Austria tops the rankings in cycling for the first time
Austrians travel by train on average 45 percent more than other Europeans.
Austria is the number one rail country in the EU for passenger transport for the first time. This is according to the third monitoring report by the Independent Rail Regulators Group (IRG-Rail), which was presented by Austrian Schienen-Control Thursday. According to the report, in 2013, every Austrian traveled an average of 1,425 kilometers by rail—94 kilometers more than in the previous year. Austria thus took the lead in the ranking for the first time, ahead of France. Compared to the European average of 978 kilometers per passenger per year, Austrians traveled 45 percent more by rail.
"The significant year-on-year increase can certainly be attributed in large part to the new line between Vienna and St. Pölten. Long-distance travelers on the Westbahn line have since benefited from significantly shorter travel times. This makes rail significantly more competitive with road transport," explains Maria-Theresia Röhsler, Managing Director of Schienen-Control , commenting on the development.
Rail freight transport remained largely stable in the countries surveyed between 2012 and 2013. In Austria, freight transport volume rose by five percent in the second half of 2013 compared with the same period of the previous year. Relative to its size, Austria remains one of the countries with the highest share of rail freight transport. Even in absolute terms, with over 21 billion net ton-kilometers, more freight was transported by rail in Austria than in most other European countries. Only Germany, Poland, and France recently recorded higher absolute rail transport performance.
The number of private rail transport companies has been growing steadily in most European countries since 2011. In Austria, the number of rail transport companies has risen from 27 to 33 in the last three years. This puts Austria among the European leaders in terms of the size of the country. In addition to Austria, the number of private rail companies has also increased in Belgium, France, and Hungary. In Austrian passenger transport, the market share of private competitors has increased significantly, from nine to twelve percent. This is mainly due to WESTbahn, which in 2013 provided around 25 percent of long-distance transport services between Vienna and Salzburg with its increased timetable.
In European freight transport, the average market share of private competitors increased by 3.5 percentage points to 32 percent in 2013. In Austria, too, the market shares of private competitors in the freight sector have risen, but at 19.3 percent they are well below the average. "In Austria, single wagon transport continues to play a major role. As a result, there is less competition than in other European countries due to the nature of the system. Nevertheless, the market share of private freight transport companies in Austria has risen by around a third overall since 2011. As this ultimately means a better offering for customers, this increase is very welcome from a competition perspective," says Maria-Theresia Röhsler.
The full market report (Annual Market Monitoring Report, available in English only) can be found at: http://www.irg-rail.eu/public-documents/2015/