Rail freight was the only mode of transport in Poland experiencing a drop in both total tonnes and tonne-kilometre between 2024 and 2025. Road, air, pipeline and maritime transport all recorded increases, while inland waterways remained quite stable.
In total, 2.3 billion tonnes of goods were moved to, from and through Poland in 2025, compared to 2.13 billion in 2024, according to the country’s statistics office. In terms of tonne-kilometre, the number went from 483 to 500 billion. Trucks took care of the vast majority, with rail coming in second followed by maritime and pipeline. Inland waterways and air cargo remained marginal.
Rail goes down, intermodal goes up
Total tonnes moved by rail went from 222 to 216 million, while tonne-kilometre decreased from 57.8 to 55.5 billion. On the other hand, road freight asserted its dominance, going from 1.86 to 2.02 billion tonnes and from 392 to 408 billion tonne-kilometre between 2024 and 2025. For both rail and road, most transport was domestic – 69.9% and 83% respectively.
Amid the struggles of Polish rail freight, there is a sector that is fluorishing: intermodal transport. Its growth, started in 2023, continued in 2025, as recent data from the Polish Office of Transport showed. However, intermodal is only a small portion of rail freight. Of the 55.5 billion tonne-kilometre recorded in 2025, only 9.61 billion moved by intermodal transport.