UIC members’ statistics for 2010 indicate an average overall growth of
3.4%, measured in tonne-kilometres for the freight sector worldwide, confirming economic and trade recovery. As for passenger transport, the statistics provided show a 3.5% jump in passenger-kilometres worldwide, boosted by the development of rail traffic in Asia and in particular by railways in India.

With an 8% increase compared to 2009, Russia’s extremely dynamic freight sector represents almost a quarter of tonne-kilometres transported in the world. The United States and Canada notched up 4% growth whilst representing over 25% of total tonnage transported, whereas China, which represents 70% of the total tonnage in Asia (and Oceania), showed a slight sag at only 3%. Indian Railways saw its traffic increase by 9% followed closely by Kazakh Railways with 8%. Europe (non CIS) for its part showed an increase of 7%, a trend which has continued through the early part of 2011. Growth was at 1.5% in Africa.

Passenger transport growth worldwide remains steady on the whole due to growth in Asia, particularly India, which saw an 8% increase, and China, which saw a 0.4% increase.

Passenger transport remains steady due to Indian Railways which has seen its traffic increase by 8% on average throughout 2010 compared to 2009 in passenger-kilometres, whilst representing almost half of passenger traffic in the Asian region. Passenger rail transport in China, representing over a third of the traffic volumes reported, increased by an average of 0.4% in 2010. Passenger transport in Russia saw a decline of 9%, whilst remaining stable in Europe. Africa on the other hand remains steady with a 0.2% increase.