Portugal had the second highest increase in rail freight transport performance in the European Union in 2025, with year-on-year growth of 8.4%, according to Eurostat data. Only Greece surpassed Portugal, with an increase of 9.3%. This result stands out in a context of widespread decline in Europe, where rail freight transport in the EU decreased by 1.8% last year, to 368.2 billion tonne-kilometres, representing the fourth consecutive year of declines.
The Eurostat report indicates that rail freight transport performance decreased in 16 countries and grew in eight. The largest reductions occurred in Ireland, with a drop of 35.2%, in Latvia with 18.8% and in Estonia with 17.3%. In the opposite direction, in addition to Portugal and Greece, other countries also recorded positive growth.
Germany remained the largest contributor to rail freight transport performance in the EU, accounting for one-third of the total, with 123.5 billion tonne-kilometres. Poland came in second place with 14.7% and France in third place with 9.3% of the European total.
However, when analysed in per capita terms, Portugal presents one of the lowest positions in Europe, alongside Ireland, Greece and Spain. The countries with the highest volume of goods transported by rail per inhabitant were Luxembourg, Austria and Lithuania.
