1. Working Group on Rail Transport Statistics
Quality improvements in rail freight and passengers data Agenda point 6.1
Working Group on Rail Transport Statistics
15-16 June 2017

2. Working Group on Rail Transport Statistics
New Annual quality report
Overview of the data quality
Structure of the report
Quality at reception of the data
Main issues during integration
Summary of the data quality reports
Summary of the mirror checks
Draft on 2015 data available in Annex I
Working Group on Rail Transport Statistics
15-16 June 2017

3. Mirror checks at country-to-country level
Data sources and data coverage
Regulation 91/2003
Goods: Table A3
Passengers: Table C4 (final consolidated data)
Report on 2015 data available in Annex II
For relations between reporting countries for which data are available from both countries
Working Group on Rail Transport Statistics
15-16 June 2017

4. Mirror checks at country-to-country level
« Mirror statistics » concept:
For the transport of goods loaded in country A and unloaded in country B, the declarations of both countries should be comparable:
Summary matrixes of absolute differences observed for flows between country pairs for freight and passenger transport
Working Group on Rail Transport Statistics
15-16 June 2017

5. Mirror checks at country-to-country level
Evaluation of the results for goods transport
In relative terms, only a slight difference between 2014 and 2015
In 2014, the sum of the differences was about 28% of the total volume
In 2015, the sum of the differences was about 29% of the total volume, based on countries available
Countries with highest volumes also show biggest overall differences
Some important differences between mirror figures may require further investigations/explanations
Working Group on Rail Transport Statistics
15-16 June 2017

6. Mirror checks at country-to-country level
Evaluation of the results for passengers transport
Slight improvement between 2014 and 2015
for 2014, cases where the difference is above 10% represented 69% of the O/D relations
for 2015, cases where the difference is above 10% represented 67% of the O/D relations (based on data available)
NB: the number of countries/routes covered is different (Denmark not taken into account in 2015)
Some important differences between mirror figures may require further investigations/explanations
Working Group on Rail Transport Statistics
15-16 June 2017

7. Mirror checks at country-to-country level Conclusions and way forward
Eurostat will produce mirror checks every year
Differences in undertakings coverage across countries could partly explain deviations observed in mirror analysis (enterprises under simplified reporting not being covered in mirror analysis)
For particular country-to-country routes, deviations remain significant, countries welcome for explanations of possible sources of discrepancies
Countries encouraged to discuss bilaterally
If problems linked to the interpretation of the definitions and/or methodology, Eurostat will provide support to solve these issues
Working Group on Rail Transport Statistics
15-16 June 2017

8. Mirror checks at regional level
Mirror checks at NUTS region to NUTS region level cover:
Goods transport by region of loading and unloading (Tables F1 and F2)
Passenger transport by region of embarkation and disembarkation (Tables F3 and F4)
Results on 2015 data to be prepared once data received for all countries
Working Group on Rail Transport Statistics
15-16 June 2017

9. Thanks for your attention !
Comments and proposals of enhancement of the validation procedures are welcome!
Working Group on Rail Transport Statistics
15-16 June 2017