All aboard: the Swiss are loyal rail riders
Keystone
Despite a decrease in mileage on the previous year, Switzerland remains the most train-loving nation in the world – with the average resident travelling 2,274 kilometres in 2012. The figure was 2,310 kilometres in 2011.
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Switzerland was followed by Japan, whose residents clocked up an average of 1,912 rail kilometres per person last year. Denmark came third, with 1,365 kilometres per person in 2012. At the other end of the spectrum fell Latvia, with 40 kilometres.
In terms of journeys, the Swiss came second to Japan. The average Japanese resident takes 69 train trips a year, compared with 51 for each person in Switzerland. After that it’s Luxembourg with its national average of 40. In comparison, Latvians, Greeks, Lithuanians and Romanians took just one or two trips a year.
The statistics, collected by the International Union of Railways report, were announced by the Swiss Public Transport Information Service on Monday.
A member of the union, the Swiss Federal Railways have been under increasing criticism for technical problems as well as for punctuality and cleanliness issues.
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You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.