WIESBADEN – As reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), in 2009 all German railway companies together transported 312.1 million tons of goods (–15.9% compared with 2008). In the history of railway statistics this decrease marks the highest drop on a year-to-year-comparison; the figure went down below the level of 2005 (317.3 million).
The breakdown in terms of the main transport links showed that as well goods carried abroad as goods coming from abroad decreased by 23.1%, transit traffic was concerned even by a greater plunge and dropped by 23.8%. These transport-links including services on foreign railway networks amounted to 101.4 million tons which represented a third of the whole market. National traffic (210.7 million tons) dropping by 11.9% covered the remaining share of two thirds (67.5%) of the total volume.
The transport performance in terms of tonne-kilometres went down by 17.1% to 95.8 billion nearly reaching nearly the level of 2005 (95,4 billion). The average transport-distance amounted to 307 kilometres (–1.4%).
Containerservices broken down in terms of TEU (Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit) presented a value of 5.1 million TEU. With –15.7% compared with the preceding year they nearly dropped to the level of 2006 (4.8 million TEU).
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