In 2023, the volume of rail freight transport in Germany stood at 132.55 billion tonne-kilometers. Over the last two years, the year-on-year variation was -0.032% for 2022 and 1.19% for 2023. The Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) for the last five years averaged at approximately 0.39%.
Between 2013 and 2020, rail freight transport experienced fluctuations with significant dips in 2020 at -7.26%. Post-2020, there was a noticeable rebound with a 9.39% increase in 2021. The period from 2013 to 2023 shows moderate growth oscillations ending with a slight positive trend in recent years.
For future trends:
- Steady growth: Predicted continued growth with a forecasted 5-year CAGR of 0.88% reaching 140.1 billion tonne-kilometers by 2028.
- Infrastructure and technology: Potential impact from investments in rail infrastructure and adoption of advanced logistics technologies.
- Environmental policies: Stricter environmental regulations may drive an increased shift of freight from road to rail.