BRUSSELS: The Netherlands has topped the European Commission's first EU transport scorecard. The result is based on comparing Member State performance in 22 transport-related categories and highlights the best and worst performers in each.

The Netherlands and Germany top the scoreboard with high marks in 11 categories, followed by Sweden, the UK and Denmark. The bottom five are Romania, Lithuania, Greece, Bulgaria and Poland.

The Commission says the aim of the data, sourced from Eurostat, the European Environment Agency, the World Bank and the OECD, is to provide transport users a snapshot of Member State performance and to help identify shortcomings. It says subsequent scorecards will be produced as a result of dialogue with Member States, industry and other stakeholders.

Commission vice-president for transport Siim Kallas said: "The new scoreboard is a fantastic tool that shows visually where we stand in making our transport systems more efficient, more customer-friendly, safer and cleaner. It can of course only offer a snapshot, but it gives us and Member States a point of reference and a source of inspiration for our work together."

The final country scores were made up by accumulating (or losing) points in the following categories: single market (access to market, regulation), infrastructure, environmental impact, safety, transposition of EU law, infringements of EU law, innovation and research - and logistics.

The Netherlands scored highest for the quality of its port and air transport infrastructure. The Netherlands and Denmark were the only countries not among the bottom performers in any category. The Netherlands is also runner-up to Germany in the World Bank's Logistics Performance Index.

The Commission rated the transport infrastructure of bottom-placed Poland amongst the least efficient and the country also faces "challenges" in road and railway safety with a high number of rail infringement cases.