A new European Union passenger rights regime does not go far enough to encourage cross-border train passengers to opt for rail instead of air travel on almost half the continent’s most popular international routes, according to a sustainable transport NGO.
Transport & Environment (T&E), a Brussels-based organization that views transport as the continent's "biggest climate problem", believes that on 13 of the 30 busiest international flight routes in Europe, passengers hoping to make the journey by rail could face continued difficulties getting a connecting train.
Travel is particularly hard when passengers switch between operators, which can cause trouble getting reimbursed for missed connections following a delay, the NGO said.
“Missing a connection is an alarmingly common reality for European rail passengers,” T&E said, pointing to a recent questionnaire showing that 44% of travellers who have gone on multi-operator journeys have missed a connecting train at least once.
Aiming to simplify cross-border rail travel by making single tickets more widely used, the EU Passenger Package was announced in May and has been described by T&E as a “huge leap for passenger rights.”
But at the same time, the package’s limitations will “hinder a broader adoption of long-distance rail travel right when there is more appetite for it,” according to T&E.
“The new rules will barely make an improvement for those taking on long international rail journeys,” said Georgia Whitaker, T&E’s rail campaigns manager.
In recent years, Europe has seen a revival of long-distance train travel, with new operators such as European Sleeper opening routes spanning the continent and legacy providers such as Austria’s ÖBB adding sleeper-train capacity.
