WRITTEN QUESTION E-2035/02 by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Refusal to make seat reservations for trains going to foreign destinations for which national railway companies do not sell tickets.
Date: 2002-07-10
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Internet, access to information, carriage of passengers, consumer information, international transport, publication, rail transport

C 28 E/172

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

6.2.2003

(2003/C 28 E/196)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2034/02

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(10 July 2002)

Subject: Availability of European domestic and international train timetables at stations in all the Member

States

Is the Commission aware that until recently most of the national railway companies in the Member
1.
in parallel with their national ones, of certain trains going to
States published a separate timetable,
neighbouring countries and the rest of Europe (cid:1) particularly for neighbouring regions,
long-distance
connections and the most frequent destinations (cid:1) but that, since the increased availability of electronic
timetables, more and more of them are ceasing publication of these timetables, so that people without
internet access find it increasingly difficult to obtain information on the length of journeys and the
departure times of trains outside their country of residence?

Is the Commission also aware that the German rail operator ‘Die Bahn’

issues a twice-yearly
2.
‘Kursbuch Europa’, costing 7,65 euro, in collaboration with the ‘European Timetable’ published since 1873
by Thomas Cook Publishing, which lists all the main international rail and ferry links in Europe, as well as
a selection of the major train routes in the individual countries?

3.
Could the Commission take steps to ensure, in the interests of promoting use of the train as a long-
distance cross-border mode of passenger transport, that this European railway timetable is available not
only at German railway stations, in some specialist bookshops and by post from the British publisher, but
also in the main stations of the EU Member States, possibly in the form of a publication under the joint
responsibility of the European railway companies?

(2003/C 28 E/197)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2035/02

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(10 July 2002)

Subject: Refusal to make seat reservations for trains going to foreign destinations for which national

railway companies do not sell tickets

1.
Can the Commission confirm that in spite of the lack of coordination between ticket sales and
reservations (see previous series of questions on the inconvenience caused by the separate systems) the
European railway companies have agreed among themselves that they will no longer make seat or sleeper
reservations for customers not buying train tickets at the same time or already in possession of a ticket?
Does this mean that for all destinations and routes for which tickets are not sold in the country of
departure it will no longer be possible to reserve seats, sleepers or couchettes?

2.
Is the Commission aware that railway companies make access to night trains subject not only to
payment of a sleeper or couchette ticket, but also frequently to additional requirements as regards the rail
ticket, such as payment for a sometimes longer journey or possession of a first-class ticket for access to
certain types of sleeper, and that they refuse to refund these additional costs when, because of delays or
unavailability of the scheduled carriage, the journey is made via a shorter route or in a less comfortable
sleeping car?

Does the Commission agree with me that this approach is not customer-friendly and (cid:1) contrary to
3.
the spirit of its White Paper (cid:1) is likely to discourage the use of trains, particularly night trains, for long
journeys in Europe, since it is not always possible to know long enough in advance whether a seat or
sleeper/couchette will be available and, particularly, because it may cause problems when travelling in
countries, such as Spain, where the number of places is so limited that passengers are often moved onto a
later train?

6.2.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 28 E/173

4. What does the Commission intend to do to ensure that a more coordinated approach is taken to
ticket sales and reservations, so that reservations can be made in good time for destinations in the Member
States at least and, where possible, in the applicant countries, and tickets for the whole of the journey to
be made can be bought together in the case of as many destinations as possible?

5. Will the Commission provide a solution to these problems in the proposal it plans to table, as stated
in the answers to questions E-0518/02 and E-0520/02 (1) of 18 April 2002, on the rights and obligations
of international rail travellers?

(1) OJ C 205 E, 29.8.2002, p. 159.

Joint answer
to Written Questions E-2033/02, E-2034/02 and E-2035/02
given 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’.

(2003/C 28 E/198)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2037/02

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(10 July 2002)

Subject: Major expansion of the airport of the Bulgarian capital Sofia near urban neighbourhoods and

residential centres and failure to comply with environmental standards

1.
Is the Commission aware that in plans for the building, extension and relocation of airports sites are
now sought which are further away than in the past from large towns and their highly urbanised