Last week the Swedish Transport Administration released a report as a result of a government assignment in order to investigate possible opportunities to procure sleeper services from Sweden to the European continent. The report is only available in Swedish but below is a summary and some reflections. Despite the long distance from the European continent…
Eurostar has cancelled many trains and is now operating a very limited timetable between London and Brussels/Paris. Many passengers therefore cannot travel or if they were to travel would face long delays. On Eurostar’s web page on the corona virus, passengers are only offered an “eVoucher”, that can be used for a future Eurostar journey,…
The European Passengers’ Federation held its annual general meeting on 14th March in Düsseldorf despite the COVID-19 pandemic and just before the announcement of travel restrictions and #stayhome measures. President Michel Quidort and Chairman Josef Schneider were reelected and will continue working for better conditions for European passengers, together with the other Management Board members…
At the annual General Meeting in Düsseldorf on 14th March, EPF adopted a new position paper with recommendations on public transport promotion for touristic trips. The paper was prepared by EPF member PRO BAHN and deals with: the journey to a holiday destination mobility at the holiday destination day trips from the place of residence…
During 2019 the work in the ERA PRM TSI working party has come to a final result. After several years of quite intense work a number of improvements are proposed. The new regulation will be decided probably in June 2020. The results are, apart from rules concerning functional working of railway carriages and station service…
The Netherlands Government has submitted a position paper to the European Commission that sets out plans for the development of international passenger rail. It follows a high-level meeting, mainly with representatives of Member States and the Commission, that was organised towards the end of last year by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure & Water Management.…
This month our new team member, Sandra Lima, started working in our secretariat offices in Ghent. Sandra comes from the north of Portugal and has been living in Belgium for more than two years. She is no stranger to European Affairs and project management, having worked in the Council of the European Union, in Social…
EPF is keen to ensure that the various competition authorities make safeguarding passengers’ interests a precondition for authorising the proposed merger between Eurostar and Thalys. Members were updated at their General Meeting in January on constructive exchanges that have already taken place with DG COMP. As we recorded last month, EPF recognises that the merger…
Eurostar/Thalys merger proposal: what will be the consequences for the passengers? Following discussions in October between a delegation from EPF and the team in the European Commission’s powerful Competition department responsible for transport, EPF undertook to give thought to the implications for passengers of the proposed merger of Thalys and Eurostar which had just been…
EPF has responded to the European Commission’s consultation on urban mobility. In EPF’s view, it is very important to have an urban mobility policy at EU level. Whereas the local level has the best local knowledge, their financial situation is often not that solid and infrastructure investments have to compete with other social expenses. Permanent EU…
EPF was invited to join the 7th edition of the UIC nextstation conference in Teheran (11-13. November) to talk about passenger expectations with regard to railway stations. The UIC nextstation Conference is the global reference for leaders and decision-makers to share the latest experiences and best practices regarding the design, financing and operation of railway stations.…
On the 15th of November, the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management organized a high level expert meeting for the member states, the EC, and the ERA in Amsterdam to discuss in which ways international rail services for passengers can be further stimulated. International passenger trains offer travellers the opportunity to travel across Europe in a…