In 2021, Switzerland had the highest number of passenger kilometers traveled by train per capita domestically and internationally, while Luxembourg had the longest average distance for international rail travel.
Eurostat data shows that Switzerland's national passenger kilometers per capita in 2019 were 2,378, while in 2021 the figure fell to 1,536, a decrease of 35.4%, which may be related to COVID-19 pandemic.
While the EU average is 927 km, the second and third countries following in terms of rail passenger kilometers traveled per capita in 2021 are France and Austria, with 1,121 and 902 km respectively.
In 2019, Austria ranked second with 1,140 km, followed by France with 1,437 km. However, the two countries reversed positions in 2021, with France climbing the list and Austria in third place. The list of countries with the highest number of passengers transported by rail ends with Sweden (773 km), Denmark (716), Germany (692) and Czechia (643).
However, compared to 2019 levels, all of these countries saw a significant decline in rail passenger kilometers traveled in 2021, with the highest difference recorded in Ireland, where the reduction was 64.4% – from 489 to 174 km traveled on freight rail. Rail passport per capita.
Outside of Ireland, countries such as Norway, Italy and Slovakia saw the clearest declines in passenger rail traffic per capita in 2021, all seeing figures fall by one half. Specifically, rail passenger transport decreased by 52.6% in Norway, about 50.6% in Italy and 50.2% in Slovakia.
The countries that managed to maintain the least affected figures during this period were Slovenia, Lithuania and Bulgaria, with average rail passenger transport in 2021 lower than 13, 19.8 and 19.5 respectively. compared to 2019 levels. Furthermore, passenger kilometers per capita in 2021 internationally were highest in Luxembourg (135.5 km), followed by Switzerland (62.2 km) and the Czech Republic (57.5 km ). Countries such as Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Greece recorded zero passenger kilometers per capita in 2021.
The number of trips per capita is highest in Switzerland – 60.8 trips in 2019 and 38.8 trips in 2021, followed by Luxembourg and Denmark, with 26.1 and 23 average trips respectively head. However, the number of trips in 2019 was 40.8 and 35.6 for Luxembourg and Denmark, recording a decrease of 36 and 35.3% respectively.
The share of trains in domestic passenger transport is higher than the EU average (eight in 2019 and six in 2021) in countries such as Switzerland (14.6), Austria (9.8) and Switzerland. Dien (7.5). Greece, Lithuania and Slovenia have the lowest rates due to fewer than two registered domestic passenger trains.