List of countries by rail usage
This article's
factual accuracy may be compromised due to out-of-date information.
Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (September 2016 )
Map of the world with rail density (length of rail network divided by area of country) highlighted. This does not necessarily reflect actual rail use.
This is a list of countries by rail usage . Usage of rail transport may be measured in tonne-kilometres (tkm) or passenger-kilometres (pkm) travelled for freight and passenger transport respectively. This is the number of tonnes or passengers multiplied by the average distance of their journeys in kilometres.
Overview
Globally, rail freight is transported to the extent of almost 10,000 billion tonne-kilometres (9.842 billion long ton-miles or 11.023 billion short ton-miles) per year, of which about one-third occurs in India and a quarter each in the United States and China .
Of the 3,000 bn passenger-kilometres travelled across the world each year, 1,346 bn are travelled in China and 1,150 bn in India . Thus China and India together contribute almost half of world's passenger travel.
The average Swiss person travels 2,430 km by train each year (the highest in the world), almost 500 more than the average Japanese person (the second highest).
In 2014, there were about 1 million kilometres (621,400 miles) of railway in the world, a decrease of 3% compared to 2013.
350,000 km (218,000 mi) were in Europe and mainly used for passenger service.
370,000 km (230,000 mi) were in North America and mainly used for freight.
230,000 km (140,000 mi) were in Asia and used for both freight and passenger service.[ 1]
In America and Europe, many low-fare airlines and motorways compete with rail for passenger traffic. Asia has experienced a large growth in high-speed rail : its 257bn passenger-kilometres represent 72% of total world high-speed rail passenger traffic.[ 1]
Passenger rail
These figures do not include metro railway systems; see Lists of rapid transit systems for metro rail statistics.
Passenger-kilometres of rail transport per year
Countries with more than five billion passenger-kilometres (pkm) travelled per year. Unless otherwise specified, data come from the Railway Statistics 2015 Report by the International Union of Railways (UIC).
Passengers carried in rail transport per year
Countries with more than 20 million passengers per year. Unless otherwise specified, data come from the Railway Statistics 2019 Report by the International Union of Railways .
As mentioned in the notes, many of these figures are very incomplete, as they exclude metro/rapid transport rail services.
Rank
Country
Million passengers
Data year
Notes
1
Japan
25,201
2019 [ 7]
Includes all public and private rail services. For only the JR group rail companies, the figure in 2019 was 9,503 million passengers.[ 7]
2
India
8,439
2019
Includes Indian Railways suburban and intercity traffic only, excludes the passengers carried by rapid transit systems. The Delhi Metro alone transported 1.73 billion passengers in 2018.
3
China
3,660
2019[ 8]
Excludes rapid transit networks, which handled 23.71 billion passengers in 2019.[ 9]
4
Germany
2,938
2019[ 10]
5
Brazil
2,480
2023[ 11]
Includes all public and private rail services. Down 24% from the 3.26 billion passengers carried in 2019
6
France
1,880
2019[ 12]
7
United Kingdom
1,836.8
2019[ 10]
The London Underground ("The Tube") had an additional 1.34 billion passengers in 2015-16[ 13]
8
Russia
1,157.2
2018
Moscow Metro alone had 2.45 billion passengers in 2014[ 14]
9
Australia
1,064.2
2018–19
Combined Urban and Non-Urban Rail Passenger Traffic[ 15]
10
Italy
883.3
2019[ 10]
11
Spain
636
2019[ 16]
Madrid Metro alone had 657.2 million passengers in 2018.[ 17]
12
United States
535
2019
Amtrak had 32.5 million passengers in Fiscal Year 2019 (ending September 30).[ 18] Among regional systems that report to the American Public Transportation Association , there were 502.5 million commuter rail riders in calendar year 2019.[ 19]
13
Switzerland
519.3
2019[ 10]
14
Netherlands
474.5
2019
15
Ukraine
440.9
2016[ 20]
16
Indonesia
429.2
2019[ 21]
17
Argentina
426.2
2018
423,202,522 Buenos Aires commuter[ 22] 2,036,792 regional[ 23] 1,009,357 long distance
18
Poland
324.1
2019[ 10]
Passengers carried by all rail passenger transport companies in Poland.[ 24]
19
Taiwan
291.84
2018
20
Austria
278
2019[ 10]
Vienna U-Bahn alone had 463.1 million passengers in 2018.[ 25]
21
Egypt
270
2019[ 26]
22
South Africa
269
2017–18[ 27]
23
Sweden
264.6
2019[ 10]
Stockholm metro alone had 353 million passengers in 2017.[ 28]
24
Belgium
246.94
2018
25
Denmark
206.6
2019[ 10]
26
Czech Republic
193.5
2019[ 10]
Prague Metro alone had 435.6 million passengers in 2017.[ 29]
27
Portugal
175.5
2019[ 10]
Lisbon Metro alone had 169 million passengers in 2018.[ 30]
28
Turkey
164.7
2019[ 10]
Istanbul Metro alone had 469.7 million passengers in 2018.[ 31]
29
Sri Lanka
138.66
2017[ 32]
30
South Korea
127.84
2018
31
Hungary
119
2018
Budapest Metro alone had 409.3 million passengers in 2017.[ 33]
32
Canada
106.9
2019[ 34]
Via Rail , Canada's main intercity rail provider, transported 5 million passengers in 2019. Commuter railway systems in and around Toronto , Montreal , and Vancouver transported an additional 101.9 million passengers in 2019.
33
Finland
92.8
2019[ 35]
14.9 million / year long-distance 77.9 million / year in Helsinki commuter traffic
34
Bangladesh
92.71
2019[ 6]
Includes only Bangladesh Railway figures.
35
Norway
80.402
2019[ 36]
Oslo Metro alone had 122 million passengers in 2018.[ 37]
36
Slovakia
80
2019[ 10]
37
Belarus
79.86
2018
Minsk Metro alone had 293.7 million passengers in 2019.[ 38]
38
Romania
67.9
2019[ 10]
Bucharest Metro alone had 178.9 million passengers in 2017.[ 39]
39
Israel
64.6
2017
The Jerusalem Light Rail carried an additional 42.5 million passengers in 2017.[ 40]
40
Mexico
57
2018
Tren Suburbano statistics only[ 41]
41
Pakistan
52.39
2018
42
Ireland
50.06
2019[ 10]
43
Thailand
50
2017[ 42]
Bangkok MRT alone had 113.7 million passengers in 2018.[ 43]
44
Myanmar
48
2017[ 44]
45
Chile
47
2018[ 45]
Santiago Metro alone had 721 million passengers in 2018.[ 46]
46
Malaysia
44.51
2018
47
Tunisia
41
2017
48
Algeria
39
2018
Algiers Metro alone had 40 million passengers in 2018.[ 47]
49
Morocco
35
2018
50
New Zealand
35
2019[ 48]
51
Iran
28.09
2018
Tehran Metro alone had 721 million passengers in 2016.[ 49]
52
Luxembourg
25
2019[ 10]
53
Kazakhstan
22.9
2018
54
Philippines
21.84
2018
55
Uzbekistan
21.59
2018
Tashkent Metro alone had 71.2 million passengers in 2019.[ 38]
56
Bulgaria
21.3
2019[ 10]
Sofia Metro alone had 93.1 million passengers in 2018.[ 50]
Passenger modal share for rail
The modal share of railway transport (excluding tram & metro ) as compared to other modes of transport, based on Passenger-km.
Passenger rail by passenger-kilometres per capita
Countries with more than five billion passenger-kilometres travelled per year.
Freight rail
Tonne-kilometres of rail transport per year
Tonne-km of selected carriers in the European Union , 2003
Countries with more than one billion tonne-kilometres (tkm) travelled per year. Unless otherwise specified, data come from the Railway Statistics 2014 Report by the International Union of Railways .
Tonnes carried in rail transport per year
Countries with more than ten million tonnes carried per year. Unless otherwise specified, data come from the Railway Statistics 2014 Report by the International Union of Railways .
Freight modal share for rail
The modal share carried by rail of all freight in a given country.
Freight rail by tonne-kilometres per capita
Brief railway statistics by country
See also
References
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Lists of countries by transport rankings
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