List of countries by rail usage


This is a list of countries by rail usage. Usage of rail transport may be measured in tonne-kilometres or passenger-kilometres 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 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, almost 500 more than the average Japanese person.
In 2014, there were about 1 million kilometres of railway in the world, a decrease of 3% compared to 2013.
  • 350,000 km were in Europe and mainly used for passenger service.
  • 370,000 km were in North America and mainly used for freight.
  • 230,000 km were in Asia and used for both freight and passenger service.
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.

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 travelled per year. Unless otherwise specified, data come from the by the International Union of Railways.
RankCountry/RegionPassenger-kilometres
Data year
1China

Passengers carried in rail transport per year

Countries with more than 20 million passengers per year. Unless otherwise specified, data come from the 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.
RankCountryMillion
passengers		Data yearNotes
1

Passenger modal share for rail

The modal share of railway transport as compared to other modes of transport, based on Passenger-km.
RankCountryModal share year
1 Japan

Passenger rail by passenger-kilometres per capita

Countries with more than five billion passenger-kilometres travelled per year.
CountryKilometers/yearYear
Switzerland

Freight rail

Tonne-kilometres of rail transport per year

Countries with more than one billion tonne-kilometres travelled per year. Unless otherwise specified, data come from the by the International Union of Railways.
RankCountryBillion tkmData year
1China

Tonnes carried in rail transport per year

Countries with more than ten million tonnes carried per year. Unless otherwise specified, data come from the by the International Union of Railways.
RankCountryMillion tonnesData year
1China

Freight modal share for rail

The modal share carried by rail of all freight in a given country.
RankCountryModal share Data year
1Canada