WRITTEN QUESTION E-2033/02

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(10 July 2002)

Subject: Inconvenience suffered by long-distance train passengers as a result of the separation of ticket sales and reservations

1. Can the Commission confirm that, while it has for a long time been possible to reserve seats, couchettes or sleeping-car places on trains travelling outside the country where the ticket is purchased, there is nevertheless a great difference between the French and Spanish system of combined tickets and reservations and the German and Dutch system, in which no such combination exists, so that it is sometimes difficult to make a reservation for a country (or for some parts of it) where the other system applies? (For example, in France it is not possible to reserve a couchette or sleeping-car place on night trains travelling to the territory situated to the east of France.)

2. Does the Commission know that while it is possible to make a reservation for trains going to many foreign destinations, tickets for the same destinations are not on sale, because the two systems are separate and the computer used for ticket sales only offers a limited choice of large, nearby or frequently used destinations. Also, if the journey is to be made between two countries not including that in which the ticket is purchased and not bordering on it, it is possible to make a reservation but not to buy a ticket, which means that passengers have to buy their tickets at the ticket office of a foreign station where the train stops, or from a foreign guard. (For example, it is not possible to buy a ticket in the Netherlands for a train going from Sweden to France via Germany, but it is possible to make a reservation for the same journey.)

3. Does the Commission also know that, as a result of computerisation, the traditional, more labour-intensive method of making reservations by phone or fax is gradually disappearing, which means that no reservations can be made for certain less technically developed countries and that the countries for which reservations can be made are less numerous than they used to be? (For example, no electronic reservations can be made for Serbia or Bulgaria, and as a result no reservations can be made either).

4. Does the Commission agree that this insufficiently integrated system means that long-distance passengers may find that their journeys do not go as planned, so that they may contrary to what is recommended in the White Paper turn instead to less environmentally friendly means of transport, such as planes, cars and coaches?

5. Will the Commission offer a solution to these problems in the proposal on the rights and obligations of international rail passengers which it intends to present at the end of 2002?

Joint answerto Written Questions E-2033/02, E-2034/02 and E-2035/02given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(3 September 2002)

The Commission agrees entirely with the Honourable Member about the shortcomings of cross-border rail travel. That is one of the reasons why the Commission has proposed that all such services operated with public service obligations should be subject to rigorously monitored and time limited public service contracts, let on the basis of open, competitive tender.

In response to Parliament's concerns, the revised proposal(1) includes stronger powers for authorities to extend integration arrangements (including pricing and ticketing) across national borders.

A consultation process with the industry started recently on whether computerised reservation systems should be revised in order to achieve a better travel-information to passengers and to ease reservations on international rail transport. On the result of this consultation, the Commission will consider whether Council Regulation (EEC) No 2299/89 of 24 July 1989 on a code of conduct for computerized reservation systems(2) should be revised.

Within the framework of Directive 2001/16/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 19 March 2001 on the interoperability of the trans-European conventional rail system(3) a TSI (technical specification on interoperability) will be developed on passenger Telematics from 2004 onwards. In this way travel information and ticketing systems should be made interoperable.

As far as the refund policy of railway undertakings is concerned the Commission will take up this issue in the initiative to promote rail passenger rights as announced in the 2nd railway package(4). The Commission will encourage the railway industry to establish voluntary service quality commitments and the Commission is planning to present a proposal for a regulation on passenger rights in 2003.

(1) Amended proposal for a Regulation on action by Member States concerning public service requirements and the award of public service contracts in passenger transport by rail, road and inland waterway, OJ C 151 E, 25.6.2002.

(2) OJ L 220, 29.7.1989.

(3) OJ L 110, 20.4.2001.

(4) COM(2002) 18 final, Communication from the Commission to the Council and the Parliament, Towards an integrated railway area.