EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 33/158

(2004/C 33 E/155)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1721/03

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(23 May 2003)

Subject: Exclusion of destinations in Greece from the range of international tickets sold by railway companies in other EU Member States

1. Is the Commission aware that direct through train services from Germany and Austria to Greece, which were suspended during the wars in the former Yugoslav federation, have now been partly restored but it is not possible to reserve seats or sleeping-berths from other countries and is therefore necessary to change in Ljubljana or Belgrade?

2. Is the Commission aware that after the recent resumption of direct services, some cities such as Thessaloniki and Athens in Greece were deleted from the computers of railway companies in other EU Member States, so that it is no longer possible to buy train tickets to these destinations?

3. Does the Commission realise that the fact that normal international through rail tickets are no longer obtainable is particularly damaging for overland connections to Thessaloniki in the north of Greece, which, unlike Athens, has no ferry connection with Italy?

4. Is such a restriction on using overland public transport compatible with the increasing integration taking place between EU Member States? Is it acceptable that Greece should be put at an exceptional disadvantage by making its connections with the outside world entirely dependent on air and sea transport?

5. Can the Commission push for the resumption of the sale of international rail tickets to Greece from other Member States is resumed?

6. Is the Commission prepared to take action to ensure that within the EU area at least major cities, including Member State capitals and second largest cities with a railway connection to the border, continue to be or are once again included among the destinations for which rail tickets are on sale in other Member States?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(9 July 2003)

The Commission was not aware of the specific conditions under which the rail services between Germany and Greece were resumed after the end of the conflict in former Yugoslavia.

The Commission was not aware of the fact that specific destinations in Greece were no longer available in the Computerised Reservation Systems used by the railway undertakings in Europe. However, the website of the German Railway Undertaking Deutsche Bahn (DB) (1) shows time-table information for a journey between e.g. Munich and Athens. It does not show information on available fares and conditions which is unfortunately the case for many international rail journeys. It must be observed, however, that the conditions under which tickets for railway trips are marketed and sold, fall under the management independence of railway undertakings, as provided for in Directive 91/440/EEC (2), unless public service obligations or contracts concluded under conditions defined by Regulation (EEC) No 1191/69 (3) provide otherwise.

Furthermore, the Commission has announced in its Workprogramme 2003 to table a proposal for a Regulation on Passengers' Rights and Obligations in International Rail Services. One of the issues to be addressed in this Regulation is the pre-trip information to be provided to consumers, which include the information on time tables, fares and access conditions for scheduled, international rail services. This was one of the issues identified in a Consultation Document drafted by the Commission's services in 2002 in order to obtain a comprehensive overview of the current problems in relation to the Rights and Obligations of Passengers on International Rail services (4). The proposal for this Regulation will, therefore, include provisions requiring that Computerised Reservations Systems, regardless its ownership, accept — upon request and under equal conditions — the inclusion of information on railway services from other railway undertakings. Furthermore, railway undertakings offering rail passenger services between major railway stations are obliged to co-operate in offering throughtickets on a single transport contract to passengers. These provisions however are also dependent on the adoption of the Technical Specifications of Interoperability for passenger Telematics as foreseen by Directive 2001/16/EC (5).

Finally, the Commission would like to refer to the initiative deployed by the International Union of Railways (UIC) to develop an information system, which contains information on all the rail services offered by its members. According to the UIC, this system — Merits — has become operational in 2003. Furthermore, the UIC has started the development of a reservation and ticketing system (Prifis). The Commission will carefully monitor the implementation of this Computerised Reservation System, notably to ensure its accessibility for information on all railway services as well its compliance with the competition provisions of the Union.

(1) See: http://www.bahn.de.

(2) Directive 91/440/EEC of 29 July 1991of 29 July 1991 on the development of the Community's railways, OJ L 237, 24.8.1991, as amended by Directive 2001/12/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2001, OJ L 75, 15.3.2001.

(3) Regulation (EEC) No 1191/69 of the Council of 26 June 1969 on action by Member States concerning the obligations inherent in the concept of a public service in transport by rail, road and inland waterway, OJ L 156, 28.6.1969, as amended by Council Regulation (EEC) No 1893/91 of 20 June 1991, OJ L 169, 29.6.1991.

(4) For the full text of this document, see: http://europa.eu.int/comm/transport/rail/passenger/doc/cd-en.pdf.

(5) Directive 2001/16/EC of 19 March 2001 of the Parliament and of the Council on the interoperability of the trans-European conventional rail system, OJ L 110, 20.4.2001.