The EU Commission is proposing new rules to simplify booking cross-border travel, particularly for rail journeys involving multiple operators, and ensure protection for rail passengers for the entire journey.
Currently, comparing all available travel options and identifying the most sustainable choices, especially for cross-border travel, remains difficult for passengers in the EU, says the Commission, especially for rail tickets. Passengers often encounter obstacles when combining different transport services. Booking multiple-leg train journeys involving tickets from different companies can be complex, largely due to fragmented booking systems and the very strong market presence of certain rail companies. Passenger protection is limited on rail journeys involving multiple tickets by different rail operators.
The new proposals address these obstacles, according to the EU executive.
“With digital tools and integrated mobility services, Europeans will be able at the click of one button to plan, compare and purchase multimodal journeys across borders, while benefiting from stronger rail passenger rights, greater transparency and better protection every step of the way,” said Transport Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas.
The Commission proposes measures enabling single-ticket bookings across multiple rail operators, making the rail market more transparent and accessible. Passengers will be able to find, compare and purchase services combined from different rail operators into one single ticket, which can be bought in one transaction on a ticketing platform of their choice. This can be an independent platform, or the rail operator’s ticketing service.
In the event of missed connections during multi-operator rail journeys, passengers with a single ticket will benefit from new, full passenger rights protection, including assistance, rerouting, reimbursement and compensation.
The Commission also introduces new obligations for ticketing platforms and operators to ensure fair access to selling tickets and the neutral presentation of travel options. Platforms will be required to display offers in a neutral way, including sorting by greenhouse gas emissions where feasible. Rules will ensure that all transport operators can conclude fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory commercial agreements with ticketing platforms, and vice versa.
