According to data published by the Office of Rail Transport, last year the railway carried 243.6 million tonnes of freight and 245.1 million passengers. Compared to 2020, 35.7 million passengers returned to the railway, and the transported mass increased by 20.4 million tonnes. In passenger transport, the situation has not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels.
Freight transport
In freight transport in 2021, increases in operational data were recorded compared to the previous year. 243.6 million tonnes of freight were transported. This translated into an increase of 20.4 million tonnes (9.1%) compared to 2020. Transport performance amounted to almost 56 billion tonne-kilometres – an increase of 3.8 billion tonne-kilometres (7.2%). Operational performance reached the level of 81.6 million train-kilometres, which meant an increase of 4.1 million train-kilometres (5.3%). The average transport distance in 2021 was 230 km – 4 km less compared to 2020.
The mass of cargo in 2021 was also higher than in 2019. 7.2 million tonnes more were transported (3.1%). In terms of transport performance, the increase was 0.1%, which translated into 78 million tonne-kilometres, and in terms of operational performance, there was a decrease of -0.9%, i.e., 0.7 million train-kilometres. The average distance decreased by 6.7 km.
– In freight transport in 2021, compared to 2020, the situation was more stable; there was no longer such a dose of uncertainty on the market, and carriers adapted to the new realities. The weaker months were only January and February, but from March, transport was already at a stable level. In the last decade, only in 2018 was a larger mass of goods transported. Nevertheless, a noticeable trend is the loss of market share by rail transport relative to road transport. In Poland, the mass and volume of transported goods are successively increasing year by year, but the data show that it is road transport that is the main beneficiary of these changes. From the perspective of the entire market, it is worrying that rail freight transport is still not competitive enough compared to road transport – comments Dr. Eng. Ignacy Góra, President of the Office of Rail Transport.
In December 2021, 20.5 million tonnes of cargo were recorded, 0.7 million (3.7%) more than a year earlier. Transport performance increased by 148 million tonne-kilometres (3.2%) and amounted to 4.7 billion tonne-kilometres, and operational performance reached the level of 6.6 million train-kilometres, which was 0.3 million train-kilometres less (-3.9%). The average travel distance was 1 km shorter.
Passenger transport
In 2021, 245.1 million passengers travelled by rail. Compared to 2020, 35.7 million more passengers decided to travel by train (+17%). Transport performance amounted to 15.9 billion passenger-kilometres and was 3.2 billion higher (+26%) year-on-year. Operational performance reached a value of over 178 million train-kilometres, which is a result 17.8 million higher (+11%) compared to 2020. The average travel distance of one passenger in 2021 was 64.8 km – 4.4 km more (+7.3%) compared to the average distance recorded in 2020.
The number of passengers transported by rail last year accounts for 73% of the number of passengers from 2019 – the period before the outbreak of the pandemic. Similarly, transport performance is 72% of the work performed in 2019, while operational performance reached a value 4% higher than two years ago. The average travel distance of one passenger last year was 0.9 km shorter than in 2019.
– The year 2021 in passenger transport closed at the level of 245.1 million passengers. This result is higher than that recorded in 2020 (209.4 million). However, the number of travellers is still far from the level of 335.9 million from 2019. We do not know when it will be possible to return to pre-pandemic transport levels. Quality, comfort, and safety are not enough here. A very good offer and, above all, promotional activities are needed – this also applies to the price of services provided. Therefore, for passenger carriers, the coming years will be full of challenges related to social changes that the pandemic has caused or accelerated. Remote work may become the standard, as will learning, e.g., at universities. This results in less need for travel. Some of the existing passengers are permanently giving up public transport, while others will use it only occasionally – concludes President Ignacy Góra.
Source: Office of Rail Transport