The Statistics Platform meeting took place on Wednesday, 6 December 2023, at the UIC Headquarters in Paris. Chair Roman Štěrba (the Czech State Rail Infrastructure Manager - SŽCZ) began the meeting with a welcome speech, then proceeded to outline the Statistics Platform’s organisation and finally welcomed the new working group participants, namely representatives from the Railways of the Slovak Republic (ZSR) and the Moroccan National Railway Office (ONCF).
Subsequently, UIC provided an overview of the Statistics Platform’s activities for the year. The member response rate for the three sets of data collection launched in 2023 was similar to previous years, however certain companies strengthened confidentiality measures.
Updates to statistical variables included modifications to specific questionnaires, notably to Pilot Table 14, involving new passenger station and stop categorisation, and to Table 81 on tractive energy consumption, now encompassing infrastructure management. The presentation also covered documents and reports generated during the year, highlighting indicators based on collected data, and the ongoing developments of the RAILISA web application for data dissemination.
Štěrba then presented key data on SŽCZ, emphasising how much investment has increased since 2018. The executive priorities for 2022-2025 were outlined, focusing on the European Green Deal, line electrification, unification of the traction power supply systems, modernisation of conventional lines up to 200km/h, implementation of the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS)/European Train Control System (ETCS), and preparation for the construction of new high-speed lines within TEN-T.
Following this presentation, Mario Tartaglia (Italian State Railways - FSI), leader of WG4, gave a talk on “Using webservices for data intelligence”. The strategic use of data by FSI aims to enhance competitiveness, operational efficiency, and decision-making. The RAILISA webservice’s Rest API, demonstrated with UIC data, enables users to query, obtain data, and seamlessly integrate these features into applications.
One of the objectives for the Statistical Platform in 2024 is to adapt data collection for the energy consumption questionnaire, considering alternative fuels. WG2 has been tasked with proposing new variables, guided by UIC expert advice. Philippe Stefanos, UIC Coordinator of the Energy Efficiency and CO2 Emissions Sector, was invited to give a presentation on the Traction Energy and Emissions Database, with a work on this subject meeting being planned for the beginning of the year.
Iryna Polzikova, UIC Coordinator of the Safety Performance Group, introduced the UIC Safety Database. This international register contains detailed information on accidents, focusing on harmonised definitions and parameters. Results are published in confidential and public reports, with contributions from 34 infrastructure managers.
Representatives from UIC partner organisations were then invited to present recent activities in different statistics fields. Francesco Rotoli (European Union Agency for Railways - ERA) gave a presentation on safety statistics and reports. Then, Giacomo Potenza introduced the ERA ESG Taskforce on Standard Inputs for Economic Analyses, with the importance of standard inputs for economic studies, particularly for cost-benefit analysis, being emphasised.
Nikolaos Roubanis (EUROSTAT) presented rail statistics based on EU Regulation 2018/643, covering rail freight and passenger transport for 25 EU Member States, EFTA, and 5 candidate countries. Cooperation with UIC on Common Questionnaire data was acknowledged.
Next, Rachele Poggi (OECD/International Transport Forum - ITF) discussed ITF member countries and core transport data collection. ITF statistics publications offer insights into global transport and mobility trends, using data and statistical analysis.
Finally, Fadiah Achmadi (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe - UNECE) provided information on transport statistics at UNECE, with a focus on rail transport data. An SDG microsite is in preparation, addressing various Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to the transport sector.
In summary, the Statistics Platform Plenary Meeting approved the 2024 activities programme, surveys and reports, Steering Committee meetings, and key projects. The day concluded with a workshop on how to use UIC online applications for data collection, visualisation, and dissemination.
All presentations can be found on the extranet in the statistics workspace:
https://extranet.uic.org/en/files?grp=670
Data resources:
https://uic-stats.uic.org/select/
https://www.era.europa.eu/content/era-railway-factsheets
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/data/database
https://stats.oecd.org/
https://unece.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=a3b54fd4f3b2454d82240182fbefd090
