How Europe makes travelling by train easier
Travelling by train in Europe is still often an adventure. High-speed trains connect our major cities, but once you cross a border, you need strong nerves, the ability to improvise, and a willingness to juggle different apps and platforms. That’s because the major rail companies still don’t share all their data — and, above all, passenger rights often end at the border, or at the latest when you change trains.
Many operators don’t sell a single, end-to-end journey, but rather several individual tickets for national rail companies. So if you’re travelling from Cologne to Warsaw and miss your connection in Berlin, you don’t automatically have the right to a free rebooking towards Poland — that depends entirely on the goodwill of the state railways involved.
I believe this has to change: if it’s one continuous journey, it must also be a single ticket — that’s been standard practice in air travel for a long time. This is exactly what I’m working towards through my work on the EU Single Digital Booking and Ticketing Regulation.
Since this June, I’m officially rapporteur of the EU Parliament on exactly this file – which means that we can finally start to move forwards!
As a passionate train traveller, I know these problems from first-hand experience. And I like to see things for myself on the ground. That’s why, for example, this autumn I travelled by train from Brussels via Paris to Madrid and on to Lisbon — to see where the system breaks down, what rights I actually have when trains are delayed, and how straightforward ticket booking really is when dealing with four different providers.
I also spoke with ticket platforms and rail companies along the way. My conclusion: everyone guards their data jealously, and comprehensive cooperation will not happen on its own. That is exactly why we need an EU regulation that obliges providers to participate and makes rail travel simpler for everyone.
Mobility of the future
Europe has a fantastic rail network. And it is the future — for climate-friendly, fast and reliable transport. But we must stop thinking only as far as national borders. Mobility in Europe has long been cross-border — it’s time we started thinking European when it comes to tickets too.
For easy travel, everywhere in Europe. For equal passenger rights, everywhere. And for the mobility of the future. For me, for you, for everyone.
Field trip: Europa by train
Press Release