Rail freight traffic worldwide, by region 2019-2020

In 2020, goods traveled approximately 3.2 trillion tonne kilometers by rail in Europe, ranking slightly lower than Asia and Oceania, where almost 4.5 trillion tonne kilometers of cargo was transported by railroad in the same year. Rail freight traffic worldwide presented a considerable decrease between 2019 and 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic, with the exception of Africa, where there was a slight drop of only 0.2 percent in freight activity.

A connected European network

Centrally located and transporting roughly 120 billion tonne-kilometers of freight annually, Germany represents the largest rail freight market in Europe, followed by Poland and France. Further investment in high-speed railroad networks in economically developing regions such as eastern Europe is expected to facilitate growth in overall regional rail freight traffic, rail capacity, and revenue. This will especially be of relevance in the context of the Belt and Road project, which will optimize the efficient movement of goods by rail directly between eastern Europe and China.

South Africa leads the African rail freight market

The Africa region has one of the least dense railway networks worldwide, with only South Africa boasting a comprehensive network that covers a large proportion of its land. Responsible for around two-thirds of the continent’s performance in terms of rail freight haulage, South Africa dominates the rail freight market in the region. Nevertheless, rail freight activities in Africa overall rose sharply from a low base in 2020, reaching just over 170 billion tonne-kilometers, indicating that further growth in the region is possible, particularly if more is invested in rail infrastructure across the entire continent.