The Independent Regulators' Group - Rail (IRG-Rail), comprising rail regulatory bodies from 25 European countries, has published its third annual Market Monitoring Report. IRG-Rail acts as a platform for national railway regulators in order to exchange information and to share best practices, so that regulatory challenges can be dealt with in a consistent manner across Europe.
The Market Monitoring Report provides an overview of national rail statistics over the year 2013 of the countries monitored. The Market Monitoring Report is a unique document that represents the development of the European railway market and serves as a detailed source of information for stakeholders. The report enhances the understanding of the European rail market. With the participation of Spain, Bulgaria and Kosovo, the report is based on the data of 20 countries.
Henk Don, 2015 Chair of IRG-Rail, explains: “By combining their national market monitoring activities and a common approach to data collection, the members of IRG-Rail are able to contribute to a better understanding of the rail market in Europe. Rail market monitoring is an essential instrument for gathering market information, guiding the activities of the regulatory bodies and stimulating market participants to improve their activities."
The third annual Market Monitoring Report highlights are:
- While the total amount of both freight train and passenger kilometres decreased by 0,5 percent, average revenues increased both for freight (+0,3 %) and passenger (+0,5%). Sweden showed a strong growth (+7,2%) in passenger train kilometres.
- Overall freight transport performance in tonne kilometres is 1,8% higher than the value in the base year (2010) and only saw a marginal increase compared with 2013. In Slovenia the growth in freight tonne kilometres exceeded 10%. The only country to see growth in all years since base year 2010 is the United Kingdom.
- Compared with the base year 2010, revenues from track access charges per freight train kilometre fell by 2,2% whilst charges per passenger train kilometre increased by 8,2%. Still, most countries had higher revenues from track access charges from freight than from passenger trains;
- In most countries, the market share of the incumbent passenger operator declined. The strongest growth of non-incumbent operators was in Austria and Poland.
Note to editors:
- The IRG-Rail is a network currently comprising independent rail Regulatory Bodies from twenty-five European countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
- For more information about the IRG-Rail, visit: www.irg-rail.eu