Transport Sector Development in 2002
Infrastructure
Investment expenditure in the transport infrastructure (excluding expenditure in urban roads and other public urban transport infrastructure) in 2002 amounted to 1.45% GDP of which 70% were covered by the State Fund of Transport Infrastructure. In connection with the last year’s floods about 450 mill. CZK were invested into road infrastructure (motorways and class I, II and III roads) and more than 100 mill. CZK into rail infrastructure. The impact of last August floods on urban roads owned by the capital city of Prague amounted to about 1 billion CZK. Damage that have arisen only in the Prague metro was 6 955 mill. CZK.
In the course of 2002 the transport infrastructure construction continued according to the „Proposal for the development of transport networks in the Czech Republic until 2010“ and „Time schedule and the provision for financing the implementation of the Proposal for the development of transport networks in the Czech Republic until 2010“. Both documents were approved by appropriate resolutions of the Czech Republic’s Government (741/1999 Coll. and 145/2001 Coll.).
In the field of road infrastructure, where the Transport Policy of the Czech Republic established the precedence of maintenance and reconstruction over extensive development, the major task was to remove as quickly as possible the damage which has arisen in connection with catastrophic floods in August 2002. For this reason certain constructions had to be put off. Out of the large constructions further part of the Prague ring road connecting D 5 motorway with R 7 expressway (Řepy – Ruzyně) was completed early in 2003. Furthermore, building of the following superior motorway and expressway networks continued: R 35 expressway (Slavonín - Přáslavice – southern bypass of Olomouc), D 47 motorway section in Ostrava city (Rudná - Hrušov), D 5 motorway with Plzeň bypass, D 3 motorway in section Stoklasná Lhota - Chotoviny, R 48 expressway Frýdek-Místek - Dobrá and last section of R 35 expressway between Liberec and Turnov (Hodkovice - Rádelský mlýn). Reconstruction of class I roads No 7 (Chomutov) and No 11 (Mosty u Jablunkova) was also in progress. The management of class II and class III roads was fully transferred to regional authorities which concentrated on the removal of damage caused by floods and, in particular, the maintenance and reconstruction of destroyed bridges.
In the rail infrastructure, main attention was given to modernisation of the railway corridors. On the corridor I the relaying sections between Kralupy - Praha-Bubeneč, Záboří nad Labem - Přelouč and Dlouhá Třebová - Česká Třebová are being completed by means of a fly-over. A contribution from ISPA is being used for these constructions. The modernisation of the railway station Děčín main station was completed early in 2003. On the corridor II the Hranice-Ostrava-Svinov section is step-by-step being completed, and modernisation of the associated railway station was completed in 2002. Out of the large structures apart from the transit corridors the relaying (sinking) of the regional line to Dolní Bousov and tunnel relaying of the Chomutov – Březno at Chomutov line is in progress within the city of Mladá Boleslav. In inland waterway navigation the Labe and Vltava waterway reconstruction was completed (Roudnice nad Labem lock, completion of the Klecany weir reconstruction). As regards the Praha – Ruzyně airport, the building of embarkation space B and the reconstruction of embarkation space A was completed with investment costs amounting to 370 mill. CZK.
Transport Equipment
As far as road transport is concerned in the year 2002 there was again an increase in number of all vehicles registered in the Czech Republic, namely by 160 672, which represents a growth by 2.88%. In the course of that year altogether 108 688 vehicles were reregistered from the Central Register of Vehicles. As of 1 January 2003 this register included records of 5 740 823 vehicles of all types and categories. The number of passenger cars rose in 2002 only by 1%, and for lorries the growth was higher – more than 3%. A rather slight decline took place in the number of motorcycles, buses and microbuses. Due to the phasing-out of a minor number of vehicles also a modest increase in the age of the vehicle fleet took place in the course of 2002. The average age of all vehicles rose from 16.42 years to 16.54 years but for passenger cars it dropped from 13.61 to 12.72 years.
Transportation
In passenger and freight transport the development trend remained substantially the same. A more marked growth against preceding years was recorded in the road freight transport where the performance increased interannually by about 12%. The greatest increase was recorded in tonnes of transported of goods as well as in transport performance in the 3rd quarter of the year. In public bus transport a fall (by 7.3%) in the number of passengers carried was recorded again, and also the public urban transport shows a moderate fall in the number of passengers carried, namely by 1.1%. The number of passengers carried by rail in 2002 fell by 7.6% and so, unfortunately, the trend of a gradual growth from 2000 did not continue. Total performance in rail goods transport in the same year also declined and accordingly this development represents a copy of the situation in the preceding period. As from 1990 a performance growth in this transport mode was recorded only in 2000. A downtrend was also recorded in the indicators for inland waterway transport, namely both passenger and goods. Only the air transport follows its upward trend – the number of passengers carried increased by 8.7% in 2002.
Accidents
In 2002 there were 190 718 traffic accidents reported to the Police of the Czech Republic in which 1 314 persons were killed (death within 24 hours following the accident; international statistics are giving the number of persons dying within 30 days following the accident; the respective figure was 1 431 for the same period), 5 492 persons were seriously injured and 29 013 persons were slightly injured. The material damage was estimated at 8.89 billion CZK. An increase was observed in respect of the total number of accidents (by 2.7%), number of persons killed (by 7.3%), number of slightly injured (by 2.5%) as well as in the overall estimate of material damage (by almost 8%). The decline was recorded only in the category of seriously injured, namely by symbolic one person, which amounts to 0.02%
Of the total number of 72 accident items monitored monthly an increase for almost ¾ of items in respect of accidents was recorded, and for 71% of monitored accident items there was an increase in the number of persons killed. The largest absolute increase was recorded for accidents which happened on a dry carriageway surface (increase by 12 659 persons, i.e. by 11.3%). During the last ten years 1 907 773 accidents happened on our motorways and roads with 13 404 persons being killed (death within 24 hours), 60 167 persons seriously injured and another 291 073 slightly injured. The material damage was estimated as exceeding 62 billion CZK.
It remains being a sad reality that, in average, in 2002 almost every 3 minutes (2.7 minutes exactly) an accidents was reported to the Police of the Czech Republic, and every 18 minutes a person was slightly injured and every 96 minutes a person was seriously injured in an accident. In average, every 6.7 hour a person died in an accident (within 24 hours after the accident). Furthermore, every hour a material damage was caused exceeding one million CZK (1 014 977 CZK exactly). On pedestrian crossings altogether 55 pedestrians died in 2002, i.e. by 2 pedestrians less than in 2001 but by 30 more than in 2000). Of this, in accidents caused by motor vehicle drivers, altogether 32 pedestrians died in 2002 (+ 2 persons against 2001 but by 25 persons more against 2000) due to „not giving priority to pedestrians“.
It follows from an international comparison that the number of killed persons per 1 million population is in the Czech Republic two times up to 2.5 times higher than in the West European countries. Practical impact of this comparison means that in the Czech Republic each year 600 to 700 persons more are dying on roads compared to the existing average in the European countries with best favourable results in this respect.
Environment
Permanently highest increase is being shown by N2O emissions because the more modern vehicles are noted for higher values of emissions than older models. For this reason a stable growth of the emission referred to is anticipated also in the future years. The production of CO2 emissions also increased in 2002 but not as significantly as the N2O. Such trend is given by a growing petrol and diesel-oil consumption, however, the growth tempo declined as compared with recent years, which is a favourable phenomenon. More new vehicles show due to lower fuel consumption lower specific CO2 emissions contrary to N2O emissions.
After a moderate growth between 1990 and 1997 both the CH4 and the VOC (volatile organic compounds) show a stable downtrend. The CH4 trends are roughly copying the trends of other hydrocarbons, which results from the improvement of the combustion cycle with new cars.
The substantial share in the CO and NOx emissions is to be attributed to passenger car transport and road freight transport. The CO emissions from passenger car transport are declining since still more passenger cars are equipped with efficient catalytic converters. The obvious permanent CO emissions growth in road freight transport is directly linked to increase in the transport performance. The values of specific NOx emission in passenger car transport and rail transport are going down but on the other hand these values are increasing in road freight transport. The SO2 emissions grow moderately, and a substantial decline is envisaged for the next years because from 2003 and 2005 the diesel-oil will be sold with a reduced sulphur contents.
As from 1 January 2001 the sale of leaded petrol was stopped. In respect of this action the Pb emissions rapidly dropped in 2001 and continued declining also in 2002. The values of specific Pb emissions in transport have been permanently declining from 1990 in line with the trend of specific emissions produced by passenger car transport which is a major emission producer. Due to the cessation of the sale of leaded petrol it is envisaged that the specific Pb emissions from the transport will be reduced to a value close to zero.
Solid particles are emitted particularly by diesel engines and accordingly they are mainly produced by road freight transport. Also other transport modes have been showing in 2002 a moderate increase in such emissions. The largest producers of the solid phase are older models of lorries without catalytic converters.