Rail usage statistics by country

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

1 Passenger rail
- 1.1 Passenger-km of rail transport by country, in billion/year:
- 1.2 Distance travelled by rail per inhabitant in km/year:
2 Freight rail
3 See also
4 Source

[edit] Passenger rail

[edit] Passenger-km of rail transport by country, in billion/year:

Country	Billion passenger-kilometres	Year
China	662.20	2006
India	575.70	2005
European Union	352.74	2005
Japan	245.96	2005
Russia	164.26	2005
France	78.31	2005
Germany	72.57	2005
Ukraine	52.66	2005
Italy	47.37	2005
United Kingdom	44.04	2005
Egypt	40.84	2004
South Korea	31	2005
Indonesia	25.54	2004
Pakistan	23.05	2004
Spain	21.05	2005
Poland	16.74	2005
Netherlands	14.73	2005
Switzerland	13.83	2005
Belarus	13.57	2005
Kazakhstan	12.13	2005
Iran	11.15	2005
Thailand	9.20	2004
Belgium	9.15	2005
United States	8.87	2004
Austria	8.59	2005
Romania	7.96	2005
Hungary	7.13	2005
Argentina	6.98	2003
Sweden	5.67	2005
Czech Republic	6.63	2005
Denmark	5.46	2005
Turkey	5.04	2005

[edit] Distance travelled by rail per inhabitant in km/year:

Country	Kilometres/year
Japan	1900
Switzerland	1730
Belarus	1260
France	1060
Ukraine	1010
Denmark	1000
Austria	1000
Russia	990
Germany	890
Egypt	880
Netherlands	860
Sweden	770
Belgium	700
Italy	710
Czech Republic	700
Hungary	700
Poland	670
South Korea	630
Finland	570
Norway	560
Romania	540
China	504
Kazakhstan	500
United Kingdom	490
Spain	420
Portugal	400
India	370
Argentina	280
South Africa	200
Thailand	150
USA	140
Pakistan	120
Iran	90
Myanmar	90
Turkey	90
Indonesia	70
Bangladesh	30
Estonia	15

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. 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.

[edit] Freight rail

[edit] Freight rail by billions of tonne-kilometers

Country	Billion tonne-kilometres	Year
United States	2717.51	2005
China	2195.4	2006
Russian Federation	1801.6	2005
India	407.40	2005
European Union	359.12	2005
Canada	338.66	2004
Ukraine	223.98	2005
Brazil	221.60	2005
Kazakhstan	171.86	2005
South Africa	108.51	2005
Germany	88.02	2005
Mexico	54.39	2004
Australia	46.16	2005
Poland	46.06	2005
Belarus	43.56	2005
France	41.9	2005
Japan	22.63	2005
United Kingdom	22.11	2005
Italy	21.05	2005
Iran	19.13	2005
Uzbekistan	18.01	2005
Austria	17.06	2005
Latavia	17.92	2005
Romania	16.03	2005
Czech Republic	14.39	2005
Sweden	13.12	2004
Lithuania	12.46	2005
Spain	11.59	2005
Switzerland	11.39	2005
Estonia	10.31	2005
South Korea	10.11	2005