Lauterbrunnental train – Photo ZachT
(STRASBOURG) – Young Europeans could be offered a free InterRail pass on their 18th birthday, helping to promote better understanding and knowledge about Europe, following a vote by MEPs on Tuesday.
The InterRail pass allows people to travel across Europe’s rail network freely. Users can use it to travel wherever they like on the continent.
Some 300,000 people use InterRail passes to travel across Europe every year.
However, the cost has mounted over the decades, and the cost of an InterRail pass now ranges between EUR 20 and EUR 480 for a month-long pass.
The idea behind the proposal debated in the European Parliament is to promote a travel mode with low greenhouse gas emissions, while enabling young European to meet and get to know Europe.
Most political groups spoke out in favour of the proposal as “investing in young people’, and helping to “boost the European spirit”.
Some EU Member States are not members of the InterRail network: Malta, Cyprus, Estonia, Lativa and Lithuania. For them other means of transport such as buses and ferries could be considered, say MEPs.
The EU’s Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc welcomed the proposal as an “excellent idea”. However, she said there would many challenges so further analysis will be required. “The Commission will carefully assess the potential costs and funding sources for this initiative as well as its administrative feasibility,” she said.
