Freight transport in Poland compared with other European countries
The rail freight market in Europe has been on a downward trend for several years. The decline in this sector has been evident since 2019. Following a temporary rebound in 2021–2022, both the volume of goods transported and the tonnage-kilometres have been falling since 2023.
In 2025, a total of 1.5 billion tonnes of goods were transported across 31 European countries (including Poland). Compared with 2024, this represents a 3 per cent decrease (since 2024, Eurostat data has also included statistics on freight transport in Ukraine, which has significantly affected the figures for the market as a whole).
Of the 31 countries, 23 saw a decline in the volume of goods transported, with the largest decreases recorded in Ukraine, Germany and Poland. These three countries together accounted for over 47 per cent of the freight transport market (freight transport in these countries totalled 707 million tonnes, of which 328 million tonnes were in Germany, nearly 218 million tonnes in Poland and 161 million tonnes in Ukraine).
The largest decline in absolute terms was in Ukraine, where freight volumes fell by 13.6 million tonnes. The largest increase in volume (by 4.7 million tonnes) was recorded in Norway, which also represented the highest year-on-year growth rate – at 15.9 per cent. Among the leading European countries in terms of freight transport, increases were also recorded in: Austria (by 2.3 per cent, from 94 million tonnes to 96.2 million tonnes), France (by 1.2 per cent, from 78.3 million tonnes to 79.2 million tonnes) and Italy (by 0.5 per cent, from 94.4 million tonnes to 94.9 million tonnes).
The sharpest decline in freight transport was seen in Ireland (by 37.7 per cent), where rail freight transport has been falling steadily in recent years. This situation is influenced by the shortest network of electrified lines in Europe. In 2025, there was also a significant restriction on rail access to port infrastructure in Dublin due to the modernisation of the so-called ‘Alexandra Road’, which provides direct access to the port terminals. The modernisation is due to last until autumn 2026. The lack of direct rail access to the port resulted in all freight being diverted to road transport until the modernised line reopens.
Outside Ireland, the largest percentage declines were seen in smaller and medium-sized European countries in terms of area. Against this backdrop, Poland was one of the countries least affected by the declines. With freight transport by weight down by 2.5 per cent year-on-year, our country, alongside Germany, was closest to the European average for 2025 (the average rate of decline across 31 countries was 3 per cent).
Freight-kilometres for the 31 countries reached 474.4 billion tonne-kilometres in 2025. Compared with 2024, this figure recorded a decline of 4.8 per cent. Even greater declines were seen in those countries for which Eurostat had been collecting data since at least 2016 (thus excluding Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Ukraine). Germany accounted for the largest volume of freight transport. In 2025, 123.5 billion tonne-kilometres were transported there, representing a 26 per cent share. Ukraine came second with a 20.9 per cent share. Poland, with an 11.9 per cent share, ranks third in Europe in this respect. However, these three countries recorded declines in freight turnover in absolute terms.
France, Italy and Austria recorded increases in freight turnover and their share of the European market. In 2025, France also recorded the highest increase in freight performance in absolute terms (1.71 billion tonne-kilometres more than in 2024, 34 billion tonne-kilometres compared with 32.2 billion tonne-kilometres in 2024). Austria and Italy, on the other hand, recorded increases of 0.66 and 0.63 billion tonne-kilometres respectively. The largest decreases in freight tonnage in absolute terms were in Ukraine (a decrease of 14.2 billion tonne-kilometres), Germany (2.8 billion tonne-kilometres) and Poland (2 billion tonne-kilometres).
The highest growth rate in freight tonnage-kilometres (14.7 per cent) was recorded in Montenegro, despite the fact that freight transport by weight increased in that country by only 2.1 per cent. The second-highest growth rate in freight tonnage-kilometres (8.7 per cent) was recorded in Greece, and the third-highest in Finland (6.3 per cent). The sharpest declines in transport performance growth were seen in the same countries that also recorded the largest percentage falls in freight weight. In 2025, as many as 15 countries accounted for less than 1 per cent of total transport performance.
The average distance travelled per tonne in 2025 decreased by only 5.9 km compared with 2024, amounting to 316.2 km. The highest values for this indicator were recorded in Ukraine (614.3), Greece (454.1) and France (428.7 km). In Poland, the average transport distance was lower than the European average, standing at 258.1 km.
The 31 countries covered by the Eurostat survey are: Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, North Macedonia, Germany, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, Hungary and Italy.