Transport Yearbook 2022

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Transport Sector Development in 2022

INFRASTRUCTURE

Infrastructure expenditures

In 2022, the overall volume of investments into transport infrastructure increased again and reached more than CZK 90 billion. The increase of 10% compared to 2021 represents a year-on-year increase in investment expenditure of almost CZK 8 billion. The volume of investment expenditure in transport infrastructure in 2022 was the highest in the past 14 years. 2022 represents another exceptional year for the State Fund for Transport Infrastructure (SFTI) in terms of investments; the volume spent on transport infrastructure funding exceeded the value from 2021 by CZK 4.5 billion. The total volume of funds released from the SFTI budget reached a new historical record of almost CZK 132 billion, of which resources from EU funds amounted to almost CZK 44 billion. Similarly as in 2021, the highest volume of financial resources amounting to approx. CZK 61 billion was spent on railway infrastructure. However, it is important to note that transport infrastructure construction sector was significantly affected by the rising inflation in 2022. There was an increase of mandatory expenditure and expenditure related to projects in course or in completion phase and it was also necessary to efficiently manage the resources for financial coverage of new investment projects – current price levels of 2022. Inflation, which peaked in September 2022 at 18% year-on-year, must also, be taken into account. The average annual inflation in 2022 in the Czech Republic was 15.1 %. There were also increases in prices of construction materials and companies had to face moments of scarcity of materials.

There was again an increase in the volume of investment resources spent on roads in 2022 amounting to 2%. Investment expenditure for this type of infrastructure was the highest in the past 11 years.

A major increase of more than 14% year-on-year was also observed in investments into railway infrastructure in 2022. This was a record volume throughout the history of monitoring. Investment costs spent on railway infrastructure were going down from 2009 until 2014, followed by a significant increase that occurred in 2015.

As for other investment expenditure in 2022, a year-on-year reduction of more than 23% was recorded in waterway infrastructure and expenditure related to pipeline transport also decreased.

Total expenditure for repairs and maintenance of transport infrastructure in 2022 saw a year-on-year reduction of more than 12%. 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 and 2021. 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 during the crisis period. The measures aimed at savings did not affect this area too much.

Road infrastructure

In 2022, in total 16 constructions were started in total length of 79.7 km. Construction 0136 Říkovice - Přerov on the D1 Motorway is the last missing segment on the entire D1 motorway route that connects the main industrial areas of the country along the axis Prague – Brno – Ostrava. Completing of the entire D1 route connecting the main industrial areas Prague-Brno-Ostrava is a basic precondition for an efficient connection of Czech economy to European structures and thus for ensuring further development of the Czech Republic as such and of the planned EU infrastructure. The section should be put into operation in 2026. On the D3 motorway, construction 0311 Třebonín – Kaplice – train station started with the aim to replace the existing road I/3. Constructions of bypasses also started in 2022: the bypass of Jaroměř will be part of the transport connection of D11, Česká Skalice, Náchod and CZ/PL border crossing in Náchod – Běloves. By relocating the road outside of Krupá municipality, the transport load in the municipality will be significantly reduced as the current road I/6 passes directly through. Relocating of Road I/6 will improve the safety and smoothness of traffic in the municipality and provide for a functioning transport connection between municipalities of Řevničov, Krušovice and Krupá. Through gradual reduction of traffic lanes, the road will connect to the existing road I/6 in the direction of Karlovy Vary. The planned bypass of Mošnov, will be an addition to transport infrastructure in the area – this road will bypass the municipality on its western side and together with the adjacent construction I/58 Příbor – Skotnice will serve as an entire section on road I/58 that will connect the existing D48 motorway by Příbor with road I/58 on the northern side of Mošnov and with the D1 motorway.

Works on the bypass of Nová Paka on road I/16 also started in 2022. The road is heavily used, mostly for journeys from Prague to the Krkonoše mountains, and also serves as an important connection between factories of Škoda car manufacturer in Mladá Boleslav and Vrchlabí. The new bypass that will lead from Kumburský Újezd up to Vidochov will take away all the transit from the city, which will significantly improve the safety and smoothness of traffic.

In 2022, works continued for example on the D3 motorway – 0310/I, section Úsilné - Hodějovice, and also on the bypass of České Budějovice that will take all the unnecessary traffic away from the existing road I/3 in the section České Budějovice – Krasejovka which is at full capacity at present. On the D7 motorway, works are underway to reconstruct the access and exit lanes on grade-separated junction Kněževes. After completion of works, the extended lanes will be compliant with all the standards in force and safety of operation on the D7 motorway will be improved. Construction “D7 Chlumčany, increase of capacity” is part of a group of projects aimed at increasing the capacity of the existing two-lane road I/7 by transforming it into a four-lane D7 motorway. Bypass of Hořovičky municipality is part of the project to build the D6 motorway to replace the existing road I/6 that is no longer suitable for the increasing traffic load and does not provide conditions for smooth and safe transport.

Railway infrastructure

As at the end of 2022, the total length of railway lines operated in the Czech Republic is 9,355 km (substructure and superstructure), with 6,728 bridges and 169 tunnels, 7,646 railway crossings, 8,036 buildings and structures, and electro-technical, energy-related, signalling and interlocking equipment of the railway network. In addition to operation and maintenance of the infrastructure, repairs and maintenance works are also carried out in buildings of train stations, including cleaning and security services. Funding of the above activities for 2022 was provided from the budget of the State Fund of Transport Infrastructure (SFTI) that provides non-investment resources to Správa železnic, and from revenues coming from renting of land, buildings or structures or from revenues for services and external performance related to this segment. Total costs without write-offs spent on ensuring operability, including the respective share of costs accounted for at the central level, amounted to CZK 17,3 billion in 2022.

The number of carriers that have concluded an Agreement on operation of rail transport on national and regional lines owned by the state with Správa železnic decreased to 120 in 2022. Performance in passenger transport increased on the network of Správa železnic. The number of train-km increased by 3.5 % to 139.6 million and gross tonne-km by 8.5 % to 27.6 billion. In freight transport in 2022, transport performance expressed in train-km went down by 0.7% to 37.3 million while the performance in gross tonne-km increased by 2% to 35.2 billion on the Správa železnic network.

Funding of investment construction projects was provided mostly from public sources. National resources from the SFTI budget (16.8 billion) represented the biggest source of funding for infrastructure constructions, followed by the European RRF source – almost CZK 9.9 billion were successfully drawn from this fund. A significant share of funding for building and upgrading of railway infrastructure came from subsidies from the CEF infrastructural funds (CZK 5.3 billion) and OP Transport 2 (CZK 2.4 billion).

The drawing of the EIB loan continued also and amounted to CZK 2.8 billion. Also, resources from the new EU programming period 2021-2023 – OP Transport 3 and CEF2 (CZK 5.4 billion) were used to finance investment projects already in the first year of existence of these programmes. The total volume of received investment subsidies for investment projects on the railway network in 2022 amounted to CZK 42.5 billion which represents an increase in the drawing of investment resources of CZK 5.4 billion year-on-year.

Works on upgrading of Corridor IV continued in 2022. Important achievements include the start of operation on relocated lines in sections Soběslav-Doubí and Sudoměřice-Votice. On Corridor I, core works were completed and operation started on section Velim – Poříčany. Works are in course on projects Ústí nad Orlicí – Brandýs nad Orlicí and in the Pardubice junction. Preparatory works continued in 2022 for reconstructions of large station building with a conservation status: České Budějovice, Plzeň main station, Pardubice or Beroun. Works on preparation of high-speed rail also continue and Správa železnic plans to carry out design works for 8 sections of the future network in 2022. Design documentation shall be prepared for some 300 km of new railway lines. Expert teams shall also focus on related processes and procedures related to preparing for high-speed rail and preparation of first tenders. A part of Corridor III Prague – Plzeň, section Smíchov – Radotín, was also upgraded. Preparatory works started for upgrading of another section of the Prague – Kladno line, with a branch to the airport, or for optimisation of the line Mstětice – Čelákovice. As for signalling and interlocking, the highest level of protection by ETCS was implemented on the line connecting Olomouc, Uničov and Šumperk. As of 1 January 2023, this line will be the first one in the Czech Republic with exclusive operation controlled by ETCS only. This regional line is heavily used and was subject to a full upgrading and electrification.

Inland waterway transport infrastructure

Financial resources of the SFTI in the amount of approx. CZK 571.05 million (of which investment expenditure approx. CZK 498.71 million and non-investment expenditure approx. CZK 72.34 million) were spent on developing waterway transport infrastructure, upgrading and maintenance of waterways important for transport by Ministry of Transport via the Waterways Directorate of the Czech Republic. Co-financing from the Connecting Europe Facility (hereinafter the CEF) amounted to approx. CZK 5.52 million for the RIS COMEX project. Through this project, 13 European countries are successfully implementing a single transport portal containing all necessary information for navigating on inland waterway defined as the River Information Services.

Drawing of the above specified financial resources from the SFTI in 2022 was primarily related to implementation of investment projects aimed at complex improving of parameters of the Vltava waterway between Mělník and Radotín port (point of connection of the Berounka River). These are projects “Increasing the clearance on the Vltava Waterway” in the amount of approx. CZK 105.18 million, and “Increasing navigation depth on the Vltava Waterway” in the amount of approx. CZK 1.78 million underway and also approx. CZK 28.46 million of non-investment resources for channel dredging after passage of flood waters. In December 2022, these projects completed the works on partial increase of the clearance on navigation channel Troja-Podbaba to 7.0 metres (2 out of 3 bridges completed) and increasing the navigation depth on Vltava Waterway – the river segment to a depth of 2.5m. Implementation of works successfully continued in projects aimed at development of leisure navigation. In particular “Mooring site for passenger waterway transport in the area of Lower Elbe” in the amount of approx. CZK 29.95 million, “Leisure navigation port Kolín” in the amount of approx. CZK 15.27 million, “Port site Poděbrady” in the amount of approx. CZK 24.05 million and also “Service Centre Roudnice na Labem” in the amount of approx. CZK 13.14 million. The project of “Leisure navigation port Veselí nad Moravou” on the Bata Channel. For CZK 3.73 million was completed. For the Investment Actions with Budget under CZK 30 million global budgetary item, the drawing in 2022 in the form of smaller projects amounted to approx. CZK 196.36 million. The biggest share spent on ports for small vessels or landing stages for boat transport of passengers, such as “Port Děčín - Smetanovo nábřeží” in the amount of approx. CZK 7.62 million, “Port Čelákovice” in the amount of approx. CZK 23.09 million, “Port Davle” in the amount of approx. CZK 10.13 million, “Port Roudnice nad Labem” in the amount of approx. CZK 27.73 million CZK, “Port Štětí” in the amount of approx. CZK 24.92 million or “Port Brná” in the amount of approx. CZK 20.43 million. Other projects include “Renovation and upgrading of mooring sites in port Peutehafen” in the amount of approx. CZK 35.86 million, “Upgrading of protective mooring sites for service vessels Prague and Nymburk” in the amount of approx. CZK 23.01 million, or “Inspection vessel of the Waterways Directorate of the Czech Republic (innovative technology, alternative drive) in the amount of approx. CZK 16.28 million.

Significant volumes of financial resources – approx. CZK 48.84 million – were spent on intensive preparation of other investment actions aimed at complex development of the entire networks of waterways important for transport. Main obstacles in the on-going preparation of Navigation lock Děčín are related to setting of compensation measures identified in the context of SEA assessment of the Waterway Transport Concept and the need to modify the land use plan for investment action Lock Přelouč II. In addition, other projects were under preparation, for example the EIA assessment was completed for mooring sites on the Vltava Waterway in Kamýk nad Vltavou and Týn nad Vltavou, Navigation circle Veselí nad Moravou – Vnorovy. The building permit was issued for the project Service centre Roudnice nad Labem, and a joint permit was issued for the waiting area for small vessels in Vrané and expanding the port in Strážnice.

Air transport infrastructure

The highest investments into development and upgrading of airport infrastructure were aimed at the biggest airport in the Czech Republic, the Václav Havel Airport in Prague, similarly as in previous years. Total investment expenditure spent at this airport in 2022 amounted to almost CZK 1.17 billion. The most significant projects were Reconstruction of Terminal 3, reconstruction of the intersection of taxiways (TWY AxBxDxG), replacement of back-up electricity sources for the main take-off and landing runway (RWY 06/24), upgrading the protection of the airport perimeter and the long-term planned maintenance and repairs of RWY 06/24 and adjacent areas.

Other important investments in 2022 include for example the acquisition of a ground power unit for aircrafts (GPU) at the Karlovy Vary airport and preparations for building of a cargo terminal and extensive reconstruction of the take-off and landing runway (RWY 04/22) and dispatching zones at the Ostrava Mošnov airport.

Combined transport

Specialised infrastructure for combined transport means in particular transloading sites for combined transport. In the Czech Republic, these are fully owned by private entities, such as combined transport operators, carriers or operators of the transloading sites. The state supports development of dedicated infrastructure in particular via programmes under the Operational Programme Transport. The programme aimed at supporting combined transport transloading sites focused on building of completely new sites in areas where these would not be competing with already existing sites or where they will suitably complement the existing infrastructure, or on increasing capacity and development of already existing transloading sites. Support for individual projects is capped at 49% of project eligible costs, with at least 51% of the resources covered by the private beneficiary from their sources. During the last programming period, 13 project applications were approved; the total approved support of CZK 823.6 million was aimed at building or upgrading of 7 combined transloading sites and their equipment with new freight manipulation technology. This includes three new transloading sites that were put into operation in northern, central and eastern Bohemia; the remaining projects were aimed at increasing the transloading capacity of existing sites, mostly in northern Moravia, central Bohemia and northern Bohemia. In 2022, 4 of the projects approved for co-financing were still being implemented – one new site will be created and the remaining 3 projects are aimed at improving the quality, environmental friendliness and increasing capacity of existing sites. The new sites should start operation in mid-2023. Three project applications were withdrawn by the beneficiary due to delays in implementation schedules caused by the epidemiologic situation and subsequently the economic situation because of the war in Ukraine. The Programme aimed at building and upgrading of combined transport transloading sites will also continue as part of Operation Programme Transport No 3.

ROAD TRANSPORT FLEET

Based on information from the Central Vehicle Register, the number of motor vehicles registered in the Czech Republic in 2022 increased by 3.5%. The total number of registered vehicles including trailers of all types and categories increased by approx. the same percentage and now exceeds 8.9 million.

The number of registered passenger cars again shows a year-on-year increase in 2022 and amounts to more than 6.3 million cars. As at 31 December 2022, this number was 6,305,934, i.e. more than 73% of the total number of motor vehicles registered in the Central Vehicle Register, similarly as in previous years. As for the age of passenger vehicles, more than 62% are older than 10 years and more than 78% are older than 5 years. Only approx. 11% 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 of 0.5%. The year-on-year growth rate decreased 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 approx. 10.4%.

In 2022, a minor increase of approx. 3% was observed in the number of registered mini buses and buses in comparison with 2021; the number of trailers saw a slight increase year-on-year of less than 1%. 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 12 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%. The year-on-year decrease for 2021 was similar at 7%, with another year-on-year decrease in 2022 of 3%.

TRANSPORT

In 2022, there were no more restriction in place for mobility of persons or goods and the total transport performance in passenger transport increased by approx. 14% when compared with 2021, the transported volume in freight transport decreased by less than 6%. Overall, it was still a decrease compared to values from the period 2018-2019. In railway transport, the year-on-year increase for 2022 was almost 29% in the number of transported persons and approx. 40% in passenger-km; again, the values are getting close to the pre-pandemics results. In bus transport, there was a significant increase of approx. 33% in the number of transported persons and of approx. 72% in transport performance expressed in passenger-km in 2022. Urban public transport saw a major increase of 25% year-on-year. It is interesting to note that at present (2023), there is a lack of bus drivers both in public urban and long-distance transport, some cities are therefore reducing the scope of public transport which can also impact the statistic results.

Air transport in 2022 saw a sharp increase in the numbers of transported persons and volumes of cargo. After a historically unseen drop in previous years, Czech air transport carriers saw a year-on-year increase of 110% in the number of transported persons expressed in passenger-km. As for the performance of airports, even though a significant increase of 142% was observed in 2022 compared to 2021, the performance parameters in all categories in general (except for air cargo transport) remained below the 2018-2019 values.

In individual car transport, there was also an increase again in 2022 when compared with 2021 due to cancelling of restrictions in the area of mobility of inhabitants.

As regards inland waterway transport, where particularly passenger transport of recreational character was involved, the number of persons carried in 2022 went significantly down.

Railway freight transport in 2022 saw a year-on-year decrease in transportation of goods (thousands of tonnes) by more than 6%, transport performance values expressed in tonne-km increased slightly by approx. 3%. The 2021 results were the highest from the past period.

In 2022, there was an increase in transport performance in road freight transport by almost 3% while the volume of transported goods in tonnes decreased by approx. 6% year-on-year. The increase was caused in particular by the upwards trend in international freight transport and thus increasing transport distance. However, it must be noted that the volume of goods transported by road freight in 2021, historically the highest in 20 years, has started to decease again.

Year-on-year reductions after 2015 were caused by new EU regulations on foreign truck drivers in relation to the salaries and other rules related to break and rest time. Czech carriers thus had to pay minimal wages of the countries where the freight was being transported to Czech drivers, thus losing the competitive advantage of lower labour costs. Because of rising prices of energy sources and fuels in 2022 that were caused mainly by a high inflation rate, disruptions of supply chains (lack of electronic chips, factories closed due to Covid 19) and reduced transport capacity of maritime transport, Czech carriers as well as other companies had to fight for their spot on the market. Competing with foreign transport providers pushed the prices for road cargo transport down; the problem with lack of drivers continued.

The volume of goods carried by air cargo in 2022 by Czech carriers dropped to practically zero. Air cargo is currently operated mostly by foreign carriers. The performance of Czech airports saw a major decline of 80% year-on-year. The values are above the ones for 2015, but when compared with the period 2018-2021, year 2022 clearly shows the lowest value.

In inland waterway transport in 2022, the volume of tonnes transported decreased year-on-year by approx. 4% and transport performance slightly grew by approx. 3%. Waterway freight transport performance is substantially affected by waterway navigability and availability of vessels.

Russian invasion of Ukraine started in February 2022, with a very negative impact of this conflict on freight and passenger transport in Europe. At the beginning of the conflict, all transport by ships from Ukrainian ports was stopped, the Odesa Port paused its activities and the EU recommended to avoid navigation in Black Sea waters. Before that, Russia ordered to stop the navigation of commercial ships in the Azov Sea. In addition to restrictions of maritime transport, also air cargo went significantly down. A reduction of freight transport capacities occurred in import. Regular export trading to Ukraine was also put on hold, border patrols were returning drivers of freight cars from the borders, and it therefore became very problematic to deliver individual consignments to clients. In general, there were significant changes of transport flows of agricultural products, materials used for energy production or in the mining industry. For specific justified exceptional cases, it was possible to obtain the right of priority access to the network for the respective trains to avoid delays of deliveries for energy producers. For agricultural products, a major part of export from Ukraine which was done by maritime transport until then had to be replaced by either road or rail transport on land to the closest suitable maritime ports. These transport routes have partially crossed the Czech territory. When it comes to materials for energy production, the aim was to replace Russian gas which meant importing of gas also from other sites and a short-term increase in energy generation from coal sources. The higher demand for coal stopped in 2023.

ACCIDENTS

In 2022, the Police of the Czech Republic investigated altogether 98,460 road traffic accidents, which represents a year-on-year decrease of 4.8%. The total number of persons killed in these accidents in 2022 was 528, the number of severely injured was 1,734 persons and lightly injured persons 22,452. The number of persons killed in accidents during 2022 is the lowest since 1961 (first year of available statistical data related to accidents owned by transport police).

In 2022, the lowest number of persons historically were killed in accidents, but the number of persons injured increased. Total material damages exceeded 7.5 billion CZK. In 2021, 470 persons were killed on roads – 67% on roads outside of municipalities, 33% on roads within municipalities. Persons travelling in cars (drivers and passengers) represent 54% of the persons killed, pedestrians 19%, motorcycle drivers 17% and bicycle drivers 9%. In 2022, the situation was similar – in total 454 persons killed, with two thirds on roads outside of municipalities. As in the previous years, the highest number of traffic accidents was again recorded in Prague. The biggest number of fatal accidents was recorded in Central Bohemia. The lowest number of accidents was reported in the region of Karlovy Vary. Traditionally, the highest number of accidents occur in municipalities The highest number of accidents occur during the summer months – July and August.