Transport and infrastructure in the United Kingdom
Our listing of the primary kinds of transport compares the infrastructure of the United Kingdom with the average of all countries in Europe. Overall, the traffic routes are above average and in good condition.In terms of the length of its rail network, United Kingdom ranks 57th in the world with 0.25 meters per inhabitant. In total, the rail network is 16,837 kilometers long. Freight traffic on the rails most recently totaled 17.21 billion tons and kilometers traveled. Passenger traffic reached 80.53 billion passenger-kilometers in 2018.
The waterways listed refer to inland traffic on rivers and canals. The number of ports includes those located on the total 12,429 km of coastline. In 2020, about 8.69 million freight containers were transported.
› Airports in the United Kingdom
Back to overview: United Kingdom
Road traffic
The network of roads and highways has a total length of 394,428 km. For each of the country's 67.33 million inhabitants, this corresponds to 5.86 meters. This puts United Kingdom in 95th place in the global ranking. However, the country's size and population density of around 276 inhabitants per km² must also be taken into account. Countries with fewer inhabitants on the same or even larger area naturally achieve quite different values here and have to connect remote areas to the transport network despite a smaller population.With an average of 1987 traffic fatalities per year (2012 - 2019), road traffic in the United Kingdom is considered very safe. This corresponds to around 4.3 accident fatalities per 3.0 inhabitants per year. By comparison, this figure is 12.2 in the USA and 17.1 worldwide.
In the United Kingdom, left-hand traffic is the rule on the roads, i.e. you drive in the left lane and overtake on the right. Oncoming traffic comes to meet you on the right side. This rule was introduced at the end of the 18th century during the Napoleonic Wars. Here you can also find an overview of all countries with left-hand traffic.
United Kingdom | |||
| total | per 1 mio inhabitants | per km² | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roadways | 394,400 km | 5,858.43 km | 1,619.10 m |
| Railroads | 16,800 km | 250.08 km | 69.11 m |
| Waterways | 3,200 km | 47.53 km | 13.14 m |
| Commercial harbors | 1,249 | 18.55 | 0.005 |
| Airports | 59 | 0.88 | 0.242 |
Europe | |||
| total | per 1 mio inhabitants | per km² | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roadways | 6,708,300 km | 11,157.59 km | 1,111.61 m |
| Railroads | 258,600 km | 430.13 km | 42.85 m |
| Waterways | 53,100 km | 88.38 km | 8.81 m |
| Commercial harbors | 15,291 | 25.43 | 0.003 |
| Airports | 573 | 0.95 | 0.000 |
Data sources used
• Global Health Observatory Data Repository (World Health Organization)• UNCTAD
• Internation Union of Railways (UIC)
• CIA Factbook
• OECD Statistics
• Wikipedia (german)
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