A statistical report published by Union TLF on 17 July 2026 shows that European rail freight has continued to lose ground to road transport, despite long-standing EU ambitions to shift more goods onto lower-emission modes.
Recorded rail freight activity reached approximately 378 billion tonne-kilometres in 2024, compared with around 403 billion in 2021. Germany remained relatively stable and Croatia also performed better than the broader market, but most national rail freight sectors recorded falling volumes.
Rail freight activity is heavily concentrated in a small number of countries. Germany accounts for 33% of EU rail tonne-kilometres, followed by Poland with 15% and France with 8%. Italy and Sweden each represent around 6%, Austria 5% and Czechia approximately 4%.
Modal shift moves in the wrong direction
The report’s wider modal split data show road transport carrying 78.1% of EU inland freight tonne-kilometres in 2023. Rail accounted for 16.9%, while inland waterways represented 5%.
The combined share of rail and inland waterways fell from 26.1% in 2014 to 21.9% in 2023. Union TLF estimates that this is equivalent to a shift of almost 97 billion tonne-kilometres towards road transport over the decade.
The decline was particularly pronounced in parts of Central and Eastern Europe, where rail traditionally held a stronger position. Latvia still transported 44% of its inland freight by rail in 2023, but its combined rail and waterway share was 37 percentage points lower than ten years earlier. Lithuania’s rail share stood at 39%, but was also declining.
By comparison, EU road freight generated almost 1.9 trillion tonne-kilometres in 2024, an increase of 18% over ten years, despite remaining below its 2021 peak.
Long-distance road freight offers potential
The report identifies containerised road freight travelling more than 300 kilometres as one of the clearest opportunities for modal shift.
Such journeys represent only 8.7% of road container tonnage, but because of the distances involved, they account for around 42% of containerised road freight measured in tonne-kilometres.
The potential differs significantly between countries. More than 40% of containerised road tonnage in Romania travels over 300 kilometres, compared with around 20% in France and much lower proportions in Sweden and the Netherlands.
However, Union TLF notes that rail and inland waterways may not currently have sufficient capacity to absorb these volumes. A European Commission study cited in the report identified constraints at terminals and on major north—south TEN-T corridors.
The report argues that shifting more freight will require additional transhipment capacity, new terminals and logistics hubs, and coordinated investment in cross-border infrastructure.
Europe currently has nine designated rail freight corridors, intended to simplify international path allocation and improve links between railways, ports, inland waterways and road networks. Their further development will depend on coordinated construction planning and investment between Member States.
The 2026 report is based mainly on Eurostat and European Commission data from 2024 and 2025. Union TLF notes that some rail figures remain incomplete, particularly because Belgium has not submitted recent rail freight data.
