Rail usage statistics by country.html



Map of countries' rail network length

Rail network divided by area of country

This article gives rail usage statistics by country according to the International Union of Railways and other sources.

Passenger rail

Passenger-km of rail transport per year

Countries with more than 5 billion passenger-km

Country	Billion passenger-km	Year
World	1,900	2000[1]
China	721.63[2]	2007
India (see:Indian Railways)	695	2007
European Union	371.27	2006
Japan	254	2007
Russia	173	2007
France	78.46	2006
Germany	74.73	2006
Ukraine	53.23	2006
United Kingdom	46.76	2006
Italy	46.44	2006
Egypt	40.84	2005
South Korea	31.42	2006
Pakistan	25.62	2006
Indonesia	25.54	2004
United States	22.50	2006
Spain	21.25	2006
Poland	16.98	2006
Netherlands	15.41	2006
Switzerland	14.86	2006
Kazakhstan	13.61	2006
Iran	12.58	2006
Belarus	9.97	2006
Belgium	9.61	2006
Taiwan	9.34	2006
Thailand	9.20	2004
Austria	8.85	2006
Romania	8.05	2006
Argentina	6.98	2003
Hungary	6.92	2006
Czech Republic	6.89	2006
Sweden	5.68	2006
Denmark	5.65	2006
Turkey	5.28	2005

Source: UIC database USA figure from Britannica 2007 (unless stated otherwise), includes commuter railroads and Amtrak.

Passengers carried in rail transport per year

Countries with more than 1 billion passengers

Country	Billion passengers	Year
Japan	8.78	2006
India	5.38	2005
Germany	1.85	2006
China	1.36	2007
Russia	1.32	2006
United Kingdom	1.16	2006
France	1.00	2006

Source: UIC database

Modal share

Modal share of railway transport (excluding metro) compared to other modes of transport.

Country	modal share [%]	year
Belgium	6.9	2006[3]
Bulgaria	5.4	2006[3]
Czech Republic	6.9	2006[3]
Denmark	9.0	2006[3]
Germany	7.7	2006[3]
Estonia	1.7	2006[3]
Ireland	5.1	2006[3]
Greece	1.6	2006[3]
Spain	5.3	2006[3]
France	9.2	2006[3]
Italy	5.5	2006[3]
Latvia	5.1	2006[3]
Lithuania	1.0	2006[3]
Luxembourg	3.9	2006[3]
Hungary	12.6	2006[3]
Netherlands	8.3	2006[3]
Austria	9.8	2006[3]
Poland	6.7	2006[3]
Portugal	4.4	2006[3]
Romania	9.3	2006[3]
Slovenia	3.2	2006[3]
Slovakia	5.9	2006[3]
Finland	4.9	2006[3]
Sweden	8.2	2006[3]
United Kingdom	5.9	2006[3]
Croatia	4.4	2006[3]
Macedonia	1.7	2006[3]
Turkey	2.5	2006[3]
Norway	4.5	2006[3]
Switzerland	15.3	2006[3]
United States	0.3	2004[3]
Japan	27	2000[4]

Passenger km per head of population

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

Country	Kilometres/year
Japan	1980
Switzerland	1950
Russia	1220
France	1220
Ukraine	1150
Austria	1030
Denmark	1030
Belarus	1030
Netherlands	940
Germany	910
Belgium	910
Kazakhstan	880
Italy	780
United Kingdom	770
Hungary	690
Czech Republic	660
South Korea	650
Sweden	620
India	610
China	550
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

These figures reflect not only the "popularity" of rail travel (for example, in Japan) but also the geography of the country. For instance, the United Kingdom is a relatively small, densely populated nation where many more short journeys are made compared to a larger, much less densely populated nation such as the United States. To gauge the true importance of rail travel, the number of journeys (however short or long) needs to be calculated. By this method one finds that number of intercity rail journeys per year in the United States per inhabitant is so small as to be almost immeasurable. The U.S. figure is approximately 0.08 journeys per inhabitant per year, compared with the United Kingdom's figure of 17.54 journeys per person. These statistics imply that Britons use the train 219 times more than Americans. This is misleading as the US figure is Amtrak only and does not include commuter journeys. If these are included US journeys are around 1.3 per person per year - and if subways are included for both countries the average American makes around 10 rail journeys per year, whilst the average Briton makes around 30. Also, some countries such as Germany include certain suburban rapid transport system figures in their total rail usage, while others such as the United Kingdom do not. See the listed source at the International Union of Railways.

Freight rail

Freight rail by billions of tonne-kilometers

Tonne-km of selected carriers in Europe, 2003

Countries with more than 10 billion tonne-km

Country	Billion tonne-kilometres	Year
United States	2820	2007
China	2379.7[2]	2007
Russia	2090	2007
India	480.99	2007
European Union	382.7	2006
Canada	352.1	2005
Ukraine	240.8	2006
Brazil	232.3	2006
Kazakhstan	191.19	2006
South Africa	108.51	2005
Germany	89.69	2006
Mexico	54.39	2004
Australia	46.04	2006
Belarus	45.72	2006
Poland	42.65	2006
France	42.12	2006
Japan	23.01	2006
United Kingdom	22.2	2006
Italy	21.9	2006
Iran	20.5	2006
Austria	19.5	2006
Uzbekistan	18.01	2004
Czech Republic	16.3	2006
Latvia	15.3	2006
Romania	14.7	2006
Lithuania	12.9	2006
Argentina	12.6	2006
Switzerland	12.3	2006
Sweden	11.5	2006
Spain	11.1	2006
South Korea	10.6	2006
Estonia	10.2	2006

Source: UIC database Source: [1]

Freight rail by million-ton

Countries with more than 100 million tonnes

Country	Million-ton	Year
China	3140	2007
United States	1775	2006
Russian Federation	1402	2005
India	727.75	2007
Ukraine	479	2006
Brazil	404	2006
Canada	313	2005
Germany	297	2006
Australia	183	2006
South Africa	181	2005
Poland	151	2006
Belarus	125	2005
United Kingdom	110	2006
France	108	2006

Source: UIC database

Freight rail by tonne-kilometer per capita

Country	Tonne-kilometer per capita
Russia	12599
Canada	10517
United States	9165
Australia	2308
China	1803
Germany	1060
European Union	782

See also

• List of countries by rail transport network size
• Rail transport
• Transportation by country

Source

• Statistical synopsis at the International Union of Railways

References

^[1][3][4]