WRITTEN QUESTION E-2034/02 by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Availability of European domestic and international train timetables at stations in all the Member States.
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?