Transport Yearbook 2018

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Transport Sector Development in 2018

INFRASTRUCTURE

Infrastructure expenditures

The overall volume of transport infrastructure expenditure increased again after two years of reduction and reached in total 49.1 billion CZK. The increase by 15% was rather substantial and in absolute figures, it amounted to 6.3 billion CZK. The decrease in the previous year was 1.5%, but in 2016, the reduction was 24%. Even despite this very significant reduction, the invested amounts did not reach the volumes of the previous period, in particular the years 2009-2014. Over the past 17 years, the lowest amount was invested into transport infrastructure in 2013 – 27.3 billion CZK, while the highest amount was reached in 2008 when the investments amounted to almost three times more - 83 billion CZK, this being the maximum financial volume of the past 20 years.

Contrary to the previous years, the share of investment financial resources provided by the State Fund for Transport Infrastructure (SFTI) in 2018 was lower. While in 2016 and 2017 this share reached approximately 91%, and in previous periods the financial share exceeded 80%, in 2018 it amounted only to 68%. The total amount of invested costs into transport infrastructure from the State Fund for Transport Infrastructure reached the value of 33.3 billion CZK, which represents a year-on-year decrease of approximately 15%. In addition, the SFTI budget also provided investment expenditure for building of cycling paths. The total financial volume in years 2010 – 2017 exceeds 1 billion CZK, of which 146 million were spent in 2018.

In 2018, investment expenditure in transport infrastructure represented 0.92% of GDP (excluding expenditure into local roads and other infrastructure for urban public transport), which is a year-on-year increase of more than 8%; this indicator thus is approximately at the same level as in 2016. The respective figures for investment expenditure (excluding expenditure into local roads and other infrastructure for urban public transport) were 0.85% of GDP in 2018, 0.95% of GDP in 2016, 1.26% of GDP in 2015, 0.78% of GDP in 2014, 0.71% of GDP in 2013 and 0.87% of GDP in 2012. As the amount of investment expenditure into infrastructure in 2010 represented 1.7% of GDP, the 2018 value represents a half of that amount.

There was again an increase in the volume of investment resources spent on roads in 2018. Compared to the previous year when this increase reached almost 13%, it was only 3.4% for 2018. Still, this investment expenditure was the highest in the past 7 years; nevertheless, the total investment expenditure in roads reached only half of the 2009 value. The decreasing trend that followed lasted for several years, until 2014. Investment expenditure in class II and class III roads, namely roads in the ownership of regions, almost doubled in 2018 and amounted approximately to 12.3 billion CZK. The absolute difference year-on-year amounted to 5.5 billion. The percentage share of investment costs into class II and class III roads represents 46% of the total investment expenditure. This value is significantly different from the two previous years when it amounted to approximately 25% and it is getting near to the 2015 value when it accounted for almost half of the total investments.

A rather substantial increase of almost 28% was also observed in investments into railway infrastructure, but despite this fact, the expenditure did not exceed the value of 24 billion CZK from 2015. Investment costs into railway infrastructure were going down from 2009 until 2014, followed by a significant increase in 2015. In 2017, the investment expenditure into railway infrastructure represented less than half of the 2015 value and in 2018, it was approximately 60%.

As for other investment expenditure in 2018, a substantial decrease of more than 60% was recorded in inland waterways infrastructure, while the investments into airport infrastructure almost doubled Also in pipeline transport, the expenditure increased by more than 80%.

After several years of stagnation until 2013, a subsequent growth for three years until 2016 and a reduction in 2017, the total transport infrastructure repair and maintenance expenditure increased again rather significantly in 2018 by almost 18%. There were no substantial changes in the 8 years until 2013 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%.

Speaking about individual transport modes, an increase was recorded both in road infrastructure with almost 18% and railway infrastructure, where it was even slightly higher, reaching almost 20%. The repair and maintenance expenditure in inland waterway infrastructure in 2018 were higher by 13%. The only decrease of this indicator exceeding 20% is observed in airport infrastructure.

Road infrastructure

Development of the motorway network continued in 2018 by upgrading and construction of the D1 Motorway Prague – Brno – Vyškov - Hulín - Přerov - Lipník nad Bečvou - Bělotín - Ostrava – state border CZ/Poland. The following constructions were put into operation: Upgrading of D1 – Section 04, EXIT 34 Ostředek - EXIT 41 Šternov”, “Upgrading of D1 - Section 10, EXIT 75 Hořice - EXIT 81 Koberovice” and “Upgrading of D1 – Section 20, EXIT 146 V. Meziříčí východ - EXIT 153 Lhotka. The following construction continued on D1 in 2018: “D1 0137 Přerov - Lipník nad Bečvou”. The following constructions started on the D1 motorway in 2018: “Upgrading of D1 - Section 02, EXIT 21 Mirošovice - EXIT 29 Hvězdonice” with planned completion in 2021 a “Upgrading of D1 - Section 12, EXIT 90 Humpolec - EXIT 104 Větrný Jeníkov” with planned completion in 2020.

Construction of other motorways also continued in 2018. On the D7 Motorway Prague – Slaný – Chomutov, the construction “D7 Postoloprty – GSJ Bítozeves” was put into operation in 2018. On the D3 Motorway Prague – Tábor – České Budějovice – state border CZ/Austria, the following constructions continued in the section – “D3 0309/I Bošilec – Ševětín” with planned completion in 2019 and the construction of “D3 0309/II Ševětín – Borek” with planned completion in 2020. On the D6 Motorway Prague – Karlovy Vary – Cheb – state border CR/Germany, the implementation of constructions “D6 Nové Strašecí – Řevničov” and “D6 Řevničov bypass” continued, both with planned completion in 2020, and the construction of “D6 Lubenec bypass” was launched, with planned completion in 2021. On the D11 Motorway Prague - Hradec Králové - Trutnov – state border CZ/Poland, the following constructions started: “D11 1106 Hradec Králové – Smiřice” with planned completion in 2022 and “D11 1107 Smiřice – Jaroměř” with planned completion in 2021. On the motorway D35 Úlibice - Hradec Králové - Olomouc - Lipník nad Bečvou, the construction of “D35 Časy – Ostrov” was launched in 2018 with planned completion in 2022, and on the motorway D46 Vyškov - Prostějov – Olomouc, the construction “D46 GSJ Olšany” was launched in the same year with planned completion in 2019. “The construction “D48 Rybí - GSJ Rychaltice” continued on the D48 Motorway Bělotín - Frýdek-Místek - Český Těšín in 2018, with planned completion in 2020, and the construction of “D48 Frýdek-Místek bypass, Stage 1” was launched, with planned completion in 2022. On the motorway D55 Olomouc - Přerov - Otrokovice – Břeclav, the construction of “D55 5505 Otrokovice south-east bypass” started in 2018 with planned completion in 2021. On the motorway D56 Ostrava - Frýdek-Místek, the construction of “D56 Frýdek-Místek – connection to D48” was launched with planned completion in 2022.

Construction of Class I Roads continued also in 2018. Constructions that were put into operation in 2018 are for example “I/62 Děčín – Vilsnice”, “I/14 Kunratice - Jablonec n.N.”, “I/34 Roušťany – Pohled”, “I/22 Strakonice”, “I/37 Sklené nad Oslavou bypass”, “I/20 Plzeň Bridge of gen. Patton Reg. No. 20-036.1,2”, “I/2 Kutná Hora, Bridge Reg. No. 2-013”, „I/26 Stod, through pass” or “I/53 Dobšice, through pass”.

More important constructions of Class II and Class III Road implemented in 2018 include for example “II/379 Deblín – Tišnov”, “II/379 Tišnov - Drásov, Stage 1: Tišnov – Drásov”, “II/421 Terezín - Velké Pavlovice” and “II/430 Tučapy – Vyškov” in the region of South Moravia or “II/449 junction II/366 - GSJ Unčovice”, “II/441 junction R35 – border of the Moravia-Silesia Region” and “Improving cross-border accessibility Písečná - Nysa (II/455 Písečná - Supíkovice)” in the Olomouc Region. Other important transport investments in the area of road infrastructure in 2018 also include the projects “II/104, Davle, Bridge Reg. No. 104-001” and “II/330 Poříčany, Bridge over D11 Reg. No. 330-001” in the region of Central Bohemia, “II/150 Pavlíkov – Leštinka” and “II/406 Dvorce - Telč, Construction 2” in the region of Vysočina, “Reconstruction of road II/227, II/225 – border of the Central Bohemian Region, Žatec, junction with road II/224” in the region of Ústí nad Labem, “II/286 Jičín - Železnice – border of admin. district” in the region of Hradec Králové or “Road III/05735 Vsetín, Bridge Reg. No. 05735-1” in the region of Zlín.

Railway infrastructure

Works on upgrading of transit railway corridors continued also in 2018. On the third transit railway corridor CZ/SK state border – Dětmarovice – Přerov – Česká Třebová – Prague – Plzeň – Cheb – CZ/DE state border, the Ejpovice Tunnel (longest railway tunnel in the Czech Republic) that was part of the construction “Upgrading of the line Rokycany – Plzeň” was put into full operation. Works also continued on “Optimisation of the line Beroun (incl.) – Králův Dvůr” and “Optimisation of the line Český Těšín – Dětmarovice”, both with planned completion in 2019.

On the fourth transit railway corridor CZ/Austria state border – České Budějovice – Tábor – Prague – Ústí nad Labem – Děčín - CZ/DE state border, the following constructions were launched: “Upgrading of the line Sudoměřice – Votice”, with planned completion in 2021 in the section Tábor – Prague and “Upgrading of the line Nemanice I - Ševětín, Construction 1, adjustments for ETCS, Part 2” with planned completion in 2020 in the section České Budějovice - Tábor.

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. In railway junction Pilsen the constructions “Junction Pilsen, Construction 2 – reconstruction of the passenger station incl. bridges Mikulášská” and “Junction Pilsen, Construction 3 – fly-over the Domažlice line” continued, both with planned completion in 2019. In the Prague Junction, the construction “Optimisation of the line section Praha Hostivař – Praha main station, Part II – Praha Hostivař – Praha hl.n.” started in 2018, with planned completion in 2021. This construction will result in the first-ever four-track line within the CZ network and it is a follow up of the construction “Optimisation of the line section Praha Hostivař – Praha main station, Part I – RST Praha Hostivař” completed in 2016. Upgrading works also started in RST Brno Main Station.

Projects aimed at ensuring interoperability of selected lines through signalling and interlocking technology implementation represent another example of substantial investments. Deployment of the digital radio system GSM-R in 2018 included the completion of the construction “GSM-R Ústí nad Orlicí – Lichkov”. The following projects continued in 2018: “GSM-R České Velenice - České Budějovice - Horní Dvořiště”, “GSM-R Plzeň - České Budějovice” and “GSM-R III. Corridor Beroun - Plzeň – Cheb”, all with planned completion in 2019. Deployment of the European train control system ETCS was also carried out in 2018: the project “ETCS – Corridor I, Section Kolín – Břeclav – state border Austria/SK was completed in 2018 and the implantation of “ETCS Petrovice u Karviné - Ostrava - Přerov – Břeclav” continued, with planned completion in 2019.

Investments in railway infrastructure for the development of suburban transport and integrated transport systems were carried out also in 2018. In particular, the construction “Reconstruction of the Negrelli Viaduct” with planned completion in 2020 continued in the Prague Junction as part of the “Upgrading of the line Prague – Kladno, with connection of the Václav Havel Airport”.

Inland waterway transport infrastructure

Drawing of financial resources in 2018 was mostly spent on launching of investment projects aimed at improving the parameters of the Vltava waterway, i.e. “Upgrading of the approach area of the Štvanice lock chamber” and “Modification of the Hořín lock chamber gates”, both being closely linked to implementation of “Increasing navigation depth on the Vltava Waterway”.

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 investment costs at the Prague Airport in 2018 was spent on depots for refuelling trucks, collector and aviation fuel control system, reconstruction of apron area 1 and taxiways TWY A1, TWY A, TWY B1 and TWY B2, commercial zone in the hall of Terminal 2, new retention tank for the waste and contaminated waters treatment plant, increasing the capacity of processing of passengers, replacement of access bridges and purchase of high-capacity airport buses. A major part of repair and maintenance expenditure on the same airport was spent on repairs of buildings and equipment and repairs of apron areas on RWY 04/22 and repair of RWY 12/30.

Important investments in other airports in 2018 include for example building of industrial halls and related infrastructure in the logistics zone of the Brno-Tuřany Airport and purchasing of detectors and X-ray machines. At the Pardubice airport, the construction of first part of the new terminal was completed and at the Karlovy Vary Airport, investment resources were used for purchasing of a metal detector device for passenger shoes and implementing the first installation phase of the new approach lighting system for RWY 11.

ROAD TRANSPORT FLEET

Based on information from the Central Vehicle Register, the number of motor vehicles registered in the Czech Republic in 2018 increased by 3.5%. The total number of registered vehicles including trailers of all types and categories increased by approximately the same percentage and now exceeds 8 million.

The number of registered passenger cars again shows a year-on-year increase in 2018. In absolute numbers, this represents an increase of approximately 210,000 vehicles, which is 3.8%. When compared with the previous year, the growth rate was slightly slower. As at 1 January 2019, this figure was 5,747,913, i.e. almost 75% of the total number of motor vehicles registered in the Central Vehicle Register. As for the age of passenger vehicles, 61% are older than 10 years and approximately 79% are older than 5 years. Only 12% of passenger cars are less than 2 years old. This ratio does not show much change year-on-year.

The number of registered road freight vehicles also saw a slight year-on-year increase by approximately 2.5%. The year-on-year growth rate remains approximately the same also in this category. The number of vehicles not older than 2 years increased again, but the growth rate was slower, reaching only 3%. The share of these newer vehicles is similar as in passenger cars and represents some 11.7%. At the same time, an increase of more than 15% was in 2018 observed for vehicles older than 10 years, similarly to the previous year. The number of vehicles in this category doubled since 2010. The percentage share of freight vehicles older than 10 years of approximately 58% is however still lower than in the category of passenger vehicles. However, this share continues to grow, with an approximately 6% increase year-on-year.

In 2018, a minor increase was observed also in the number of registered mini buses and buses by approximately 2.7% and of less than 2% in number of trailers. The number of semi-trailers saw a 5% decrease year-on-year. 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 less than 20% over the past ten years. In 2018, the number of road tractors in the Vehicles Register increased again for the first time after 15 years, but the growth was not very significant, only 5.5%. In the same year, the category of special road vehicles saw a very minor decrease of almost 2% as in the previous year and the motorcycles saw an increase of almost 3%.

TRANSPORT

The total passenger transport performance has been growing for the fifth year again in 2018. The year-on-year increase of 5% is slightly higher than in the previous year. The number of passengers carried also increased by 8.8%. The development of this indicator did not show significant fluctuations until 2014; a significant increase has been observed in the 3 previous years.

In the public transport, a slight increase of almost 2% occurred in the number of passengers carried and of 4.3% in transport performance.

In railway transport, the growth trend continued also in 2018 and there was again an increase in the growth rate as compared to the previous year, in particular in transport performance. Transport performance saw a year-on-year increase of more than 8% and the number of passengers carried of 3.6%. Transport performance values in passenger railway transport have been growing for the ninth year in a row and are the highest since 1993.

A very slow decline not exceeding 1% has been observed in the development trend of the number of passengers transported by bus transport. Transport performance on the contrary showed a significant year-on-year increase of more than 9% and is the highest in the past 25 years.

The number of passengers transported by urban public transport saw a slight increase exceeding 2% in 2018, the performance value remained almost stagnating with an increase of only 0.5%. A change of methodology took place in 2018 due to availability of more precise input data from new technologies and the time series was recalculated.

After a slight increase in individual car transport in 2011, a drop was observed also for this indicator in 2012. In 2013, this trend was reversed and both the performance and number of passengers in individual car transport increased. This increase continued also in years 2014-2018.

As regards inland waterway transport, where particularly passenger transport of recreational character was involved, a very minor year-on-year increase not exceeding 1% was recorded in transport performance and less than 3% in the number of passengers carried. Air transport of passengers continued to grow. In 2018, the number of transported passengers increased by almost 9% and transport performance increased by more than 13%. In 2018, the number of passengers travelling using Czech airports increased again by almost 10% and reached its highest level of almost 18 million passengers.

In freight transport, year 2018 saw again an increase in the volume of goods carried by less than 4%, however the decreasing trend continued in transport performance, even though it slowed down. The reduction of 4% was caused mainly by the decreasing trend in road freight transport of the past three years. The volume of transported goods thus remains the highest in the past 20 years; transport performance is similar to the 2009 level and is the lowest in the past 17 years.

The growing development trend of the 2013-2016 period in the volumes of goods carried by railway transport changed its course in 2017 and a slight decrease not exceeding 2% was reported for this indicator. In 2018, a year-on-year increase of almost 3% is reported for this indicator and the transported volumes are the highest is the past 11 years. The growth in railway freight transport performance continues for the fifth year in a row, reaching the highest level of the past 17 years.

After almost 10 years of decline until 2012 and subsequent growth except for 2016, the volume of goods carried by road freight transport again saw a year-on-year increase of 4.3% in 2018. Transport volume is the highest in the past 20 years. A substantial reduction in transport performance is observed particular in international road freight transport. The total performance in road freight transport of operators registered in the Czech Republic is the lowest in the past 16 years.

In 2015, 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%. In 2016 and 2017, air cargo remains at approximately the same level as in 2015, and in 2018, there was a year-on-year reduction of 14% in the volume and 7.4% in transport performance. The performance of airports in 2018 remains approximately at the level of the previous year. The volume of goods transported by inland waterway transport decreased in 2018 by almost 25% and transport performance by approximately 14%.

ACCIDENTS

In 2018, the Police of the Czech Republic investigated altogether 104,764 road traffic accidents which represents a year-on-year increase of only 0.9%. Even though the growth rate significantly slowed down year-on-year, the number of accidents keeps increasing since 2009, with the exception of 2011. Year 2009 was significant as there was a change in the legislation (in effect from 1/1/2009), increasing the “threshold” for obligatory notification of the accident from original 50,000 CZK to 100,000 CZK. This was probably one of the reasons why the Police of the Czech Republic investigated the lowest number of accidents in that year. The highest number of accidents was investigated in 1999 – 225,690 accidents.

However, despite the fact that the number of investigated accidents keeps increasing for several years in a row, the number of persons killed in road accidents in 2017 is the lowest since 1961 since when police statistics on traffic accidents are available. In 2017, the total number of persons killed was 502 (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 577 in the same year) which is a year-on-year reduction of 7.9%. On the contrary, the highest number of persons killed in traffic accidents was registered in 1969 – 1,758 persons. Unfortunately, the positive trend from 2017 did not continue in 2018 and the number of persons killed increased again by 63, i.e. by 12.5%. Despite this fact, when speaking about road safety and fatal consequences, 2018 ranked third best overall.

The number of seriously injured persons increased by 5.4% in 2018. This indicator in 2017was also the lowest since 1961. Year 2018 ranked second with 2,465 heavily injured during traffic accidents. The highest number of persons injured in traffic accidents was recorded again in 1969, with 9,258 injured being almost 4 times more than the 2017 value. The number of slightly injured persons also slightly increased by 1.9%. The estimated material damage amounted to CZK 6.5 billion which is an increase of 3.7% compared to the previous year. The average material damage in one road traffic accident investigated by the police amounts to approximately 63.000 CZK.

As in preceding years, particularly the motor vehicle drivers were those who caused approximately 83% of accidents during which 92% of the total number of persons killed died. When compared to the previous year, the number of persons killed in these accidents is higher by 60. In accidents caused by drivers of motorless vehicles, 19 persons were killed and 21 persons died in accidents caused by pedestrians. The number of accidents caused by drivers of passenger cars also slightly increased, namely by 0.2%, but the number of persons killed in these accidents increased significantly, by 62. The number of accidents caused by drivers of freight vehicles without semi-trailer decreased by 4.1%, of buses increased by 4% and of motorcycles by 14.5%. The number of accidents caused by cyclists increased by 13.7%, but the number of persons killed in these accidents decreased by 24%.

In 2018, the number of registered accidents caused under the influence of alcohol amounted to 4,626, which is almost 9% more than in the previous year. 62 persons died during those accidents, i.e. 14 more than in 2017. In 260 accidents, the drivers were under influence of other addictive substances; 14 persons died in these accidents. 54 drivers were under the influence of both, alcohol and drugs, after an accident. In all the mentioned categories, there was an increase in the number of persons killed, in total 24.

As in the previous years, the highest number of traffic accidents was again recorded in Prague, with over one fifth of all the accident in the Czech Republic happening there. The lowest number of accidents was reported in the region of Karlovy Vary. Despite the highest number of traffic accidents in Prague in the long-term, the number of persons killed - 31 - is substantially lower than in the region of Central Bohemia with 106 persons killed.

As for the distribution of accidents in time, the highest number was recorded in October as in the two previous years. In 2018, August and September were the most tragic months, with 64 persons killed in traffic accidents each month. The lowest number of accidents in 2018 was investigated by the police in February, as in previous years, and February was also the month with lowest number of persons killed in accidents. When looking at days of a week, again Friday had the highest number of accidents while Sunday had the lowest number. With regard to numbers of persons killed, Saturday was the worst day.

In 2018, 201 drivers of passenger cars, 113 pedestrians, 86 drivers of motorcycles and 38 cyclists were killed in road accidents. The biggest year-on-year increase is in the category of drivers of passenger cars (+27 persons killed), drivers of motorcycles (+26) and pedestrians (+10).

In the same year, again more than 18,000 incidents were recorded where the driver causing the accident drove away from the place of the accident, which is almost 20% of the total number of accidents caused by drivers of motor vehicles. The number of these accidents continues to rise, and is approximately 2% higher than in 2017. The number of persons killed in these cases increased by 3 in 2018.

Every day the Police of the Czech Republic investigated on average 287 road traffic accidents, with 1.5 person killed and 76 persons injured. The estimated material damage represents on average almost 18 million CZK per day.