The number of passengers travelling by trains operating under PSO contracts was 91 m. It was an increase by 6.8% compared to 2Q 2022. Commercial services were used by 2.1 m travellers (up by 73% year-on-year), while occasional services accounted for 0.6 m (down by 16.8%).
The share of passengers carried by trains operating under PSO contracts decreased from 97.8% in 2Q 2022 to 97.2% in 2Q 2023. The share of occasional rail services was 0.6% - a decrease by 0.2 pps. The share of commercial rail services increased by 0.8 pp – from 1.4% to 2.2% of the total number of passengers.
TRANSPORT PERFORMANCE
The transport performance in 2Q 2023 was 6.5 bn pass-km. This parameter increased by 6.1% compared to 2022. The transport performance of PSC trains reached 5.9 bn pass-km - an increase by 3.5%. The transport performance of commercial trains was 0.6 bn pass-km (up by 50.2%) and of occasional trains was 9.5 m pass-km (down by 54.7% here).
When compared to 2Q 2022, the share of PSC trains in the transport performance decreased by 2.4 pp and was 91.2%. The share of commercial trains in the transport performance increased by 2.6 pp to 8.7% and the share of occasional trains decreased by 0.2 pp to 0.1%.
When we look at the categories of carriage, the share of passengers using 1st class carriages/compartments has increased. In 2Q 2022 it amounted to 1.3% of the total number of travellers, rising to 1.5% in 2023 (which was 1.4 m travellers). The vast majority (92 m passengers) used 2nd class carriages/compartments (share at 98.4%, up from 98.7% in 2022). The remaining passengers travelled in sleeper cars (60.5 thousand) and carriages with reclining seats (80.5 thousand).
The majority of passengers in 2Q 2023 used regional and agglomeration trains - a total of 74.6 m, which was 79.7% of all passengers. Interregional trains were used by 17.5% of passengers. International connections including cross-border journeys accounted for 2.3% of the share in the number of passengers. The remaining passengers used occasional train services. When compared to 2Q 2022, there was an increase in passenger numbers of different types of transport in almost all categories. The only exception was occasional carriage. The leap was visible in the international EuroCity connections, which were used by less than 3,500 passengers in 2Q 2022 and now by almost 90,000.
COMPARISON WITH 1Q 2023
The number of passengers increased by 5.6 m (6.4%) compared to 1Q 2023. PSC trains were used by 4.9 m more travellers (5.7%) and commercial services by 0.5 m more (32%). Occasional services were used by 0.2 m more passengers (41.1%).
The transport performance increased by 1 bn pass-km (17.4%) compared to 1Q 2023. Within PSO services, the transport performance increased by 0.8 bn pass-km (16.1%), commercial services rose by 0.1 bn pass-km (33.8%) and occasional services decreased by 1 m passenger-km (-11.6%).
By type of passenger service, compared to 1Q 2023, passenger numbers decreased only for EuroCity international services (-1.6%). The highest increase was for inter-regional passenger services (205%).
Detailed data can be found on our statistics website Dane Kolejowe (Railway Data) in the Passenger transport services section.