in the number of passengers in 2015, the value of this indicator is the second lowest in the past 10 years.

As regards inland waterway transport, where particularly passenger transport of recreational character was involved, a year-on-year decrease of approximately 30% in the number of persons carried and of almost 36% in transport performance was observed in 2015. After years of growth in air transport, with the only exception of the decline in air transport performance in 2010, the decreasing trend in the sector continued also in 2015 with reduction in the numbers of persons carried by 3.6%. On the contrary, the decrease in transport performance was minor, not exceeding 1%. In 2015, the number of passengers travelling using Czech airports increased by approximately 5.5% and reached approximately the 2011 level.

In freight transport, the total volume of goods carried again increased in 2015, namely by more than 11%. Transport performance increased by more than 5%. The volume of transported goods is the highest in the past eight years; transport performance in freight transport is the highest in over twenty years.

A similar development trend can be observed in the volumes of goods in railway freight transport where the indicator again saw a substantial year-on-year increase of more than 6% and in transport performance by almost 5%. The growth in railway freight transport continues for the third year in a row. The methodology of railway freight transport statistics changed in 2006 and newly also the carriers performing 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 in 2015 experienced the third year of growth after almost ten years. The increase amounted to more than 13% and is the highest in the past eight years. Transport performance in freight transport for the same period also saw a year-on-year increase of more than 8% and is the highest in over twenty years.

After a stagnation of three years, the volume of goods carried by air cargo saw a decrease by approximately one third and also air transport performance decreased by 11%. The performance of airports in 2015 stayed approximately at the same level as in the previous year. The volume of goods transported by inland waterway transport increased in 2015 approximately by 4% while transport performance on the contrary saw a reduction of almost 11%.

ROAD ACCIDENTS

In 2015, the Police of the Czech Republic investigated altogether 93,067 road traffic accidents which represents a year-on-year increase of 8.4%. The growth rate substantially increased compared to the previous year. 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 50,000 CZK to 100,000 CZK. The highest number of accidents was investigated in 1999 – 225,690 accidents.

However, despite the year-on-year increase in the number of persons killed in 2015, the total number of 660 (death within 24 hours after the accident; EC statistics and other international statistics use number of people dead within 30 days since the date of an accident – this number reached 738 in the same year) was the third lowest since 1961. The lowest number of persons killed was registered in 2013 that was the best year as for this indicator since 1961.

The number of seriously injured persons decreased year-on-year by 8% in 2015, thus becoming the lowest since 1990. On the contrary, the number of slightly injured persons recorded an increase of 3.3% when compared with 2014. The estimated material damage amounted to CZK 5.1 billion which is an increase of more than 10% compared to the previous year. The average material damage in one road traffic accident investigated by the police amounts to almost 60.000 CZK.

As in preceding years, particularly the motor vehicle drivers were those who caused approximately 84% of accidents during which more than 91% of the total number of persons killed died. The highest relative increase in the number of accidents, specifically of 23%, is observed in the category of accidents caused by wild and domestic animals. The number of accidents caused by drivers of motorcycles also increased by 7.4%, the number of accidents caused by freight vehicles with and without semi-trailers increased by 7.4% and 13.5% respectively and by more than 16% in the category of buses. The number of accidents caused by cyclists slightly decreased.

In 2015, the number of registered accidents caused under the influence of alcohol amounted to 4,544, i.e. almost 5% of the total number of accidents; 62 persons died during those accidents, i.e. 9.4% of the total number of persons killed. When compared to the previous year, the number of accidents is lower by 93 and the number of persons killed also decreased by 1 person.

Cyclists again have the highest share of these accidents - in almost a third of all accidents caused by cyclists, alcohol was involved; followed by drivers of mopeds and pedestrians with 15% and drivers of small motorcycles. In 2015, also more than 300 accidents involved drivers under the influence of other addictive substances, the number of persons killed in these accidents amounts to 12 and additional 157 persons were injured. Unfortunately there has been an increase in this category in both the number of accidents and the numbers of persons killed and injured.

As for the distribution of accidents in time, an increase in the number of accident was recorded in all months. The highest number was recorded in May; the lowest number of accidents was investigated by the police in February, as in 2014. The highest number of persons killed in traffic accidents was recorded in September and July, as in 2014, while January was the month with the lowest number. When looking at days of a week, Friday had the highest number of accidents while Sunday had the lowest. With regard to numbers of persons killed, the worst days were Friday and Saturday and also Thursday. In 2015, the highest number of traffic accidents was again recorded in Prague whereas the lowest in the region of Karlovy Vary. As in the previous years, the region of Central Bohemia had the highest number of persons killed, more precisely 4 times more than on the territory of the Capital City of Prague.

Out of the total number of persons killed in accidents in 2015, drivers of and other passengers in passenger cars represent more than 50%, drivers of motorcycles almost 14%, cyclists more than 10% and pedestrians almost 20%.

In 2015, again more than 15,000 incidents were recorded where the driver causing the accident drove away from the place of the accident, which is 16.2% of the total number of accidents caused by drivers of vehicles. The number of these accidents continues to rise, namely by more than 6% compared to 2014. Also the number of persons killed in these accidents was higher compared to the previous year while the number of persons injured saw a year-on-year reduction.