The main purpose of this publication is to describe the situation in the transport sector in Europe in 1995 and to illustrate, primarily by means of charts, the changes that have taken place since 1970. The assessment of recent trends in Europe has been based on data provided by 30 ECMT Member countries. Traffic volumes are calculated in terms of passenger- and tonne-kilometres. To ensure that the overall trends are representative of as many countries as possible, the indices used in several charts include estimates for certain countries which did not have figures available for 1995. This booklet has been divided into two parts. The first part describes the situation in the transport sector of countries which have had a market economy system for many years and which are long-standing members of the ECMT. These are the fifteen Member States of the EU, together with Norway, Switzerland and Turkey. To simplify matters, these countries will be referred to hereinafter as "Western European countries". The second part of the booklet describes recent trends in the transport sector in the twelve Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) which have joined the ECMT since 1991. In view of the distinctive characteristics of the transport sector in the CEECs, and the radial changes currently under way there, it seemed preferable not to include data for these countries in the aggregate indicators for the ECMT area as a whole and to use aggregate data relating specifically to the economies in transition (ECMT/CEEC). Data for the former Czechoslovakia (CS) have been taken into account up to 1992 to ensure a degree of continuity in the series over a lengthy period of time; from 1993 onwards the data provided by the Czech and Slovak Republics have been used. Furthermore, German reunification led to a break in the series as a results of the Incorporation, from 1991 onwards, of data relating to the new Laender, which resulted in a corresponding increase in the results for the ECMT as a whole. (Author/publisher)
Abstract