Rail passenger transport increased by 5.8% in 2024

In 2024, 443 billion passenger-kilometres (pkm) were performed by rail in the EU, up from 419 billion in 2023 (+5.8%). This is the highest number reported by main rail undertakings since the start of the data collection in 2004. 

This information comes from data on railway passenger transport published by Eurostat today. The article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained articles on railway passenger transport statistics - quarterly and annual data and on railway freight transport statistics. 

Germany registered the highest number of passengers carried at 2 904 million, ahead of France (1 320 million) and Italy (843 million). At the other end of the scale were Lithuania with 5 million, Estonia (8 million) and Greece (14 million). 

Hungary had by far the highest growth rate in the number of passengers carried (+60.0%), ahead of Latvia (+13.9%) and Ireland (+10.0%) compared with 2023, while Romania (-4.9%) and Bulgaria (-3.1%) reported decreases.    

Meanwhile, in relation to the population of each EU country, Luxembourg had the highest ratio of passengers per capita at 32.8, followed by Denmark (31.0) and Germany (30.0). The lowest rate was found in Greece and Lithuania (both 1.5) followed by Bulgaria and Romania (both 3.6).

Source dataset: rail_pa_typepas 

Rail freight transport sees a decline of 0.8% in 2024 

Looking at EU rail freight transport for main undertakings, it reached 375 billion tonne-kilometres (tkm) in 2024, down from 378 billion tkm in 2023 (-0.8%).

Germany was by far the main contributor to the rail transport performance in the EU with 126 320 million tkm, ahead of Poland (56 713 million tkm) and France (32 249 million tkm). At the other end of the scale, Ireland, Luxembourg, Greece and Estonia registered less than 1 000 million tkm in 2024.

The main types of goods transported by rail in the EU in 2024, based on the tkm performed, were ‘metal ores’ (12.2%), ‘coke and refined petroleum products’ (10.1%) and ‘basic metals; fabricated metal products’ (8.9%).

Source dataset: rail_go_typepas