WRITTEN QUESTION E-3847/02 by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Availability to the public throughout Europe at the beginning of November 2003 of a railway timetable containing information on international and long-distance services.
Date: 2003-01-09
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU Member State, carriage of passengers, common transport policy, consumer information, information system, international transport, publication, rail transport, ticket

C 242 E/78

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

9.10.2003

(2003/C 242 E/081)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3847/02

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(9 January 2003)

Subject: Availability to the public throughout Europe at the beginning of November 2003 of a railway

timetable containing information on international and long-distance services

Is the Commission aware that, when the new timetables of the European railways were introduced
1.
on 15 December 2002, various railway companies did not have their international timetables ready in
time or had even decided not to publish one at all?

Is the Commission furthermore aware that the German railway company DB, which has on the
2.
contrary published a full
‘Kursbuch Europa’ since 2001 in cooperation with the ‘European Timetable’
which has been produced by Thomas Cook Publishing since 1873 and which it was previously only
possible to obtain in small numbers in the form of monthly issues distributed by post or through
bookshops specialising in travel, has been unable, because of a legal dispute with its competitor Connex,
to sell the domestic and foreign timetables valid from 15 December 2002 to the public before or
immediately after the date of their entry into force?

3.
From the point of view of consumer protection and enabling the railways to compete with air
transport, is it acceptable that users of international rail services should find it more and more impossible
to compare for themselves the full range of available services, routes, connections, waiting times, direct
overnight services and fares before selecting a particular train, because they are becoming increasingly
dependent on the limited information which they can obtain by making inquiries in person at stations or
by telephone or using the Internet, to which by no means everybody has access, and are becoming
correspondingly dependent on the choices which others make for them and which may be less
advantageous or less well-considered?

4. Will the Commission, in cooperation with the railway companies in the present and future EU
Member States, take measures to ensure that, at least a month before the next set of new railway
timetables comes into force on 14 December 2003, a railway timetable listing the principal direct
international long-distance services and the connecting or interconnecting ferry services (cid:1) comparable or
identical to what the German railway company DB used to publish (cid:1) is available and accessible to all at all
main railway stations in the EU?

5. Will the Commission include in its regulation on passengers’ rights in 2003 a penalty clause for
railway companies which do not make timetables available to the public in time?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(26 February 2003)

The Commission is aware of the changes introduced by the European railway undertakings in international
rail services as of 15 December 2002. The Commission regrets that some railway undertakings have not
been able to issue their timetables for international services in due time, especially as this is one of the
main tools to make known the services they offer for travellers in Europe. The Commission fears that this
omission will not contribute to the achievement of one of the goals of the common transport policy, the
maintainance of the modal share of rail, and even a shift from road to rail of passenger transport.

In the framework of interoperability a Technical Specification for Interoperability (TSI: a description of the
essential requirements necessary to ensure the interoperability of the trans-European conventional rail
system under the Directive 2001/16/EC) (1)) on telematics applications for passengers will be developed.
This TSI must guarantee the interoperability of the exchange of information on rail passengers services,
particularly in terms of technical compatibility, and it should support an easy access to the information on
the rail services to the users.

The Commission intends to include in its forthcoming proposal on passengers’ rights and obligations in
international rail services, provisions on the integration of information on international rail services and
tickets, as well as the possibility to offer tickets on sale for journeys carried out by several railway

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Official Journal of the European Union

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undertakings (‘integrated tickets’). The current situation on the passenger rail market does not make it
necessary to impose financial sanctions on railway undertakings who do not publish their timetables in
due time.

The Commission would also like to point out that the International Union of Railways (UIC) has launched
on 3 December 2002 the Merits- database (Multiple European Railway Integrated Timetable Storage). The
database shall centralise timetable data on trains operating at both national and international
level
(approximately 180 000 trains of 32 European railways undertakings) in Europe. The UIC also started the
(Price and Fare Information System), which will provide potential
development of the Prifis-project
customers and sales staff with all the information they need to plan a trip and conclude a sale,
i.e.
timetable details, prices including fares and conditions (sale, travel, and after-sale) for each product, and the
availability of seats and berths. Prifis is expected to be operational by 2005.

Furthermore, the Community of European Railways (CER), recently launched an initiative to improve
service levels offered for international rail services, one of
them being the intention to improve
information to be provided to potential customers through integrated information and ticketing systems.

(1) 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 (cid:1) OJ L 110, 20.4.2001.

(2003/C 242 E/082)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3870/02

by Camilo Nogueira Román (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(10 January 2003)

Subject: Withdrawal of public access to the Eurodicautom facility

Can the Commission state whether it is true that, as various media sources claim, public access to
Eurodicautom, its terminology database, is to be withdrawn?

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(21 February 2003)

The Commission has made no decision to withdraw public access to this database. It would however, take
this opportunity to inform the Honourable Member that Eurodicautom will soon be integrated into a new
interinstitutional terminology database, which is intended to incorporate the contents of the databases
already existing in the various institutions and bodies of the European Union.

The aim of this project is to meet the challenge of the forthcoming enlargement, which will expand the
problems associated with terminological data to some twenty languages.

In the context of this project, the Commission will (cid:1) in consultation with the other Institutions and other
partners in this project (cid:1) be examining the question of access to the new database, bearing in mind the
need for sound management of public funds. Users will, of course, be kept informed of developments in
this project through the appropriate channels including the existing websites.