Transport by railway

The purpose of the statistical process is to provide information on passenger and freight transport by rail.

Rail transport statistics are used in the development of European Union and Estonian transport policy and in the calculation of gross domestic product. The Ministry of Climate uses the information in its analyses and in EU Structural Funds reporting. Information on freight turnover is used as an indicator for one of the objectives of the Transport and Mobility Development Plan. Rail freight transport is also analysed within Estonia's performance-based state budgeting framework, while rail transport data are used as input for the development of the Estonian mobility model.

Census survey

Annual data: passenger and freight transport by rail; rail freight loaded in Estonia by country; transport of dangerous goods by rail; transport of containers by rail; rail freight transport by groups of goods; and rail traffic on sections of the trans-European rail network (the latter every five years from 2025).

Quarterly data: passenger and freight transport by rail.

Classification of countries and territories;
Classification of categories of dangerous goods (ADR);
Standard goods classification for transport statistics (NST 2007) – used since the 2009 reference period;
Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS)

Rail transport enterprises

Dangerous goods – the classes of dangerous goods carried by rail are those defined by the UN Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods. The classification of goods as dangerous is defined in the regulations concerning the international carriage of dangerous goods by rail, also known as RID. Dangerous goods are substances and solids that can harm people, property or the environment due to their explosive, flammable, radioactive, toxic, corrosive or other properties.
National transport – transport of passengers or goods within Estonia
Enterprise – an enterprise consists of one or more companies (public limited company, private limited company, limited partnership, general partnership, commercial association) or branches of foreign companies or sole proprietors. Rail transport statistics do not cover branches of foreign companies and sole proprietors.
Freight turnover – volume of freight transport in tonne-kilometres. One tonne-kilometre is the transport of one tonne of goods across a distance of one kilometre.
Goods in transit by rail throughout – goods carried by rail through the reporting country between two places (place of loading/unloading) outside the reporting country. Wagons entering and/or leaving the reporting network by ferry are included.
Group of goods – goods have been classified by the standard goods classification for transport statistics (NST)
International railway transport – railway transport between a place (of loading/embarkation or of unloading/disembarkation) in one country and a place (of loading/embarkation or of unloading/disembarkation) in another country. It may involve transit through one or more additional countries. To avoid double counting, each country only counts the passenger-kilometres (pkm) or tonne-kilometres (tkm) completed on its territory. Each country calculates the total number of passengers and the total weight of goods carried. Information on international goods and passenger transport is provided at the regional level (NUTS 2).
International transport – transport of passengers or goods by crossing Estonian borders. The origin and/or destination point is outside Estonian borders.
Passenger traffic volume – volume of passenger transport in passenger-kilometres. One passenger-kilometre is the transport of one person across a distance of one kilometre.
Public railway – the railway infrastructure of a railway enterprise, the use of which, with regard to basic and extra services and fees, time, and other conditions of use, is ensured without discrimition to all railway enterprises for the provision of rail transport services on the basis of and pursuant to the procedure provided for in the Railways Act
TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit) – a standard unit for counting containers of various capacities and for describing the capacities of container ships or terminals. One 20-foot ISO container equals 1 TEU. One 40-foot ISO container equals 2 TEUs.
Trans-European rail network – comprises the trans-European high-speed rail network and the trans-European conventional rail network as well as other infrastructure built or rebuilt for conventional rail traffic or high-speed rail traffic and the rolling stock designed for this rail infrastructure. The rail network is part of the trans-European transport networks (TEN-T). Railways: Tallinn – Tapa – Tartu; Tallinn – Tapa – Narva; Tartu – Valga; Tartu – Petseri (Koidula); Valga – Petseri (Koidula); Tallinn – Paldiski; Tallinn rail bypass.
Volume of transport – to estimate the volume of passenger transport, the following indicators are used: the total number of passengers carried and passenger traffic volume. To measure the transport of goods, the following indicators are used: the amount of goods in tonnes and freight turnover in tonne-kilometres.

Enterprise

Rail transport enterprises

Estonia as a whole

Passenger and freight traffic on railways (quarterly) 1991–...
Passenger and freight traffic on railways (annual) 1991–...
Freight traffic on railways by group of goods 2009–...
Freight loaded on Estonian public railways by country 2001–…
Freight traffic of dangerous goods on railways 2002–…
Transport of containers by rail transport 2003–…
Rail transport by trans-European network segment 2005–…

Passenger traffic on railways (monthly) 1991–2025
Freight traffic on railways (monthly) 1991–2025
Freight traffic on railways by group of goods (quarterly) 2009–2024
Passenger transport and passenger traffic volume of transport enterprises by type of transport 2001–2025
Transport of goods and freight turnover of transport enterprises by type of transport 2001–2025

Quarterly data are published for the previous quarter, and annual data for the previous year.

Passenger transport – thousand passengers;
passenger traffic volume – thousand passenger-kilometres;
freight – thousand tonnes;
freight turnover – thousand tonne-kilometres;
container transport – number, TEU

Year;
quarter

Regulation (EU) 2018/643 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 April 2018 on rail transport statistics;

Commission Regulation (EC) No 332/2007 of 27 March 2007 on the technical arrangements for the transmission of railway transport statistics

Under the Official Statistics Act, confidential data are data that make it possible to identify a statistical unit directly or indirectly and thereby disclose individual data. The Act sets out strict rules to prevent the accidental disclosure of data. Data that make it possible to identify a statistical unit may be transmitted only to another producer of official statistics (in Estonia, the Bank of Estonia), to the national statistical institutes of EU Member States, and to Eurostat. All of these bodies are subject to the corresponding obligation to maintain confidentiality.

On European level, Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

Statistics Estonia ensures the protection of data collected for the production of official statistics in accordance with the Official Statistics Act and the Personal Data Protection Act. Statistics Estonia publishes data in its database in aggregated form and ensures that data relating to an individual or enterprise cannot be identified from the published data. Secondary confidentiality is also taken into account to protect confidential data: it must not be possible to derive confidential data from the published aggregates.

Notifications about the dissemination of statistics are published in the release calendar, which is available on Statistics Estonia's website. Every year on 1 October, the release times of the statistical database, news releases, main indicators by IMF SDDS and publications for the following year are announced in the release calendar (in the case of publications – the release month).

The release calendar is available to consumers on the website Calendar.

All users have been granted equal access to official statistics: dissemination dates of official statistics are announced in advance and no user category (incl. Eurostat, state authorities and mass media) is provided access to official statistics before other users. Official statistics are first published in the statistical database. If there is also a news release, it is published simultaneously with data in the statistical database. Official statistics are published on the website at 8:00 a.m. on the date announced in the release calendar.

Annual;
quarterly

Not published

Not published

Data are published in the statistical database in the following tables under the subject area Economy/Transport / Rail transport :
TS1411: Freight loaded on Estonian public railways by country
TS1413: Freight traffic of dangerous goods on railways;
TS1414: Transport of containers by rail transport;
TS1420: Passenger and freight traffic on railways;
TS1423: Passenger and freight traffic on railways (quarterly);
TS182: Freight traffic on railways by group of goods;
TS38: Rail transport by trans-European network segment.

The following discontinued data tables are available under the subject area Discontinued datasets / Economy. Archive / Transport. Archive:
TS14: Transport of goods by railway by group of goods (1980–2009);
TS1421: Passenger and freight traffic on railways (monthly);
TS183: Freight traffic on railways by group of goods (quarterly), data published 2009–2024;
TS184: Transport of goods by railway by group of goods (2002–2008, quarters).

The database tables related to the statistical process were viewed 333 times in 2025.
The count excludes views of discontinued data tables and table TS1423. Each table view is counted separately. The count is based on database URLs indicating that the data have been selected and a table view has been generated.

Under the Official Statistics Act, researchers and policymakers may apply for access to pseudonymised data in Statistics Estonia’s secure research environment. A procedure for dissemination of confidential data for scientific purposes has been established. Under this procedure, the purpose of data use must be justified and, depending on the type of data, approval from the Data Protection Inspectorate or the relevant ethics committee is required when applying for access to the data.

Transport statistics are also available on the Statistics Estonia website in the transport section.

The data serve as input for statistical processes 21408 "Supply and use tables" and 21405 "National accounts (quarterly)".

The data are transmitted to the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat), the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), and the International Transport Forum of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD-ITF).

The following types of data are transmitted to Eurostat based on the breakdowns in Regulation (EU) 2018/643 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 April 2018 on rail transport statistics:
a) annual statistics on goods transport — detailed reporting (Annex I);
b) annual statistics on passenger transport — detailed reporting (Annex II);
c) quarterly statistics on goods and passenger transport (Annex III);
d) regional statistics on goods and passenger transport (Annex IV);
e) statistics on traffic flows on the rail network (Annex V).

For the purposes of this Regulation, goods shall be classified in accordance with Annex VI. Dangerous goods shall additionally be classified in accordance with Annex VII.

The metadata for Transport by railway were viewed 49 times (24.06.2025–31.12.2025).
This figure does not represent the number of viewers, as the metadata may have been viewed multiple times by a single user.

Glossary for transport statistics (2026) (prepared by the Intersecretariat Working Group on Transport Statistics – Eurostat, the ITF and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe);

Reference Manual on Rail transport statistics.

Statistics Estonia has an established quality management system that integrates the various quality systems implemented within the organisation. To ensure the quality of statistical production processes and services/products, Statistics Estonia applies the European Statistics Code of Practice, the related Quality Assurance Framework of the European Statistical System (ESS QAF), the requirements of § 7 “Principles and quality criteria of producing official statistics” of the Official Statistics Act, as well as other standards and best practices, where feasible.
Compliance with these principles is laid down in the organisation's Quality Policy and internal documents.
Coordination of the quality management system is the responsibility of the organisation's quality manager; however, responsibility for ensuring and improving the quality of a process, service, or product lies with the department responsible for that service or product. General responsibilities are laid down in the statutes of structural units; responsibility for specific activities and related matters is set out in internal documentation.

Statistics Estonia conducts all statistical processes in accordance with the international model, the Generic Statistical Business Process Model (GSBPM). Under the GSBPM, the final phase of a statistical process is overall evaluation using information gathered in each phase or sub-process. This information can take many forms, such as user feedback, process metadata, production metrics, and suggestions from staff. This information is used to prepare the evaluation report, which identifies all quality issues associated with the specific iteration of the statistical process and serves as input for improvement actions. The department responsible for carrying out the statistical process is also responsible for conducting the evaluation.

At the national level, the primary users of the data are the Ministry of Climate and the Estonian Transport Administration.

At the international level, the main users of transport sector statistics are the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), the International Transport Forum (ITF), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat).

Since 1996, Statistics Estonia has conducted reputation and user satisfaction surveys. Surveys conducted at least once a year target both existing and potential users of statistics. All results are available on Statistics Estonia's website in the section User surveys. The survey referred to does not concern a specific statistical process but is a general satisfaction survey.

Information on user satisfaction can also be obtained through user feedback, which has been mostly positive.

The data comply with the international definitions and the requirements of Regulation (EU) 2018/643 of the European Parliament and of the Council. International terminology is used in line with the Glossary for transport statistics.

From 2025 onwards, data on international freight transport are collected every five years at level 2 of the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS 2) for the country of origin or destination. Until 2025, the data on territorial units were collected at country level (NUTS 1), as European countries accounted for a relatively small share of international freight transport.

All required indicators have been collected and calculated (completeness 100%).

The type of survey and the data collection methods ensure sufficient accuracy. All units in the target population are included; no random sampling methods are used. The data are not grossed up.

Not applicable as this is not a sample survey.

Not applicable as this is not a sample survey.

The total freight in tonnes may be double counted because, in domestic transport, the same quantity of freight may be carried to the destination by several railway enterprises if one carrier transports the freight on a public railway and another on a non-public railway. Therefore, to characterise the amount of freight transported, it is recommended to use the indicator freight turnover, which expresses the volume of freight transport work in tonne-kilometres.

The survey frame is a list of enterprises holding a railway passenger transport licence or a freight transport operating licence; the list is compiled on the basis of the register of economic activities.

There is no coverage error.

An effort is made to avoid measurement errors through multi-stage control procedures. There is no information on major measurement errors. The questionnaires are carefully designed, are in electronic format, and include a number of arithmetic and logical checks. Where possible, the questionnaires are prefilled with administrative data.

Non-response error does not generally occur. When necessary, the data values for non-responding units are imputed.

There is no information on processing errors.

Quarterly data are published approximately 27 days after the end of the reference quarter (T + 27 days); annual data are published within five months of the end of the reference year (at the beginning of May).

The data are published once; see "Timeliness".

The data are published once; see "Timeliness".

The data have been published at the time announced in the release calendar.

100% of the data have been published on time (as announced in the release calendar).

The data are comparable with those of other European Union countries because a common methodology has been used for transport statistics.

The data are comparable over time because a common methodology has been used.

There have been no breaks in the time series; therefore, the number of observation periods in the latest unbroken time series equals the total number of observation periods.

The data on freight and passenger transport volumes are comparable with corresponding data from other transport statistics processes.

Quarterly and annual data are coherent with each other.

Rail transport statistics are also used in national accounts and are therefore coherent with national accounts data.

Total time spent on completing the reports for the statistical process: 104 hours (data for 2025).
Costs are not calculated separately for different statistical processes.

The data revision policy and notification of corrections are described on Statistics Estonia's website in the section Principles of dissemination of official statistics.

There are no regular revisions. The published data may be revised if the methodology is modified, errors are discovered, or new or better data become available within a year from the end of the reference period.

Not applied

This is a census survey. The survey population consists of enterprises holding a railway passenger transport licence or a freight transport operating licence. The number of units in the population is fewer than 10.

Annual;
quarterly

Data are collected and the submission of questionnaires is monitored through a web-based self-service environment for data submission. The questionnaires have been designed for independent completion in the self-service environment and include instructions and validation checks. The questionnaires and information on data submission are available on the website of Statistics Estonia in the section Questionnaires.

Data are collected using the annual and quarterly official statistics questionnaires “Railway transport”.
If questions arise when completing the questionnaire, the data provider can contact customer support.

Logical checks are applied during the data collection process. During data processing, the data are checked and compared with data from the previous period. Classification checks are also applied during data processing.

Units are generally not imputed. Individual data fields are imputed and corrected according to validation rules. Logical checks are applied; during data processing, the data are checked and compared with data from the previous period.

Variables and statistical units that are not collected directly but are necessary for producing the output are calculated. For data validation, average distances are calculated for individual transport movements.

Microdata are aggregated to the level necessary for analysis. This includes summing the data according to the classification and calculating various statistical measures.

The collected data are converted into statistical output. This includes calculating additional indicators.
The following data are aggregated:

• dangerous goods transported by rail;
• goods transported in containers by rail;
• number of full containers transported by rail;
• number of full containers transported by rail, in TEU;
• freight turnover of full containers transported by rail;
• number of empty containers transported by rail;
• number of empty containers transported by rail, in TEU;
• number of passengers carried by rail;
• passenger traffic volume by rail;
• goods transported by rail;
• rail freight turnover;
• goods transported by rail in national transport;
• goods in transit transported by rail;
• goods transported by rail to foreign countries;
• goods transported by rail from foreign countries;
• number of goods and passenger trains on the trans-European rail network;
• number of goods trains on the trans-European rail network;
• number of passenger trains on the trans-European rail network.

Imputation is generally not performed (imputation rate is 0%).

Not applied

Not applied

None