Transport Yearbook 2019

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Transport Sector Development in 2019

INFRASTRUCTURE

Infrastructure expenditures

In 2019, the overall volume of transport infrastructure expenditures increased again and reached more than 61 billion CZK. Compared with the increase in the previous year, this increase by 25% was rather substantial and in absolute figures, it amounted to almost 12 billion CZK. The value of investment expenditures into infrastructure reached the level from 2010. In 2018, the year-on-year increase was only 15%, while in 2017, there was a decrease of 1.5% and in 2016 the reduction was substantial at 24%. Even despite this very significant reduction, the invested amounts in 2016 did not reach the volumes of the previous period, in particular the years 2011-2014. 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 2019 was again 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% and in 2019 to 77%. The total amount of invested costs into transport infrastructure from the State Fund for Transport Infrastructure in 2019 reached the value of 47.3 billion CZK, which represents a year-on-year increase of approximately 42%. In addition, and similarly to other years, the SFTI budget also provided investment expenditure for building of cycling paths. The total financial volume in years 2010 – 2019 exceeds 1.3 billion CZK, of which 253 million CZK were spent in 2019.

In 2019, investment expenditures in transport infrastructure represented 1.06% of GDP (excluding expenditures into local roads and other infrastructure for urban public transport), which is a year-on-year increase of more than 15%; this indicator thus reached approximately the same level as in 2015. The respective figures for investment expenditures were 0.92% of GDP in 2018, 0.85% of GDP in 2017, 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 expenditures into infrastructure in 2010 represented 1.7% of GDP, the 2019 value represents about 62% of that amount.

There was again an increase in the volume of investment resources spent on roads in 2019. Compared to the previous year, the increase was more substantial and reached almost 33%. Investment expenditures for this type of infrastructure was the highest in the past 9 years; nevertheless, it still reached less than 70% of the 2009 value. The decreasing trend that followed lasted for several years, until 2014. Investment expenditures in class II and class III roads, namely roads in the ownership of regions, stayed approximately at the same level as in 2018 and amounted to about 12.4 billion CZK. The absolute difference year-on-year amounted to 114 million CZK. The percentage share of total investment costs into class II and class III roads on the total investment into road infrastructure was with the value 35% lower than in the previous year when it reached 46%. Both these values are significantly different from the two previous years, i.e. 2016 and 2017 when it amounted to approximately 25%.

A small increase of approximately 3% was also observed in investment into railway infrastructure, but despite this fact, the expenditures 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 expenditures into railway infrastructure represented less than half of the 2015 value and in 2018 and 2019 it was approximately 60%.

As for other investment expenditures in 2019, a very substantial increase was recorded in inland waterways infrastructure, the investment expenditures went up 18x and also the investments into airport infrastructure increased by 30%. In pipeline transport, the expenditures increase by more than 40%.

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 expenditures increased again rather significantly in 2018 and 2019, this by almost 18% and 15% respectively. There were no substantial changes in the 8 years until 2013 and thus this type of expenditures did not follow the steep declining trend in general investment expenditures during the crisis period. 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 infrastructure for individual transport modes, an increase was recorded both in road infrastructure with almost 13% and railway infrastructure, where it was even slightly higher, reaching almost 17%. The repair and maintenance expenditures in inland waterway infrastructure in 2019 were higher by more than 60% compared to the previous year. There was a small increase of this indicator by 4% in airport infrastructure as well.

Road infrastructure

Development of the motorway network continued in 2019 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: “D1 0137 Přerov - Lipník nad Bečvou”, “D1 expanding the rest area Střechov km 52.0 – right side” and “D1 rest area Humpolec km 88.3”. The following constructions continued on the D1 motorway in 2019: “Upgrading of D1 - Section 02, EXIT 21 Mirošovice - EXIT 29 Hvězdonice” with planned start of operation in 2021 and “Upgrading of D1 - Section 12, EXIT 90 Humpolec - EXIT 104 Větrný Jeníkov” with planned start of operation in 2020.

The following constructions were launched on the D1 motorway in 2019: “Upgrading of D1 – Section 07, EXIT 56 Soutice - EXIT 66 Loket” with planned start of operation in 2020, “Upgrading of D1 - Section 11, EXIT 81 Koberovice - EXIT 90 Humpolec” with planned start of operation in 2021, “Upgrading of D1 – Section 16, EXIT 119 Velký Beranov - EXIT 134 Měřín” with planned start of operation in 2021, “Upgrading of D1 – Section 19, EXIT 141 V. Meziříčí západ - EXIT 146 V. Meziříčí východ” with planned start of operation in 2020 and “D1 Service and Maintenance Centre Přerov”.

Construction of other motorways also continued in 2019. On the D3 Motorway Prague – Tábor – České Budějovice – state border CZ/Austria, the following constructions were put into operation: “D3 0309/I Bošilec – Ševětín” and “D3 0309/II Ševětín – Borek” and new constructions were launched: “D3 0310/I Úsilné – Hodějovice” and “D3 0310/II Hodějovice – Třebonín”, both with planned start of operation in 2023. On the motorway D46 Vyškov - Prostějov – Olomouc, the construction “D46 GSJ Olšany” was put into operation. On the D6 Motorway Prague – Karlovy Vary – Cheb – state border CR/Germany, the implementation of constructions “D6 Nové Strašecí – Řevničov” with planned start of operation in 2020 and “D6 Řevničov bypass” with planned start of operation also in 2020 continued, as well as the construction of “D6 Lubenec bypass” with planned start of operation in 2021. On the D7 Motorway Prague – Slaný – Chomutov, the construction “D7 Panenský Týnec – increasing the bypass capacity” was launched with planned start of operation in 2021. On the D11 Motorway Prague - Hradec Králové - Trutnov – state border CZ/Poland, the constructions continued of “D11 1106 Hradec Králové – Smiřice” with planned start of operation in 2022 and “D11 1107 Smiřice – Jaroměř” with planned start of operation in 2021. On the motorway D35 Úlibice - Hradec Králové - Olomouc - Lipník nad Bečvou, the construction of “D35 Časy – Ostrov” continued and the construction of “D35 Opatovice nad Labem – Časy” was launched, both with planned start of operation in 2022.

On the D48 Motorway Bělotín - Frýdek-Místek - Český Těšín, the following constructions continued: “D48 Rybí - GSJ Rychaltice” with planned start of operation in 2020 and “D48 Frýdek-Místek bypass, Stage 1” with planned start of operation in 2022, and the construction “D48 Frýdek-Místek bypass, Stage 2” was launched, with planned start of operation in 2022. On the motorway D55 Olomouc - Přerov - Otrokovice – Břeclav, the construction of “D55 5505 Otrokovice south-east bypass” continued with planned start of operation in 2021. On the motorway D56 Ostrava - Frýdek-Místek, the construction of “D56 Frýdek-Místek – connection to D48” continued with planned start of operation in 2022.

Construction of class I roads also continued in 2019. Constructions that were put into operation include for example “I/11 Ostrava Prodloužená Rudná – border of Opava district”, “I/11 Opava eastern part of northern bypass”, “I/38 Znojmo bypass II”, “I/53 Lechovice bypass”, “I/15 Kravaře bypass” or “I/3 Benešov crossroad U Topolu”.

More important constructions of class II and class III Road implemented in 2019 include for example “II/302 Starostín - Broumov – state border with Poland” and “Bridge Reg. No 3082-1 Svinary” in the Hradec Králové Region, “II/272 Lysá n. Labem, reconstruction of bridge Ref. No 272-006” in the Central Bohemian Region or “Recontruction of Road II/266 Šluknov – Lobendava” in the Ústí nad Labem Region. Other important transport investments in the area of road infrastructure in 2019 also include the projects “II/602 border of the region - Pelhřimov, Construction 8 and 9” in the Vysočina Region, “III/15289 Brno Evropská, Bridge 15289-1” in the South Moravian Region or “Road II/437 Chvalčov – crossroad with a municipal road in Rajnochovice” in the Zlín Region.

Railway infrastructure

Works on upgrading of transit railway corridors continued also in 2019. On the third transit railway corridor CZ/SK state border – Dětmarovice – Přerov – Česká Třebová – Prague – Plzeň – Cheb – CZ/DE state border, the following constructions were put into operation: “Upgrading of the line Rokycany – Plzeň” on the section Prague – Plzeň and “Optimisation of the line Český Těšín – Dětmarovice” on the section from state border with Slovakia to Dětmarovice. Works continued in 2019 on implementation of the construction “Optimisation of the line Beroun (incl.) – Králův Dvůr” on the section Prague – Plzeň with planned start of operation in 2020. Construction “Optimisation of the line Praha Smíchov (excl.) – Černošice (excl.) was launched on the same section in 2019, with planned start of operation in 2022.

On the fourth transit railway corridor CZ/Austria state border – České Budějovice – Tábor – Prague – Ústí nad Labem – Děčín - CZ/DE state border, the following construction continued: “Upgrading of the line Sudoměřice – Votice” in the section Tábor – Prague with planned start of operation in 2022. Also, construction “Upgrading of the line Veselí n.L.- Tábor – Part II, Section Veselí n.L.- Doubí u Tábora, Stage 2 Soběslav - Doubí” with planned completion in 2023 was launched 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 construction “Junction Pilsen, Construction 2 – reconstruction of the passenger station incl. bridges Mikulášská” was put into operation while the implementation of “Junction Pilsen, Construction 3 – fly-over the Domažlice line” continued, with planned start of operation in 2020. In the Prague Junction, the construction “Optimisation of the line section Praha Hostivař – Praha main station, Part II – Praha Hostivař – Praha hl.n.” continued, with planned start of operation in 2021, together with “Reconstruction of the Negrelli Viaduct” where start of operation is planned for 2020 and which is part of the project “Upgrading of the line Prague – Kladno with connection to the Vaclav Havel Airport”. In 2019, upgrading works also continued in RST Brno Main Station and the construction “Reconstruction of RST Přerov, Construction 2” was launched.

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 2019 included the completion of the constructions “GSM-R České Velenice - České Budějovice - Horní Dvořiště”, “GSM-R Plzeň - České Budějovice”. Deployment of the European train control system ETCS was also carried out in 2019 – works continued on projects “ETCS Petrovice u Karviné - Ostrava - Přerov – Břeclav”, “ETCS Plzeň - Cheb“, „ETCS Přerov - Česká Třebová”, “ETCS Kralupy n. Vlt. - Praha – Kolín” and “ETCS Praha-Uhříněves – Votice”.

Investments into passenger railway station buildings represent another important area. In 2019, reconstructions of the dispatching buildings were completed for example in Kolín, Břeclav, Kralupy nad Vltavou or Přibyslav.

Inland waterway transport infrastructure

Drawing of financial resources in 2019 was primarily related to launching of implementation of investment projects aimed at improving the parameters of the Vltava waterway between Prague and Mělník, 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”. Newly launched constructions where investments are directed include “Road bridge over the Elbe River between Valy and Mělice” and “Leisure navigation port Veselí nad Moravou”. Also, the upgrading of the mooring site for vessels in Prague on the Edvard Beneš Embankment was completed.

Air transport infrastructure

The most important drawing of investment costs at Prague Airport in 2019 was spent on the fourth check-in area in Terminal 2, reconstruction of taxiway areas B1 and B2, development of the new depot for refuelling cars, works on aircraft stands in Sector B1, reconstruction of sorting and X-ray in Terminal 1, new retention tank for the waste and contaminated waters treatment plant and aviation fuel tanks. A major part of repair and maintenance expenditures on the same airport was spent on repairs of RWY 12/30, repairs of apron areas on RWY 04/22 and general maintenance of RWYs and TWYs.

Regarding other airports, important investments in 2019 include for example building of industrial halls and related infrastructure in the logistics zone or purchase of detectors and X-rays and investments into airport technology at the Brno-Tuřany Airport. At the Pardubice airport, investment expenditures were spent also on purchasing of security equipment, i.e. X-rays and detectors for spot detection of explosives and cameras. The most important works at the Karlovy Vary Airport consisted in implementation of the first installation phase of the new approach lighting system for RWY 11; investment resources were also used for purchasing of a metal detector device for passenger shoes. At the Ostrava Airport, the investment resources were spent on a high-capacity self-service parking within the premises of Leoš Janáček Airport Ostrava and in close proximity to the newly developed railway terminal.

ROAD TRANSPORT FLEET

Based on information from the Central Vehicle Register, the number of motor vehicles registered in the Czech Republic in 2019 increased by 2.9% and the growth rate slightly slowed down year-on-year. The total number of registered vehicles including trailers of all types and categories increased by approximately the same percentage and now exceeds 8.3 million.

The number of registered passenger cars again shows a year-on-year increase in 2019 and is nearing 6 million cars. In absolute numbers, this represents an increase of about 177,000 vehicles, which is 3.4%. When compared with the previous year, the growth rate was slightly slower. As at 1 January 2020, there was 5,924,995 passenger cars, i.e. more than 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 78% are older than 5 years. Only approximately 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 almost 2%. The year-on-year growth rate decreased only slightly also in this category. The share of the newer vehicles, i.e. less than 2 years old is similar as in passenger cars and represents some 11.4%. At the same time, an increase of more than 12% has been observed for vehicles older than 10 years, similarly to the previous year. The number of vehicles in this category has more than doubled since 2010. The percentage share of freight vehicles older than 10 years of approximately 64% is already higher than in the category of passenger vehicles. This share continues to grow, it was 58% in the previous year.

In 2019, a very slight increase was observed also in the number of registered mini buses and buses by approximately 1%; the number of trailers remains unchanged. The number of semi-trailers saw a 7% 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 2019, this category again saw a decrease by more than 8%. In the same year, the category of special road vehicles saw a small decrease of almost 3%, i.e. slightly higher than in the previous year while the motorcycles saw an increase of almost 3%.

TRANSPORT

The total passenger transport performance continued to grow in 2019 the sixth year in a row. The year-on-year increase slightly slowed down and reached approximately 2.3%. The number of passengers carried also increased by 3.7%. The growth rate of this indicator slowed down in 2019; the development of number of passengers did not show any significant fluctuations until 2014, however a significant increase was observed in the years 2016-2018.

In public passenger transport, a slight increase of approximately 2.4% occurred in the number of passengers carried and a very minor decrease of less than 1% in transport performance.

In railway transport, the growth trend continued also in 2019, the growth rate slightly slowed down when compared to the previous year. Transport performance saw a year-on-year increase of 6.3% and the number of passengers carried of 2.3%. Transport performance values in passenger railway transport were in 2019 growing for the tenth year in a row and reached the highest value since 1993.

The number of passengers transported by bus transport reported a growth for the second consecutive year. The value of this indicator increased by almost 4.3% and it is getting closer to the 2015 value. Transport performance on the contrary showed a year-on-year decrease of almost 4%, also for the second consecutive year. After a substantial increase in 2010, the value gradually decreased to approximately the same level.

The number of passengers transported by public urban transport saw a slight increase of 2.2% in 2019, the performance value increased by approximately 3.5%. A change of methodology took place in 2018 due to availability of more precise input data from new technologies and the figures since 2014 has been therefore 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 the years 2014-2019.

As regards inland waterway transport, where particularly passenger transport of recreational character was involved, a substantial year-on-year increase of 20% was recorded in transport performance and almost 12% in the number of passengers carried. Air transport of passengers saw a decrease in 2019 after several years of growth. In 2019, transport performance decreased by approximately 8% and the number of transported passengers decreased by more than 4%. In 2019, the number of passengers travelling using Czech airports increased again by 5.5% and reached its highest level of almost 19 million served passengers. The number served passengers doubled over the past 15 years; over the last 20 years, the increase is four-fold.

In freight transport, year 2019 saw again an increase in the volume of goods carried by more than 4%, however the decreasing trend continued in transport performance with a reduction of also 4%. The reduction of 4% was caused mainly by the decreasing trend in road freight transport in the past three years. The volume of transported goods thus remains the highest in the past 20 years; transport performance is similar to the 2000 level and is the lowest in the past 18 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 again for this indicator and transported volumes are the highest is the past 11 years. This growth trend did not continue in 2019 when a very minor decrease not exceeding 1% was reported. The growth in performance equally did not continue and a decrease of almost 3 % was reported in this indicator as well. Despite that, the value of railway freight transport performance remains relatively high, it is the second highest in the past 12 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 more than 5% in 2019. Transport volume in 2019 is the highest in the past 20 years. On the contrary, a substantial reduction in transport performance is observed in 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 20 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 remained 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 decrease continued also in 2019, but it was very minor – both transport performance and volumes decreased by about 1%. On the contrary, the performance of airports in 2019 increased by more than 5%. The volume of goods transported by inland waterway transport increased in 2019 by almost 25% and transport performance by approximately 3%.

ACCIDENTS

In 2019, the Police of the Czech Republic investigated altogether 107,572 road traffic accidents which represents a year-on-year increase of 2.7%. The growth rate increased year on year; the number of accidents continues to increase during the past 10 years, 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 an accident from original 50,000 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 2019 decreased by 3.2%. In 2017, the number was the lowest since 1961 since when police statistics on traffic accidents are available. In that year, the total number of persons killed was 502 (death within 24 hours after the accident; EC statistics and other international statistics use number of persons dead within 30 days since the date of an accident – this number reached 577 in the same year). 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%. In 2019, there was a reduction again; year 2019 ranked third from the point of view of road traffic safety and fatal consequences with 547 persons killed (death within 24 hours after the accident).

The number of seriously injured persons decreased by 14.4% in 2019. This indicator in 2019 was the lowest from the period for which data are recorded. 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 2019 value. The number of slightly injured persons in 2019 also decreased by 5.1%. The estimated material damage amounted to 6.8 billion CZK which is an increase of 4.4% compared to the previous year. The average material damage in one road traffic accident investigated by the police amounts to approximately 63.000 CZK. Per day, the average amounts to almost 300 investigated accidents, with a material damage of almost 19 million CZK and average number of 1.5 persons killed.

As in preceding years, particularly the motor vehicle drivers were those who caused approximately 86% of accidents during which 93% of the total number of persons killed died. When compared to the previous year, the number of persons killed in these accidents is lower by 13. In accidents caused by drivers of motorless vehicles, 27 persons were killed and 11 persons died in accidents caused by pedestrians. The number of accidents caused by drivers of passenger cars decreased year-on-year by 2% and the number of persons killed in these accidents also decreased by 9. The number of accidents caused by drivers of freight vehicles without semi-trailer decreased by almost 1%, but the number of persons killed in these accidents increased; in buses and motorcycles, both the number of accidents and number of persons killed decreased. The number of accidents caused by cyclists decreased by 3%, but the number of persons killed in these accidents increased by 42%.

In 2019, the number of registered accidents caused under the influence of alcohol was at the same level as in 2018, i.e. 4,627 accidents. 53 persons died during those accidents, i.e. 9 less than in 2018. In 269 accidents, the drivers were under influence of other addictive substances; 9 persons died in these accidents. 59 drivers had both alcohol and drugs in their system after an accident.

As in the previous years, the highest number of traffic accidents was again recorded in Prague, with almost one fifth of all the accident in the Czech Republic. 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 - 20 - is substantially lower than in the region of Central Bohemia with 88 persons killed.

As for the distribution of accidents in time, the highest number was recorded in October as in previous years. In 2019, August was the most tragic month with 62 persons killed in traffic accidents. The lowest number of accidents in 2019 was investigated by the police in February, as in previous years, and February was also the month with the 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, Monday was the worst day.

In 2019, 222 drivers of passenger cars, 93 pedestrians, 70 drivers of motorcycles and 36 cyclists were killed in road accidents. The biggest year-on-year increase is in the category of drivers of passenger cars (+21 persons killed), while a decrease was reported for drivers of motorcycles (-16) and pedestrians (-20).

In the same year, again more than 19,000 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 by approximately 5% higher than in 2018. The number of persons killed in these cases decreased by 3 in 2019.