Number of passengers who traveled by train down by 4.4 pct in the first 9 months of 2024 (INS)

The number of passengers traveling by train in the first nine months of 2024 was 53.718 million, down by 4.4% compared to the same period last year, according to data centralized by the National Institute of Statistics (INS).

Of these, 53.479 million passengers traveled within the country and 239,000 made international trips.

In the first nine months of the year, road remains the most used mode of transport, accounting for 75.6% of the total passenger transport, with rail passenger transport accounting for 17.5% of the total.

In terms of rail freight transport, the volume decreased by 11.1% compared to January-September 2023, with 32.861 million tonnes of freight transported, of which 78.6% in national transport. According to the INS, most of the technical-economic indicators of vehicle fleet utilization in rail transport recorded a negative evolution compared to the period January 1 - September 30, 2023. Thus, the average daily distance covered by locomotives used for freight transport (km/day) decreased by 13.3%, the number of wagons loaded on the national rail transport company, CFR Romania network was 12.7% lower, the number of loaded wagons coming from abroad decreased by 11%, the average daily distance of freight wagons (km/day) decreased by 8.8%, and the average commercial speed of freight trains (km/h) decreased by 6.6%. The average gross weight of freight wagons (tonnes/train) decreased by 3.6%.

Also, the average daily distance covered by passenger carriages (km/day) and the average commercial speed of passenger trains (km/h) decreased by 3.4%, the distance covered by locomotives by 3.2%, the distance traveled by trains decreased by 3% and the distance traveled by railcars by 1.3%.