One of the fundamental problems of all medium and large European cities is not only the steady increase in demand for public passenger transport services, but also the increase in individual road transport. In addition to environmental pollution, such urban mobility results in constant road congestion in urban areas, which also endangers the safety of road users. All European cities face these problems, which directly affect the quality of life of residents, attractiveness and economic development. In order to increase mobility and at the same time reduce congestion, traffic accidents and environmental pollution, it is necessary to reduce and limit individual traffic in urban and suburban transport systems, and to increase the share of rail traffic, which has a number of direct and indirect comparative advantages over other modes of transport (very low harmful emissions, lower energy consumption, higher speeds that provide significant savings in travel time, encourage suburban development, etc.). Therefore, rail should play a dominant role in urban and suburban passenger transport, it should be a fundamental part of the system, upgraded by other subsystems. This paper explores the role and importance of railways in public urban and suburban passenger transport in Rijeka.