Fewer Romanians chose to travel by train in 2024
<p>The number of passengers who traveled by train in the first nine months of 2024 was 53.71 million, a decrease of 4.4% compared to the same period last year, according to data compiled by the National Institute of Statistics (INS) and cited by <a href="https://agerpres.ro/economic/2025/01/07/ins-numarul-pasagerilor-care-au-circulat-cu-trenul-a-scazut-cu-4-4-in-primele-9-luni-din-2024--1410657">Agerpres</a>.</p>
<p>The vast majority of passengers, 53.47 million, traveled domestically, while 239,000 took international trips.</p>
<p>Overall, rail passenger transport accounted for 17.5% of total passenger transport in the first nine months of 2024, surpassed by road transport, which had a share of 75.6%.</p>
<p>Rail freight transport also decreased by 11.1% compared to the January-September 2023 period, with 32.861 million tons of goods transported, of which 78.6% were within the country. The goods most transported were coke and refined petroleum products (24.2%) and coal, lignite, crude oil, and natural gas (18%). </p>
<p>According to the INS, most technical and economic indicators for the use of the rail vehicle fleet showed a negative trend compared to last year. The average daily mileage of locomotives used for freight transport (km/day) decreased by 13.3%, loaded wagons on the CFR network dropped by 12.7%, loaded wagons entering from abroad declined by 11%, the average daily mileage of freight wagons (km/day) decreased by 8.8%, and the average commercial speed of freight trains (km/h) fell by 6.6%. </p>
<p>Moreover, the average gross weight of freight wagons (tons/train) decreased by 3.6%. Similarly, the average daily mileage of passenger wagons (km/day) and the average commercial speed of passenger trains (km/h) decreased by 3.4%, locomotive mileage fell by 3.2%, train mileage dropped by 3%, and the mileage of railcars decreased by 1.3%.</p>
<p><em><a href="mailto:radu@romania-insider.com">radu@romania-insider.com</a></em></p>
<p><em>(Photo source: Jerome CID | <a href="https://www.dreamstime.com/">Dreamstime.com</a>)</em></p>