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2005-09-29
Yesterday, the European Parliament adopted the draft regulation on rail passengers' rights and obligations. This proposal, developed by the European Commission in consultation with passengers and the railway industry, is part of the liberalisation process, intended to revitalise the EU railway market. The European Passengers' Federation (EPF) - an independent federation of 18 EU passenger organisations - strongly supports the Commission's initiative. At the same time, EPF warns that, taken with the liberalisation proposals adopted by the Parliament, the draft regulation fails to provide an adequate guarantee of passengers' rights.
In essence, the Commission's original proposals aimed to promote international rail travel by creating a legal framework which offers a guaranteed protection of the rights of passengers. EPF is, however, seriously disappointed that the Parliament has deleted from the draft regulation two important items: the obligation to sell through tickets and the obligation to provide information about the services of other railways. These points are the very important for passengers.
The draft regulation on passengers' rights is one step forward. However, if momentum is to be maintained, further liberalisation requires matching improvements to passengers' rights. Without regulatory safe-guards, competing train operators may be unwilling to provide information about each other's services or to sell each other's tickets. A passenger who then travels with more than one operator during one journey, will then have to gather information and buy tickets at several different places and so train travel will made more difficult. Borders between countries will then be replaced by borders between operators. All in all, that would worsen the current situation, which is already far from perfect. Revitalisation of the railways cannot be expected in such circumstances.