Silver Data Lab
Transport

Two EU Countries Have No Railway at All

Silver Data Lab Research Desk · Statistical analysis · Published on 26 July 2026

Data source
Eurostat
Reference period
2024
Last updated
12 October 2026

Re-checked against the source on 12 October 2026. No value in its datasets has moved between the snapshots we hold. Every revision we have observed →

Key estimates

  • Trains carried 7.5% of EU passenger-kilometres in 2024, on a measure that counts flights and ferries alongside cars, buses and trains.
  • Hungary records the highest share at 11.3%, followed by Austria at 10.4% and the Netherlands at 9.8%.
  • Greece records 0.4%, Lithuania 1.1% and Bulgaria 1.5%.
  • Cyprus and Malta appear nowhere in the ranking: neither has a railway network.
  • No Member State carries more than an eighth of its passenger transport by rail.
Share of passenger transport by rail in 2024, with air and sea travel counted in the total: Hungary 11.3%, Austria 10.4% and the Netherlands 9.8% above the EU average of 7.5%, and Bulgaria 1.5%, Lithuania 1.1% and Greece 0.4% below it.

A mode that carries less than a tenth of European travel

Rail occupies a large share of European transport policy and a small share of European transport. Across the EU in 2024, trains carried 7.5% of passenger-kilometres on the measure used here, which counts flights and ferries alongside cars, buses and trains.

The highest national figure in the Union is 11.3%. There is no Member State where rail approaches the role that cars occupy, and none where it carries even an eighth of passenger distance.

Where rail does best

Hungary records 11.3%, Austria 10.4%, the Netherlands 9.8%, and Germany, France and Sweden 9.4% each.

Hungary at the top is the finding worth stating carefully. It is not among the Union's wealthiest Member States, and it has a dense inherited network with heavily used commuter services around Budapest. Austria's position rests on a similar structure. Rail share tracks network density and settlement pattern more closely than it tracks income.

Where rail is marginal

Greece records 0.4%, meaning rail carries one passenger-kilometre in every two hundred and fifty. Lithuania records 1.1%, Bulgaria 1.5% and Estonia 2.0%.

Greece is the case that resists a single explanation. Its geography is difficult for rail and much of its domestic long-distance travel is by sea or air — and on this measure those journeys are counted in the denominator, which is part of why the Greek share is as low as it is. It is not the whole of it: with air and sea taken out Greece still records the lowest share in the Union, 0.6%, and it stays low against comparable Mediterranean countries, Portugal at 3.8% and Italy at 6.2%.

The two countries that are not in this ranking

Cyprus and Malta do not appear at all. Neither has a railway network, so there is no share to report.

Their absence is a fact about those countries rather than a gap in the data, and a chart of European rail use showing twenty-seven bars would be showing two that cannot exist. The ranking here covers the 25 Member States that have railways.

Share of passenger transport by rail, 2024

EU average 7.5Hungary — 11.3 % of passenger-kilometres · Gap to EU average +3.8 (percentage points, derived)Hungary11.3Austria — 10.4 % of passenger-kilometres · Gap to EU average +2.9 (percentage points, derived)Austria10.4Netherlands — 9.8 % of passenger-kilometres · Gap to EU average +2.3 (percentage points, derived)Netherlands9.8Bulgaria — 1.5 % of passenger-kilometres · Gap to EU average −6.0 (percentage points, derived)Bulgaria1.5Lithuania — 1.1 % of passenger-kilometres · Gap to EU average −6.4 (percentage points, derived)Lithuania1.1Greece — 0.4 % of passenger-kilometres · Gap to EU average −7.1 (percentage points, derived)Greece0.4-113% of passenger-kilometres — axis does not start at zero
Share of passenger transport by rail, 2024
Country% of passenger-kilometresGap to EU averagepercentage points, derived
Hungary11.3ep+3.8
Austria10.4e+2.9
Netherlands9.8e+2.3
European Unionaggregate7.5be—
Bulgaria1.5e−6.0
Lithuania1.1e−6.4
Greece0.4e−7.1

Flags carried by the source on these values: be break in time series, estimated · e estimated · ep estimated, provisional

Share of passenger transport by rail, 2024. Three highest and three lowest EU Member States, with the EU aggregate for reference. The gap column is derived by Silver Data Lab from the two published values and is not itself published by the source. Source: Eurostat, tran_hv_ms_psmod.

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What these figures cannot tell you

Two Member States have no railway
Cyprus and Malta have no rail network and are absent from this indicator entirely. They are excluded rather than shown at zero, because zero would imply a network carrying no passengers.
Passenger-kilometres, not journeys
Rail's share is measured in distance. A country with heavy short-distance commuter rail and long-distance driving will show a lower rail share than its number of rail trips suggests.
Urban rail is treated inconsistently
Metro, tram and light rail systems are not always included in national rail reporting, and practice differs between Member States. This affects countries with large urban networks more than others.
Air and sea are counted in the total
The table used here divides rail by all passenger-kilometres, flights and ferries included, so a Member State where much domestic travel is by air or sea records a lower rail share than it would on the inland modes alone. Eurostat publishes both, and the EU reads 7.5% here against 8.9% with air and sea taken out. Hungary is the highest and Greece the lowest on either basis; the third place from the top changes hands.

Frequently asked questions

What share of EU travel is by train?
7.5% of all passenger-kilometres in 2024, with air and sea travel counted in the total. No Member State carries more than 11.3% of its passenger distance by rail.
Which EU country uses trains the most?
Hungary, at 11.3% of all passenger-kilometres in 2024, ahead of Austria at 10.4% and the Netherlands at 9.8%. Rail share tracks network density and settlement patterns more closely than income.
Which EU countries have no railway?
Cyprus and Malta. Neither has a rail network, so neither appears in this indicator. They are excluded from the ranking rather than shown at zero.
Which EU country uses trains the least?
Of those with a railway, Greece, at 0.4% of all passenger-kilometres in 2024 — roughly one passenger-kilometre in 250. Lithuania follows at 1.1% and Bulgaria at 1.5%.

Methodological note

Modal split is published by Eurostat as the share of each mode in total passenger transport, measured in passenger-kilometres. This study uses the train share from the table that covers air, sea and inland transport together, so flights and ferries are counted in the denominator alongside cars, buses and trains. Eurostat publishes a second table restricted to the inland modes; the EU and Greek figures quoted from it come from its own extraction, declared below.

Values are for 2024. Twenty-five Member States report: Cyprus and Malta have no railway network and are absent from the source rather than recorded at zero.

The EU aggregate of 7.5% is Eurostat's own figure, computed across the countries that report.

Source data

This study draws on 2 datasets from Eurostat. Each can be inspected and re-downloaded from its catalogue, and the filters below are the ones applied.

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How to cite

Record the vintage as well as the study: the figures on this page are the ones extracted on the dates below.

Silver Data Lab Research Desk (2026). Two EU Countries Have No Railway at All. Silver Data Lab, published 26 July 2026, last updated 12 October 2026. https://www.silverdatalab.com/studies/rail-travel-in-the-eu

  • Data: Eurostat, Modal split of air, sea and inland passenger transport (tran_hv_ms_psmod), filters freq=A, vehicle=TRN, unit=PC, time=2024; extracted 2026-08-27; source last updated 2026-08-26. https://doi.org/10.2908/tran_hv_ms_psmod
  • Data: Eurostat, Modal split of inland passenger transport (tran_hv_psmod), filters freq=A, vehicle=TRN, unit=PC, time=2024; extracted 2026-10-12; source last updated 2026-08-26. https://doi.org/10.2908/tran_hv_psmod

Silver Data Lab's analysis is licensed CC BY 4.0. The statistics remain their publisher's and keep its terms of reuse.

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