20 Oct 2013

European railway and motorway infrastructure

The investment in railway and motorway infrastructure, as well as their extension, varies across the EU. Graphical information for some European countries is presented here. The data is shown in different ways to answer
particular questions. Some questions may mislead the reader to rate one country better than others. For example, the question: What country invests the most in road construction? is different to: What country invest the most in road construction per capita? Similarly, What country has more meters of railways? is not the same as: What country has more meters of railways per square kilometer? A graphical answer to these questions is shown below. Only Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, France, UK, Ireland, Sweden and Norway are included (data as of 2013, from Federal Institute of Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development of the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning, Germany).

What country invests the most in road construction per capita?

R= Norway

What country invests the most in roads?

R= France

Here we can see how the presentation of the data gives different answers. Although Norway invests the most per capita, it is little compared to what France or Germany invest in total.

What EU country has more motorways or railways per square kilometer?
R= Belgium (railways/km2), Netherlands (motorways/km2)

What country has more motorways or railways?

R= Germany (railways), Spain (motorways).

Again, Netherlands and Belgium satisfy well their population by covering most area with rail and road infrastructure, but the extension of the networks in Spain, France and Germany is much larger.

Similarly, other indicators can be derived from the statistics above, such as investment per km2 and meters of railways or motorways per capita.

What country has more motorways or railways per habitant?


R=Norway (in both).

What country invests the most in road construction per square kilometer?

R= Switzerland.

In conclusion, graphical representation of data for this particular example can be interpreted in different ways: Norway provides more and invests more in railway and motorway infrastructure per capita, while Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland have a better coverage per area. Nonetheless, Germany and France invest a similarly large amount considering their numerous population and territorial extension.