One trip, one ticket: New EU rules aim to ease train travel

"The EU plans to force railway companies operating across the bloc to sell rivals' tickets on their websites and share data with booking platforms, under new rules that are intended to boost train travel. Brussels said the move, which is fiercely opposed by operators, would make journeys more seamless, helping passengers to find, compare and buy tickets in one go."

"To change that the commission proposed obliging rail operators to make their tickets available to all online platforms that want to sell them. Undertakings that hold at least 50 percent of a national market would also have to display on their websites all services run in their country by competitors - and sell the related tickets if clients want them."

"The European Commission wants to improve rail connection across Europe to cut carbon emissions from air transport. But the goal has long rubbed up against a fragmented network broken into national systems that critics say create hurdles and push up costs. Passengers often have to buy tickets from different operators to patch together a multi-country trip."

"The Community of European Railways (CER) lobby group slammed the idea as an 'unprecedented' regulatory overreach. "I'm not aware of any case where somebody is obliged to sell the product of a competitor. Think about Lufthansa obliged to sell Ryanair," flights, CER head Alberto Mazzola told AFP."

The EU plans new rail rules to improve cross-border journeys across 27 member states. Rail companies would be required to make their tickets available to all online platforms that want to sell them. Operators holding at least 50 percent of a national market would also have to list on their websites all services offered by competitors in their country and sell the corresponding tickets when customers request them. The European Commission aims to strengthen rail connections to reduce carbon emissions from air travel. Critics say fragmented national rail systems create barriers and higher costs, forcing passengers to buy tickets from multiple operators for one trip. International air travel reached about 400 million people in 2024, while cross-border train travel was about 150 million.

Read at The Local France