Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – The Swiss traveled more kilometres on trains than any other nation in 2008: 2,422 kilometres per person. And for the first time ever, the average number of train journeys rose to 50 per person – putting the Swiss in second place after the Japanese, with 71 journeys a year per person. By comparison, the French travel 1,173 km per person a year.

The figures are compiled every year by the International Union of Railways (UIC), and this year’s theme is the importance of rail in reducing CO2 emissions. The table for passenger traffic shows that going by train from the centre of Berlin to Frankfurt’s city centre is four times better than by car in terms of emissions and three times better than by plane (plane includes travel to and from the airport to the centre).

Only train journeys taken on its members trains are included in the figures. These are mainly large nationalized companies, although for Switzerland it includes the Chemin de fer du Lötschberg and the Cisalpino trains, but the many smaller regional train lines are not included.