2010-03-20

Annual report 2009

Introduction

Each year since its foundation in 2002, EPF has attracted new members, taken part in a growing number of conferences and meetings and issued comments on topics of concern to public transport customers.

This progress continued in 2009, with new members in Hungary and Poland. But the end of this year also saw two special events: the introduction of rights for European rail passengers and the news that we should receive some money from the ENERQI project. The first of these events was the culmination of 8 years of consultation and debate; the second was a modest but significant stage in our development.

Activities

1. We continued our co-operation with the European Railway Agency, to whose Council our Vice-Chairman was nominated for a second term. A culmination of this activity was the appearance of the preliminary version of the recommendations for Telematics Application for Passengers and Technical Specification for Interoperability.
2. Our Annual Conference took place in Berne and we are very grateful to our Swiss colleagues for a most impressive programme. As usual we published and distributed a report of this event, which can also be read on our website. Participants also completed a questionnaire which gave us useful information about their journeys to Switzerland.
3. Development of our website has continued, in order to inform everyone of our actions and it is now possible to read our manifesto in 21 languages. We have also published two further issues of our electronic bulletin.
4. Our representatives have given presentations at conferences of other bodies in Berne, Trier, Brussels, Vienna, Cologne and Bucharest and at two European Commission conferences on the theme "The future of transport".
5. We wrote responses to consultations particularly on the themes of passengers’ rights on all modes of public transport.
6. It is important to share experiences among our affiliated associations. In this respect we provided information on the question of replacing trains by buses and how to combat vandalism.
7. Our Greek colleagues are concerned about the future of the rail network in their country. Our Chairman wrote to the Minister of Transport in Athens and our Vice-Chairman accompanied our Greek colleagues for a discussion there.
8. In December there were problems with Eurostar because of the snow, and it was necessary to evacuate five entire trains from the Channel Tunnel. We considered the problems and sent our comments to the inquiry established by Eurostar.
9. Journeys without borders - this has been one of our aims since our foundation and we decided to compile a new report, which will appear during 2010. At the same time we began to update the list of cross-border services on our website. We have also discussed the role of night trains.
10. We have continued our regular meetings with UITP, CER. ERRAC. EIM and the European Commission; and we have written to members of the Transport Committee of the European Parliament with whom we hope to maintain a productive dialogue, especially as they now have more power.

Issues

1. The rights of airline passengers are not a core topic for our federation but we should not ignore it. Sometimes the aircraft is a link in a journey chain. When it is competing with the train, the boat or the bus, there must be a level playing field. The rights of airline passengers can also serve as an example for those using other modes of transport.
   We have therefore sent our comments on the implementation of the rights already introduced by the European Commission.
   We always stress that passenger rights should be as simple and consistent as possible between the various modes of transport.
2. It is reasonable that anyone should be able to travel by any means of public transport - but pedestrians are now excluded from certain ferries. We have discussed it and considered what should be done. Firstly we are trying to draw up a list of maritime ferries where it is no longer possible to arrive at the harbour by bus or train (or even bicycle) and cross the sea.
3. We are glad that the Action Plan on Urban Mobility has finally been published by the European Commission. It is a topic which we then discussed with UITP and other bodies and with which we shall concern ourselves during the coming years.
4. How can international train journeys be made easier? How can more passengers be attracted to them?
   There have been some good ideas: RailTeam, Railjet, Cisalpino. But there have also been some disappointments.
   Lessons must be learned from the failure of Cisalpino. As for Railjet, there has been criticism of punctuality, comfort and catering. The operators are of course talking with the infrastructure companies. It is also important that they listen to their customers, current and potential.
   RailTeam has now announced the introduction of through tickets between two high speed operators. That is progress, but we await further measures to make international journeys easier and we hope to receive reports from our members when they make such journeys.
5. We continue to discuss with other international bodies the project of a public transport information system for all of Europe and the harmonisation of means of payment. Such a system will help current and potential passengers to find out how to make a door-to-door trip without a car. In this respect it is also important to offer a comparison, especially in speeds, between - let us say - the city centre of Luxembourg and the beach at Calella, by car and by public transport.

Conclusion

Our activity is increasing and becoming more complex. For the most part it is undertaken by volunteers and we are fortunate to have so many colleagues with energy, commitment and specialist knowledge. The support of our administration in Ghent is also very important for the effectiveness of our activity.

It is however also good to have some money. During 2009 we prepared and submitted three requests for financial support to organs of the European Union, alone or with partners. One of those requests has been successful. We await the result of two further requests during 2010.

I should like to thank all colleagues for their contributions to our work and look forward to further progress in the coming decade.

Trevor Garrod
Chairman