In her working plan accompanying her application speech in front of the EU Parliament Commission, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen from Germany did not really raise high ambitions about progress in transport of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in general or improvements of the European railway network in particular, but one promise was clearly made: single-ticket rail travel across the continent. Night train advocacy group Back-on-Track Europe is not impressed.
“We will propose a Single Digital Booking and Ticketing Regulation, to ensure that Europeans can buy one single ticket on one single platform and get passengers’ rights for their whole trip”, Ursula von der Leyen states in ‘Europe’s Choice. Political Guidelines for the Next European Commission 2024−2029‘ on page 9.
This is not the first attempt by her European Commission to present a regulation (i.e. a law that is binding for all member states) to solve this problem.
Previous Commission
In 2023, Commissioner Adina Vălean from Romania announced a draft ‘Multimodal Digital Mobility Services Regulation‘ (MDMS), which then disappeared from her agenda without further comment.
Presumably, the goal of multimodality to also regulate ferries and local transport (among other things) was set too high. The fact that the new attempt lowered the threshold to regulate only rail transport was somewhat good news, as rail transport can fall back on ready-made standards such as NetEX for train data and Open Sales and Distribution Model (OSDM) for sales processes.
This would make implementation less complex and increase the likelihood that it will take place in the foreseeable future.
Von der Leyen’s promise was written in the briefing paper for the appointed Commissioner for Transport, Apostolos Tzitzikostas from Greece, and it was repeated by him in his presentation and fixed to a delivery date.
“I will present to you in the first year of my mandate a proposal for a Single Digital Booking and Ticketing Regulation”, Apostolos Tzitzikostas said in his hearing on 4 November 2024.
Plan removed
“These promises have not been kept. On 12 February 2025, the EU Commission presented its work plan for 2025, in which this promise was shamelessly removed from the EU’s actual work plan”, Back-on-Track complains.
“Ambitions in rail transport have been reduced to the pursuit of two proposals to re-regulate passenger rights from 2023, which can still be found as No. 14 and 15 in Annex 3 of the Agenda.”
“The only new measures announced in the area of transport are the announcement of a non-legislative transport investment plan to improve the provision of a refuelling and recharging structure. The new Commission wants to limit itself to making road and air transport more sustainable rather than making rail more attractive. At least for the next year. That’s a very, very bad start.”
How to get more nigh trains
Easing the purchase of international train tickets is one of the six core strategies we identified in Back-on-Track’s position paper ‘How to get more night trains‘.
“The other five obstacles are even more complicated to remove. So if the European Union fails on this task, the likelihood that more obstacles might be removed is fading away.
We will not give in on this demand and we will try mobilize together with our allies to get this task back on the agenda.”
More on night trains and transcontinental train travel
- Switzerland, Czechia and Belgium top railway network density in Europe.
- SNCF Réseau confirms feasibility European Sleeper night train linking the Netherlands, Belgium, France to Barcelona in Spain.
- Back On Track Belgium not surprised inaugural European Sleeper from Brussels to Venice didn’t reach Italy.
- Arriva surveys customers for Groningen – Amsterdam – Utrecht – Antwerp – Brussels – Paris train.
- 31 MARCH 2025 | Reopening France – Italy Fréjus Rail Tunnel kickstarts Paris to Milan direct train connection.
- OUIGO ‘slow’ train between Brussels and Paris from 19 December 2024.
- GoVolta wants to run trains from Amsterdam to Bruges.
- Arriva Tri-Country Train between Maastricht, Liège and Aachen will start on Sunday 9 June 2024 without OV-chipkaart.
- European Sleeper night train service from the Netherlands and Belgium to Barcelona now delayed to 2027.
- EU train travel report sees increase in cross-border passenger trains and easier bookings.
- Brussels to Luxembourg by train under 2 hours by 2030?.
- Heuro wants to operate high speeds trains between Amsterdam, Antwerp, Brussels, Paris and London from 2028.
- Eurostar and five more train operators joined the European Agreement on Journey Continuation.
- ÖBB’s new Nightjet sleeper cars accommodate solo travellers with Mini Cabins.
- Trenitalia orders new Hitachi Frecciarossa trains suited for France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
- ÖBB’s Nightjet to connect Berlin to Brussels from December 2023.
- EUROCITY EC-8 | Basel to Cologne in SBB’s Panoramic Car.
- Trenitalia / FS confirms interest in connecting Spain to Brussels, Amsterdam and Berlin.
- Sampling NS’ new train and future Benelux rolling stock ICNG.
- REVIEW | Trenitalia Frecciarossa 1000 Paris – Milan in Business Executive.
- RAIL TOUR OF EUROPE | How easy is touring Europe by train?.
- Eight train connections between the Netherlands and Belgium by 2030?.
- REVIEW | ÖBB Nightjet Amsterdam – Zurich night train.
- Nightjet Vienna/Innsbruck to Brussels, or how we got thrown off the train in Aachen.
- Why the expensive ÖBB Nightjet is really not that expensive.
- Reliving the era of the great railway journeys, travelling overnight on Nightjet.
- How we plan a big rail trip.
- Ticket Distribution: the failure of railways to sell themselves.
- To use night trains in Portugal and Spain or not?.
- Night trains in Europe.
- Low-cost, long-haul trains to conquer Europe?.
- Fly now before it’s taxed and consider using the train instead.
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