Rail usage statistics by country

Rail network divided by area of country

This article displays rail usage statistics by country ^[1] according to the latest figures provided by the International Union of Railways (UIC) except for more up to date ones.

Today, of the almost 10,000 billion freight tonne-kilometres travelled around the world about a quarter each are in the United States, China and Russia. Among the 3,000 billion passenger-kilometres performed around the world 1,158 billion passenger-kilometres are done solely in India. The average Swiss travels every year 2,430.9 kilometres by train, almost 500 more than the Japanese who come in second.

In 2014 there are around 1.00 million km of railway in the world (-3% compared to 2013). Of this, 0.35 million km is in Europe which is mainly used for passenger service, 0.37 million km in America which is mainly used for freight and 0.23 million km in Asia used for both freight and passenger service.^[2] In America and Europe, there are many low cost airlines and motorways which compete with rail for passenger traffic, while Asia has seen a large growth in high-speed rail with 257 billion passenger-km representing 72 % of total world high-speed rail passenger traffic.^[2]

Freight rail

Freight rail by billions of tonne-kilometres

Tonne-km of selected carriers in the European Union, 2003

Countries with more than one billion tonne-kilometres (tkm)^[2]

Rank	Country	Billion tkm	Year
1	China	2,750[3]	2014
2	United States	2,704[4]	2014
3	Russia	2,301[5]	2014
4	India	666	2014
5	Canada	352	2011
6	Brazil	267	2014
7	European Union	261	2014
8	Ukraine	237	2011
9	Kazakhstan	236	2012
10	Australia	197[6]	2008
11	South Africa	135	2014
12	Mexico	81[4]	2014
13	Germany	75	2014
14	Belarus	45	2014
15	Poland	32	2014
16	France	32	2014
17	United Kingdom	24.4[7]	2014
18	Uzbekistan	22	2012
19	Iran	22	2013
20	Sweden	21.1[8]	2014
21	Japan	21[4]	2014
22	Austria	16	2014
23	Latvia	15	2014
24	Lithuania	14	2014
25	Argentina	12	2010
26	Turkmenistan	12	2012
27	Colombia	12	2009
28	Turkey	11	2014
29	South Korea	10	2013
30	Italy	10	2014
31	Czech Republic	10	2014
32	Finland	9.6[2]	2014
33	Switzerland	9	2014
34	Azerbaijan	8	2014
35	Spain	8	2014
36	Mauritania	8	2010
37	Indonesia	7	2010
38	Netherlands	6[9]	2013
39	Morocco	6	2011
40	Belgium	5	2014
41	Estonia	5	2012
42	Norway	4[9]	2013
43	Chile	4	2009
44	Vietnam	4	2012
45	Malaysia	3	2011
46	Serbia	3	2014
47	Thailand	3	2011
48	Gabon	2	2014
49	Croatia	2	2014
50	Denmark	2[9]	2013
51	Tunisia	2	2010
53	Egypt	2	2010
54	Kenya	1.7	2014[10]
55	Algeria	1	2012
56	Cameroon	1	2011

Freight rail by million-ton

Countries with more than 10 million tonnes^[2]

Rank	Country	Million tonnes	Year
1	China	3,813[11]	2014
2	United States	1,710	2011
3	Russia	1,375[12]	2014
4	Australia	1,298[13]	2014
5	Brazil	460	2014
6	Ukraine	457	2011
7	Canada	310	2011
8	Kazakhstan	295	2012
9	Germany	221	2014
10	South Africa	197	2011
11	Belarus	141	2014
12	Poland	120	2014
13	United Kingdom	110.1[14]	2014
14	India	106	2014
15	Mexico	105	2010
16	Uzbekistan	82	2014
17	Austria	74	2014
18	France	63	2011
19	Colombia	59	2014
20	Czech Republic	57	2014
21	Latvia	57	2014
22	Switzerland	50[2]	2014
23	Lithuania	49	2014
24	Romania	44	2014
25	South Korea	40	2013
26	Italy	38	2014
27	Finland	37	2014
28	Belgium	37	2009
29	Slovakia	36	2014
30	Morocco	37	2011
31	Iran	33	2013
32	Japan	31	2010
33	Turkmenistan	27	2012
34	Turkey	26	2014
35	Estonia	26	2012
36	Spain	25	2014
37	Chile	25	2013
38	Argentina	24	2010
39	Azerbaijan	23	2012
40	Georgia	20	2012
41	Indonesia	20	2010
42	Mongolia	18	2011
43	Slovenia	17	2014
44	Bosnia and Herzegovina	13	2014
45	Malaysia	12	2011
46	Bulgaria	12	2014
47	Taiwan	11	2012
48	Thailand	11	2011
49	Croatia	10	2014
50	Tunisia	10	2012

Freight Modal share (in all kinds of transport)

Country	modal share [%]	year
Canada	68	2009[15]
Russia	59	2010[15]
Latvia	61	2012[16]
Estonia	47	2012[16]
Switzerland	46	2012[17]
United States	44	2008[15]
Austria	41	2012[16]
Sweden	40	2012[16]
Australia	40	2009 [18]
Lithuania	38	2012[16]
China	31	2009[15]
Finland	27	2012[16]
Romania	24	2012[16]
Germany	23	2012[16]
Czech Republic	22	2012[16]
Hungary	21	2012[16]
Slovakia	20	2012[16]
Poland	18	2012[16]
Belgium	18	2012[16]
France	15	2012[16]
Italy	14	2012[16]
United Kingdom	12	2012[16]
Bulgaria	9	2012[16]
Japan	6.2	2010[15]
Netherlands	5	2012[16]
European Union	18	2012[16]

Freight rail by tonne-kilometre per capita

Country	Tonne-kilometre per capita	Year
Russia	12,599
Canada	10,517
United States	9,165
Australia	2,308
China	2,150
Switzerland	1477	2013[17][19]
Germany	1,060
European Union	782

Passenger rail

These figures do not include metro railway systems; see Lists of rapid transit systems for metro rail statistics.

Passenger-kilometre of rail transport per year

Countries with more than 5 billion passenger-km^[2]

Rank	Country	Billion passenger-km	Year
1	India	1,158.7	2014
2	China	807	2014
	Europe	804	2014
3	Japan	260	2013
4	Russia	128.8	2014
5	France	83.9	2014
6	Germany	79.3	2014
7	United Kingdom	62.9	2015[20]
8	Ukraine	49.2	2011
9	Italy	39.7	2014
10	Spain	24.5	2014
11	South Korea	22.6	2013
12	Pakistan	20.6	2011
13	Indonesia	20.3	2010
14	Taiwan	19.6	2014
15	Switzerland	18.4	2014
16	Iran	17.4	2013
17	Netherlands	17	2013
18	Kazakhstan	16.6	2011
19	Poland	11.9	2011
20	Austria	11.4	2014
21	Belgium	10.8	2011
22	United States	10.3	2014
23	Belarus	7.7	2011
24	Thailand	7.5	2011
25	Bangladesh	7.3	2010
26	Czech Republic	6.9	2014
27	Sweden	6.1	2014
28	Turkey	5.9	2011
29	Denmark	5.8	2014
30	Hungary	5.7	2014
31	Morocco	5.3	2014
	World	3,070	2014

Passengers carried in rail transport per year

Countries with more than 20 million passengers^[2]

Country	Million passengers	Year	Notes/Reference
China	17,116	2014	Beijing Metro alone had 3.41 billion passengers in 2014
India	8,397	2014
Japan	7,289	2014
Germany	2,023	2014
United Kingdom	1,654	2014[21]	The London Underground ("The Tube") had an additional 1.305 billion passengers[22]
France	1,122	2014
Russia	1,070	2014	Moscow Metro alone had 2.45 billion passengers in 2014[23]
Italy	622	2010
Spain	578	2014
Ukraine	485	2011
Switzerland	475	2014
Netherlands	346	2013
Taiwan	233	2014
Belgium	229	2011
Austria	245	2014
Indonesia	199	2010
Czech Republic	170	2014
Denmark	163	2014
Poland	140	2014
South Korea	131	2014
Hungary	119	2014
Portugal	110	2014
Belarus	92	2014
Turkey	78	2014
Romania	65	2014
Israel	49	2014
Thailand	44	2011
Malaysia	40	2011
United States	-	2014	Amtrak, the major passenger rail operator in the USA had 30.8 million passengers in the year 2014-15.[24]
Croatia	22	2014
Luxembourg	20	2014

Modal ratio

Modal ratio of railway transport (excluding tram & metro) compared to other modes of transport.

Country	modal ratio [%]	year
Japan	30.5	2009[25]
Switzerland	17.2	2012[26]
Austria	11.5	2012[26]
Denmark	10.1	2012[26]
Hungary	10.1	2012[26]
United Kingdom	9.6	2014[27]
France	9.5	2012[26]
Sweden	9.1	2012[26]
Germany	9.0	2012[26]
Netherlands	8.8	2012[26]
Czech Republic	8.4	2012[26]
Belgium	8.0	2010[28]
Bulgaria	7.1	2012[26]
Slovakia	7.1	2012[26]
Indonesia	6.3	2005[29]
Italy	6.1	2012[26]
Spain	5.6	2012[26]
Finland	5.3	2012[26]
Romania	4.9	2012[26]
Latvia	4.8	2012[26]
Poland	4.8	2012[26]
Norway	4.7	2012[26]
Luxembourg	4.6	2012[26]
Portugal	4.1	2012[26]
Croatia	3.5	2012[26]
Ireland	2.8	2012[26]
Slovenia	2.3	2012[26]
Estonia	1.8	2012[26]
Turkey	1.7	2012[26]
Macedonia	1.5	2012[26]
Lithuania	0.8	2012[26]
Greece	0.7	2012[26]
United States	0.3	2004[30]

Passenger kilometre per head of population

Only countries with five billion or more passenger km are included.

Country	Kilometers/year	Year
Switzerland	2430.9	2013[17][19]
Japan	1,995
Denmark	1,329
France	1,298[31]	2014
Austria	1,245
Russia	1,220
Ukraine	1,150
Belarus	1,030
Belgium	1,009
United Kingdom	981[32]	2015
Germany	959[33]	2014
Netherlands	940
Kazakhstan	880
Italy	780
India	777
Hungary	690
Czech Republic	660
China	653
South Korea	650
Sweden	620
Egypt	550
Spain	460
Poland	450
Taiwan	410
Romania	380
Iran	180
Argentina	170
Pakistan	160
Thailand	150
Indonesia	110
Turkey	80
United States	80

Brief railway statistics by country

An important stage to use the brief traffic data according to UIC in 2007 and (List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita).

Country	area	pop	Av GDP	Rail co	Net km	Dbl km	El km	HSR km	Loco. No.	pkm	tkm	HS. PKm	train weight	Pass. %	Frt. %	Pass/ pop %	P. fare	F. tariff	Elec %	income %
Russia	17.09	143	16	RZD	128	36	48	1.3	20101	173	2090	14	2528	42	67	9.1	4	2	80	107
Germany	0.36	82	35	DB	34	18	20	1.2		74	91	22	410	10	17	22.4	11	3	60	109
France	0.55	62	34	SNCF	29	16	14	1.8		81	40	48	496			16.8	12	4		105
Japan	0.38	127	34	JR	20	8	12	2.5		253	23	79	368	29		69.6			100	124
South Korea	0.1	48	28	KNR	3	1	2	0.32		32	11	10	472			20.4			20	106
United Kingdom	0.24	61	37	NR	16		5	0.3		48	21
Taiwan	0.036	23	31	TRA	1	0.67	0.69	0.33		9	1									77
Spain	0.51	45	31	Renfe	15	5	9	1.27		21	11	4								105
Italy	0.3	59	31	FS	16	7	12	0.82		45	21	9								96
Turkey	0.78	74	13	TCDD	9	04	1.9	0.25		6	10		572						24	69
Switzerland	0.041	8	43	SBB	4	2	3			15	13		442			40.9			100	103
Iran	1.6	71	11	RAI	7	1	0.15	0.25	400	13	21	0	1088	4	7	0.3	0.4	2	1	62
United States	9.6	302	47	AMTK	227						2820		5254		42		34	2	1	128
Egypt	1	73	6	ENR	5	1.5	0.07			41	4					6.1				80
India	3.28	1132	3	IR	63	17.4	17.8			696	481		1614			5.5	2	8
China	9.6	1342	6	CR	91	33	36	5	19000	876	2764								46
World	149	6400	10	United Nations	900	250	240	9		2468	9486	178	1677	10	20				50
Poland	0.31	38	17	PKP	19	9	12
South Africa	1.22	48	10	SAR	24	2	8		3421	14	109		2700			11
Kazakhstan	2.72	16	11	KTZ	14	5	4		1727	14	191
Brazil	8.54	189	10		29		0.5		2394		232
Pakistan	.796	169	3	PR	7		0.3		544	26	6
Austria	0.08		40	OBB
Morocco	0.44	32	4	ONCFM	2	0.6	1			4	6		915			0.8			89

See also

• List of countries by rail transport network size
• Rail transport
• Rail freight transport
• Units of transportation measurement
• Rail subsidies

References

1. Lewandowski, Krzysztof (2015). "New coefficients of rail transport usage" (PDF). International Journal of Engineering and Innovative Technology (IJEIT) 5 (6): 89–91. ISSN 2277-3754.
2. "Railway Statistics – 2014 Synopsis" (PDF). Paris, France: UIC (International Union of Railways). 2014. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
3. http://www.statista.com/statistics/276066/volume-of-rail-freight-traffic-in-china/
4. "Key Transport Statistics 2014 Data" (PDF).
5. Грузооборот по видам транспорта
6. 197.5 bln in 2007-2008 as per Table TA.6 in Australian rail freight performance indicators 2007–08, page 38. The 60 billion tonne-km amount given in the UIC report is for QR Queensland Rail only.
7. Freight Britain: Continuity and certainty for rail freight Rail Delivery Group 2015 (page 3)
8. SE Railway Transports 2014/Q4 Trafa.se March 10th 2015 (page 8)
9. IRG-Rail Market monitoring report 2014 IRG-Rail (15) 2 April 3rd 2015 (page 31).
10. "The CEO Magazine – RVR achieves Net Ton per Kilometer (NTK) target". Theceomagazine-ug.com. Retrieved 2015-03-17.
11. http://www.nra.gov.cn/fwyd/zlzx/hytj/201504/t20150427_13281.htm
12. Перевозки грузов по видам транспорта
13. Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics and Australasian Railway Association. Trainline 3. Statistical Report, page 6. The amount of 242 mln tonnes for 2011 in the UIC table was for QR only.
14. UK rail freight usage 2014/Q4 ORR report May 21th 2015 (page 10)
15. "OECD Report" (PDF). p. 40.
16. "Eurostat Yearbook – Freight transport statistics – 2015 edition". ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/main/home. Retrieved 2015-05-29.
17. "Mobility and Transport: Pocket Statistics 2014" (PDF) (Official publication) (in English, German, French, and Italian). Switzerland: Federal Office for Statistics. 30 July 2013. Retrieved 2014-10-14.
18. "Road and rail freight: competitors or complements?" (PDF). BITRE. BITRE. Retrieved 4 February 2016. |first2= missing |last2= in Authors list (help)
19. "Mobility and Transport: Key figures" (web page) (in English, German, French, and Italian). Switzerland: Federal Office for Statistics. October 2014. Retrieved 2014-10-14.
20. ORR report June 2015 (page 5).
21. "Passenger Rail Usage 2014–15 Quarter 4 Statistical Release" (PDF). 4 June 2015. line feed character in |title= at position 21 (help)
22. "London Underground Facts and figures".
23. "Moscow Metro in numbers".
24. "Amtrak Ridership and Ticket Revenue Steady in Fiscal Year 2015" (PDF) (Press release). Amtrak.com. December 2, 2015. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
25. "Transport - Transport activity - Passenger transport". OECD Statistics (online statistics). OECD. 2009. Retrieved 2016-02-01.
26. undefined editor (ed.). "Modal split of inland passenger transport, 2002 and 2012". eurostat Statistics Explained. Retrieved 2016-02-01.
27. "Rail modal share 1952-2014".
28. "ANNEX to Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007 concerning the opening of the market for domestic passenger transport services by rail" (PDF) (COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT: IMPACT ASSESSMENT). Brussels: European Commission. 2013. p. 4. Retrieved 2016-02-01.
29. "High Speed Train Project in Indonesia (Jakarta – Surabaya corridor)" (PDF). Ministry of Transportation.
30. "EU Transport in Figures; Statistical Pocketbook". European Commission Directorate-General for Energy and Transport; Eurostat. 2007.
31. "Population of France 2014".Using above table and population at July 2014
32. "UK Passenger Rail Usage 2014-15" (PDF).
33. "Population of Germany 2014".Using above table and population at July 2014