Eurostar (formerly known as Eurostar and Thalys), MÁV-Start in Hungary, HŽPP in Croatia, LTG Link in Lithuania, PKP Intercity in Poland and GYSEV in Western Hungary and Eastern Austria have joined or will soon join the European Agreement on Journey Continuation (AJC), RailTech reports.

The Agreement on Journey Continuation is an agreement between now 21 European rail operators to allow passengers on international trains to catch the next available train at no extra cost if they miss their connection. Supporting or not supporting stranded train travellers is the Achilles‘ heel of popularising trans-European train travel. 

The 21 operators involved are besides the six new additions BLS in Switzerland, České dráhy (ČD) in Czechia, CFL in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Deutsche Bahn (DB) in Germany, DSB in Denmark, Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) in the Netherlands, ÖBB in Austria, Renfe in Spain, SJ in Sweden, SBB-CFF-FFS in Switzerland, SNCB / NMBS in Belgium, SNCF in France, Slovenske železnice (SŽ) in Slovenia, Trenitalia in Italy, ŽSSK in Slovakia.

When can a traveller invoke the AJC?

“If you miss your connection on an international journey because your previous train was delayed, you should go to the ticket office of your connection station (the station where you should have boarded on the international train you missed). The procedure is the same for all operators who have signed up to the agreement”, SNCB International says. 

There are certain conditions. 

• When making your initial booking, you should have allowed sufficient transfer time for your connections.
• Being able to catch the next train without having to buy a new ticket does not guarantee you a seat.
• Each of your tickets is a separate contract of carriage. If you are delayed during your journey, only the train that was actually delayed will be taken into account in the event of a claim for compensation.

What is sufficient transfer time? That is not set in stone. Each country, operator and even sometimes railway station will have its minimum connecting time.

When planning a journey, be smart and realistic. The longer the journey per train and the fewer connections you have the more margin you should plan. Do you really want to stress over overambitious planning?

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