The Office of Rail Transport reported that Polish railways transported 245.1 million passengers last year and ranks sixth among the 28 European countries. The largest number of people used rail transport in Germany, France and Italy.

The Office of Rail Transport examined data provided by Eurostat and studied how the passenger transport market in Poland compares to other European countries. The analysis, covering 28 countries, shows that German railways carried the highest number of passengers in 2021 – 1756.1 million people.

The second position with 881.4 million passengers, was taken by France, and Italian railways were third with 480.3 million passengers. It was followed by Spain and Switzerland with the number of passengers respectively: 404.4 million and 346.0 million. In Poland, rail transported 245.1 million passengers, which ranks it sixth among the 28 European countries.

Rail passenger transport in 2021 mostly experienced a market recovery from the pandemic-affected year 2020, with higher passenger numbers year-on-year handled by railways from the 19 countries. Railways in France gained the most in 2021 compared to 2020, with 157.6 million more passengers (+21.8 %), Italy with 97.9 million more (+25.6 %) and Spain with 74.9 million (+22.7 %). The Polish railway, with 35.7 million more passengers (+17%), ranks fifth in this ranking.

However, not all European countries recorded an increase in the number of rail passengers. For 9 of the 28 countries, 2021 marked a decline compared to 2020. The largest – by 45 million was recorded in Germany, due to continued low demand for passenger services. In addition to Germany, declines were also recorded in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland, as well as in Slovakia, Ireland, Greece and Latvia.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński