The new rules the EU plans to introduce for booking tickets for cross-border rail travel still mean that nearly half of the busiest international train journeys are difficult or impossible to book. That’s according to T&E, a lobby group for sustainable mobility, in a new report.

T&E also proposes several changes and measures that would better protect travelers taking international trains.

“One journey, one ticket, full rights”

In May, the European Commission presented the EU Passenger Package, a set of three legislative proposals designed to protect better travelers taking cross-border train trips.

The central idea is summed up in the Commission’s slogan: “One journey, one ticket, full rights.” In other words, travelers who book a train journey involving multiple operators through a single platform and transaction should receive a single ticket for the entire trip, with full protection in the event of disruptions.

Or how the Commission aims to replicate the airline model for rail travel, with the difference that the rail market is still much more complex.

Still some shortcomings

And although T&E believes that the EU regulations aimed at modernizing train tickets and passenger rights represent a huge step forward, especially for domestic travel, they still fall short in several areas, which means that international rail travel would not be promoted after all.

Research shows that on 13 of the 30 busiest cross-border flight routes in the EU, or 43%, rail passengers who book through the platforms of major rail companies still cannot count on full protection, such as the right to the next train or compensation in the event of a delay. And changing trains remains a challenge in Europe: More than 40% of respondents of the T&E research who needed to change trains for an international journey missed their connection.

Furthermore, the financial risks for travelers would also remain high. On 12 routes examined by T&E, a traveler who misses an international connection due to a delay should have to pay an average of €86 extra for a last-minute replacement ticket. On half of the routes examined, travelers also had to pay for a hotel stay out of their own pocket.

Geographical gaps

There are also still geographical and operational gaps. The current proposal requires major national rail companies to offer “all-in-one tickets” for travel within their own country, even if you transfer to a competitor’s train.

But for international travel, that requirement applies almost nowhere. Across Europe, the new rules will only bring about real change on two major international routes: Barcelona-Paris and Madrid-Porto. The rest remains a gamble.

Want to travel from Paris to Rome or from Barcelona to Milan, for example? Then you’re out of luck, precisely because the major rail companies aren’t required to sell each other’s tickets for those specific routes. After all, the European Commission’s proposal is based on legal logic and a general rule grounded in domestic dominance.

On the Barcelona-Paris route, the Spanish national railway company Renfe operates across the border deep into France, and the French SNCF operates deep into Spain. Because they operate in each other’s “home markets,” the law does trigger an obligation to display each other’s tickets in this case.

On a route like Paris–Rome, the situation is different. The SNCF takes you to the Italian border, or just across the border to Milan, and from there you take the Italian Trenitalia to Rome.

Because Trenitalia is not dominant in the French market, and the SNCF is not dominant in the Italian market, this specific law does not require them to offer a combined Paris-Rome ticket on their own websites. According to the letter of the law, they are only required to open their own domestic networks to competitors.

Ambitions fall short unless adjustments are made

To make international train travel more attractive and sustainable, T&E therefore advocates requiring major rail companies to offer through tickets on the busiest European train routes.

In addition, a through ticket should also be valid for trips booked via the same booking platform, even if they were not purchased in a single transaction.

Public awareness of passenger rights should also be improved through mandatory communication from ticketing platforms about passenger rights to compensation, assistance, rerouting, and reimbursement, as well as through public awareness campaigns and uniform application at ticket offices and on board.

Finally, booking platforms should be required to display the CO2 emissions of travel options, so that travelers can more easily make sustainable choices.

If the T&E proposals are not implemented, the organization fears the EU Passenger Package will only partially achieve the goal of making it easier for travelers to take international trains.

“It is in the spirit of this legislation to boost international rail travel by putting an end to burdensome ticket booking processes and poor passenger rights,” says Georgia Whitaker, Rail Campaigns Manager at T&E. “But the new rules will barely improve those taking on long international rail journeys. The EU Council and Parliament must ensure this package enables sustainable mobility as it was promised to be.”