Trains save Europeans 132 million barrels of oil annually compared to road transport.

Omissions

• The 132 million barrels figure is rounded down from approximately 132.9 million barrels per year (364,000 barrels/day × 365 days).
• The data originates from the CER, an industry lobby group representing European railway companies, not from an independent official statistical body such as Eurostat. The methodology is CER's own modelled comparison of rail versus road energy consumption.
• The CER defines the savings as barrels of 'diesel-equivalent oil', meaning the comparison assumes road transport would use diesel fuel for the same trips.
• Exact publication dates of the underlying CER analysis could not be confirmed within the search limit, though the data has been cited in sector publications from at least 2023-2025.

Sources

• PrimaryCER (Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies)According to CER analysis, rail freight transport is currently sparing Europe 144,000 barrels of diesel-equivalent oil per day.
• SecondaryRailway InternationalEvery day, rail freight saves the equivalent of 144,000 barrels of diesel-equivalent oil, while passenger rail saves a further 220,000 barrels.
• SecondaryRailwayProAccording to calculations presented by CER, rail freight transport currently saves the equivalent of 144,000 barrels of oil per day in Europe.