Rail Usage by Country 2024

Railroads changed the world and jump-started development in countless countries. And even in the age of air travel, rail usage is still an important part of the transportation picture for many nations.

India is the globe's overwhelming rail usage leader, with over 8 billion passenger trips per year making up more than a trillion kilometers traveled. Japan is a relatively distant second at roughly 6.6 billion passenger trips covering a far smaller 150 billion kilometers. China ranks third in total passenger trips with just under 3 billion but sees trips making up nearly 950 billion kilometers, making it second most by that metric. All three nations have global reputations for the quality of their systems and their strong integration into domestic travel. Germany takes fourth place with roughly 1.2 billion passenger trips (over 46 billion kilometers), followed by France in fifth with just under 900 billion passenger trips and 75 billion kilometers traveled. Interestingly, the geographically far larger Russia transports a comparable number of passengers to France over a similar distance. Countries with the top rail usage by passengers and distance are overwhelmingly located in Asia and Europe, with exceptions like Egypt (500 million passengers) and Brazil (867 million passengers transported more than 16 billion kilometers.)

Saudi Arabia sees the lowest passenger rail usage, with around 300,000 passengers traveling 135 million kilometers. Cameroon only transports 600,000 passengers over 225 million kilometers. Somewhat unexpectedly, Canada is the third lowest in the world, with 365 million kilometers traveled by just over 1 million passengers. The United States sees just 10 million passengers annually but transports them over a relatively large 3.6 billion passenger kilometers. The bottom ten rail usage nations are more geographically and financially diverse, spanning multiple continents and income levels.

It's also vital to note some countries may have no rail usage at all, primarily due to their small size or remote status, like islands.