WRITTEN QUESTION E-0520/02 by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Promoting international rail transport by facilitating the purchase of tickets to foreign destinations.
Date: 2002-02-28
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Netherlands, carriage of passengers, common transport policy, consumer protection, cross-border transport, organisation of transport, rail transport, ticket

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Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

29.8.2002

(2002/C 205 E/169)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0518/02

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(28 February 2002)

Subject: Discouragement of the use of international rail transport from the Netherlands due to the limited

availability of tickets to foreign destinations

Is the Commission aware that, from the computers at railway-station ticket offices in some Member
1.
States, it is possible to obtain immediately tickets for a wide range of places of departure and destinations
abroad, whereas in other Member States they can only be obtained by ordering them in advance and
having them sent by post, or bought at special international counters at a few large stations which are
open for only a limited number of hours per day (for example from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays)?

2.
Is the Commission aware that Netherlands Railways, which has already previously stopped selling
tickets to relatively distant major cities and restricted the availability of tickets and reservations for all
overland journeys exceeding 200 km to the largest cities, border stations and the airport (27 stations out
of a total of 410), is now considering restricting such sales still further by cutting the number of stations to
a mere 10?

Does the Commission welcome the fact that, because of the limits on availability and opening times,
3.
train passengers who start their journeys in the Netherlands are now in many cases compelled to buy their
tickets to more remote foreign destinations 1 including Berlin, Paris and Strasbourg 1 during a break in
their journey in Hamburg, Hanover, Cologne or Brussels?

Does the Commission know of any other EU Member States which have rail

links with other
4.
Member States and where the availability of train tickets to foreign destinations is as limited as it is in the
Netherlands?

5. Will the Commission inform the Netherlands Government 1 which wholly owns Netherlands
Railways 1 of its adverse findings?

Source: ‘De Volkskrant’ newspaper, 2 February 2002

(2002/C 205 E/170)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0520/02

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(28 February 2002)

Subject: Promoting international rail transport by facilitating the purchase of tickets to foreign destinations

1. Why it is not possible throughout the opening hours of station ticket offices to purchase directly
train tickets from and to destinations in foreign countries, and even from foreign localities via one’s own
country to another country, as one already can from Deutsche Bahn, for example for travel between
Sweden and France or between the Netherlands and Eastern Europe?

2.
Is it acceptable that railway companies providing passenger services should regress to a position of
providing purely national services, thus increasingly surrendering the field of international transport to bus
companies and airlines, or is the Commission 1 inter alia in connection with the white paper 1 pursuing
measures to combat such a development?

3. Will the Commission seek to ensure that railway tickets, at least to all popular destinations up to 200
km beyond the national border, major foreign interchange stations and cities within Europe, are widely
available in all Member States, with the possible exception of Ireland, Finland and Greece, which do not
have any international rail links with other EU Member States?

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4. Would it be possible to encourage the provision of high-quality international rail passenger services
by periodically publishing comparative surveys and/or awarding an annual prize to the railway company
which provides the best international service to customers?

Joint answer
to Written Questions E-0518/02 and E-0520/02
given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(18 April 2002)

The Dutch authorities and ‘Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) Reizigers’ have concluded a public service
contract (‘prestatie contract’) for the main railway network, which contain the requirements and the
performance indicators for the provision of rail services on this network. The Commission considers that
the implementation of this contract is the responsibility of the contract partners, and that it can not
intervene, unless the Commission has reasons to assume that the provisions of the ‘prestatie contract’ are
not compatible with Community provisions. The questions raised however, do not lead the Commission to
think this is the case. The Dutch authorities do have the possibility to co-operate with the authorities in
other Member States to set-up and finance cross-border railservices. The public service contracts to be
concluded with the railway undertakings could include provisions on the availability of tickets and/or
opening hours of ticket sale points.

The Commission recently ordered a study on ‘Developing EU (international) Rail Passenger Transport’ (1),
which provided an assessment of the actual and potential market for international rail passenger services. It
gave a comprehensive view of the current state of affairs, problems and challenges in relation to the
improvement of international rail services for passengers. It gave e.g. examples of the problems in relation
to the availability of
information on international passenger services and the possibility to make
reservations for these services. It also highlighted the shortcomings in relation to ticket integration and
reimbursement of unused tickets. These figures clearly show that the market for international rail services
is growing, though the OGM report clearly identified areas for improvement. A copy of this study is sent
separately to the Honourable Member and to Parliament’s Secretariat.

In its White Paper on Transport Policy (2) as well in Communication ‘Towards an integrated European
Railway Area’ (3), the Commission proposed that the railway undertakings develop an initiative to increase
1 on a voluntary basis- the quality of their services. The Commission also intends to table a proposal on
passenger rights and obligations for international rail transport by the end of 2002, which would include
provisions on fair terms and conditions of contracts and their transparency; consumer consultation;
complaint handling and out-of-court dispute settlement, as well as compensation and assistance for delays,
cancellations, missed connections and seat reservations not being honoured. It will also address improved
availability of information in electronic form on fares, tickets, timetables and services.

The Commission has started to develop a scheme for the monitoring of the main developments on the rail
markets, which also includes the passenger markets. This monitoring scheme, set up further to Article 10b
of the amended Council Directive 91/440/EEC (4), will include indicators on transport volumes as well as
quality indicators, such as indicators on delayed passenger trains.

(1) Developing EU (International) Rail Passenger Transport: Assessment of

the actual and potential market

for

international rail passenger services, carried out by OGM, February 2002.

(2) COM(2001) 370 final.
(3) COM(2002) 18 final.
(4) Directive 91/440/EEC of 29 July 1991 on the development of the Community’s railways, OJ L 237, 27.8.1991, as

amended by Directive 2001/12 of 26 February 2001, OJ L 75, 15.3.2001.