Busiest Train Routes in the World

Route Rankings

These routes carry the highest annual passenger volumes, with the Tokaido Shinkansen alone transporting more passengers than most countries' entire rail networks combined.

# Name Value
1 Tokaido Shinkansen (Tokyo–Osaka) 171M passengers/year
2 Paris–Lyon TGV 44M passengers/year
3 Beijing–Shanghai HSR 38M passengers/year
4 Madrid–Barcelona AVE 11M passengers/year
5 London–Birmingham (WCML) 36M passengers/year
6 Sanyo Shinkansen (Osaka–Fukuoka) 67M passengers/year
7 Seoul–Busan KTX 30M passengers/year
8 Taipei–Kaohsiung THSR 28M passengers/year
9 Rome–Milan (Frecciarossa) 18M passengers/year
10 London–Paris Eurostar 11M passengers/year

Methodology

Ranked by annual passenger volume, using data from operator financial reports and government transportation statistics.

Quick Facts

Category Route Rankings
Entries 10
Unit million passengers/year
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