In June 2024, the railways carried nearly 19 million tonnes of freight, an increase of 4.8 per cent compared to June last year. This is equivalent to an additional 0.9 million tonnes of freight transported.
Transport work performed by the railways in June exceeded 5.1 billion tonne-kilometres, an increase of more than 4% year-on-year, or 0.2 billion tonne-kilometres more. The average distance carried per tonne of freight was over 270 kilometres, a slight decrease of less than 2 kilometres compared to June 2023.
Increases seen on a monthly basis
Compared to May, June was better in terms of the weight of freight carried, which increased by 1.5%. Goods train work also increased by around 0.6%. However, the work in service decreased slightly by 0.1 million train-kilometres, and the average distance carried per tonne of freight also decreased by more than 2 kilometres.
Rail services in the first half of 2024
In the first half of 2024, goods trains transported more than 110 million tonnes of goods. Freight work exceeded 29.3 billion tonne-kilometres and operational work reached almost 40.7 million train-kilometres. Compared to the same period in 2023, this is a decrease of 4.6 million tonnes of freight transported, a decrease of 4%.
Positive outlook for the near future
The last two years have been challenging for rail freight, as evidenced by the results for the first half of 2024. June this year saw a significant increase in rail freight. Despite some challenges, the rail sector is showing signs of stabilisation and growth. Rail freight data has been published by the Rail Transport Authority.
