This is a list of countries by rail usage. Usage of

rail transport Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

may be measured in tonne-kilometres (tkm) or passenger-kilometres (pkm) travelled for

freight In transportation, cargo refers to goods transported by land, water or air, while freight refers to its conveyance. In economics, freight refers to goods transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. The term cargo is also used in ...

and

passenger transport Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

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 India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and a quarter each in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Of the 3,000 bn passenger-kilometres travelled across the world each year, 1,346 bn are travelled in

and 1,150 bn in

. 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. 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 High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail transport network utilising trains that run significantly faster than those of traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated railway track, tracks. While there is ...

: 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 (pkm) travelled per year. Unless otherwise specified, data come from th
Railway Statistics 2015 Report
by the

International Union of Railways The International Union of Railways (, UIC) is an international rail transport industry body based in Paris. History The railways of Europe had originated during the nineteenth century as many separate concerns across numerous nations; this le ...

(UIC).''

Passengers carried in rail transport per year

''Countries with more than 20 million passengers per year. Unless otherwise specified, data come from th
Railway Statistics 2019 Report
by the

.'' As mentioned in the notes, many of these figures are very incomplete, as they exclude metro/rapid transport rail services.

Passenger modal share for rail

The

modal share A modal share (also called mode split, mode-share, or modal split) is the percentage of travelers using a particular type of transportation or number of trips using said type. In freight transportation, this may be measured in mass. 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

$Bahnfracht-EU 2003$ ''Countries with more than one billion tonne-kilometres (tkm) travelled per year. Unless otherwise specified, data come from th
Railway Statistics 2014 Report
by the

.''

Tonnes carried in rail transport per year

''Countries with more than ten million tonnes carried per year. Unless otherwise specified, data come from th
Railway Statistics 2014 Report
by the

.''

Freight modal share for rail

The

carried by rail of all freight in a given country.

Freight rail by tonne-kilometres per capita

Brief railway statistics by country

References

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