European Commission
Commissioner for Transport Adina Vălean

Bestuurskern
Dir. Openbaar Vervoer en
Spoor
Veiligheid en Goederen
Den Haag
Postbus 20904
2500 EX Den Haag

Position paper international rail passenger transport
IENW/BSK-2020/2302

The Annexed position paper includes proposals for a comprehensive EU agenda to
support the development of the international railway passengers market. The
European Commission should consider the inclusion of the proposed measures in
its work programmes for the 2019-2024 period.

Enclosure(s)
1

The Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management invites EU Member
States and European Commission to set up a high-level platform of interested
Member States to take the international railway passenger agenda forward at
national, cross border / corridor and at European level (coalition of the willing).
The first meeting of the platform will take place in February or March 2020.
The platform will cooperate with sector parties and present its initiative during the
TEN-T days 13-15 May in Croatia. The objective for the TEN-T days or the
Transport Council in June 2020 is that interested Ministers sign a Memorandum
on their commitment for developing the international rail passenger market and
the related European agenda.

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Position paper: towards an European agenda for
international railway passenger transport

Bestuurskern
Dir. Openbaar Vervoer en
Spoor
Veiligheid en Goederen

Netherlands ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management

1. Introduction
The development of international rail passenger services within the European
Union has great potential. International rail is a business opportunity in a growing
international passenger market. The current societal and political context give the
opportunity to rail stakeholders to further develop international train services,
while it can contribute to reduction of climate change impact by transport and
reduce congested airports within Europe by replacing short haul flights by
international railway passenger services. A CO2 neutral EU should rely on a
comprehensive strategy for sustainable and smart mobility. Transport contributes
to roughly 25% of greenhouse gas emission, of which 0,5% comes from rail, 30%
from aviation, and 70% of the emissions are caused by cars1. Thus, a shift from
road (and aviation) to rail seems the logical next step.
On November 15th the Netherlands organized a high level expert meeting on
international rail passenger services, where together with Members States, the EC
and other European institutions and organizations discussed the potential of
international rail. The outcome of these discussions have been used as input for
this position paper, in which the rationale for international rail passenger services
within EU policy will be presented as well as proposals for future action. The
paper aims at contributing to the European Commission agenda for the 20212024 period, e.g. to be reflected in the expected Climate 100 days package called
"European Green Deal", and the Commissions annual working programs.
This position paper was announced in the 18 September 2019 letter from State
Secretary van Veldhoven to the European Commission Vice president Violetta
Bulc; the paper does not prejudge or represent the formal position of Dutch
government or the EC in EU decision making.

2. What is already done at European level to facilitate
international passenger services?
Within the EU framework much work is ongoing to facilitate and support the
development of international rail (passenger and freight) services. Below is a
non-exhaustive list of ongoing initiatives:

The EU passenger rights regulation was adopted in 2007. Transport
Council of 2nd December 2019 reached a general approach on the EC
proposal to modify that regulation;

The 2016 4th railway package market pillar to ensure open access for all
rail passenger services and the principle (with few exceptions) of
competitive tendering for public service contracts.

The 2016 4th railway package technical pillar to ensure vehicle
authorizations and safety certifications organized at European level for
international services.
1

Source ERA, 15 November 2019

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The EU interoperability directives since 2004 and the developments of
Technical Specifications of Interoperability that directly impact railway
passenger services (Telematics Applications Passengers, Passengers with
Reduced Mobility, Control and Command Systems, Locomotives and
Passengers, Tunnels, Infrastructure, Energy, etc). The TSI’s are
applicable for new investments, because of long life time national
specified subsystems will continue to exist for long transitional period. In
2017 the European Commission launched the issue log book for rail
freight as a complementary measure to accelerate the transition towards
an interoperable railway system.
For rail freight the 2010 regulation concerning a network towards
competitive rail freights lead to the establishment of 11 rail freight
corridors. In those corridors Infrastructure Managers work together on
international rail freight and offer dedicated infrastructure capacity.
As decided in 2013 the implementation of the TEN-T core network by
2030 according to the TEN-T specifications and the development of the
TEN T comprehensive network.
The implementation of ERTMS infrastructure according to the European
Deployment Plan as decided in 2017.
A Shift2Rail EU innovation program 2014-2020 for railways with e.g.
actions on integrated and innovative ticketing approaches.
EU funding instruments CEF from 2013 and Cohesion funding 2014-2020
that promote investments in cross-border railway infrastructure.
The 2018 report of European Court of Auditors : “Special report n°
19/2018: A European high-speed rail network: not a reality but an
ineffective patchwork”.

Bestuurskern
Dir. Openbaar Vervoer en
Spoor
Veiligheid en Goederen

3. Why is new action needed?
A. Because of the goals of the common EU transport policy:

Climate change: rail has very low carbon impact due to its energy
efficiency and its high share of electrification. It is about 30 gr CO2 per
passenger km (intercity/HST2) compared to 100gr + for private car km on
fossil fuels. Rail can effectively substitute air transport up to 800km
distances. This means e.g. up to 2 million additional potential railway
passenger in the Netherlands coming from air transport annually per
2025 (figure at EU level to be elaborated).

Railway passenger transport is a safe mode of transport, energy efficient,
and contributing to spatial planning and quality of living in Europe in
terms of accessibility of dense cities.
International rail passenger services are today performing below their
potential. Research shows that international rail passenger transport can
be competitive with air transport for up to 800km / 6 hour journeys,
however the current rail market share is not reflecting this upwards
potential on many cross border relations between mayor cities and
airports.

Travel options that include international rail passenger services are of
mixed quality i.a. due to a lack of data availability, availability of online

2

STREAM Personenvervoer 2014, CE Delft

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(through) tickets and interoperability. Multimodal passenger rights need
to be developed further

Bestuurskern
Dir. Openbaar Vervoer en
Spoor
Veiligheid en Goederen

B: To solve the problems that still exist in developing international passenger
services: International railway passenger services markets include:

short distance cross border services;

long distance (including night trains) and high speed services;

and cross-modal (like air-rail) services.
People choose their mode of transport based on five factors: availability,
punctuality, quality, accessibility and price. Looking at the current offer
of international train services we consider there is room for further
development with regard to all these factors in order to achieve the
international train’s fullest potential.
Problems related to availability of international rail passenger services:

International (high speed) rail passenger services are made up of
patchwork services, see also the European Court of Auditors 2018 report.
International railway transport services remain predominantly nationally
organized by national railway undertakings and national railway
infrastructure managers, leading to insufficient infrastructure capacity for
international rail passenger services. Important rail links between
European capitals and main conurbation centers with sufficient market
potential are missing or offer low quality (e.g. in long travel times) of
service (for example on Amsterdam – Berlin).

International rail services lack for many transport relations sufficient
speed and / or frequencies of services to be sufficiently attractive for
passengers. The international rail passenger market is primarily a
business driven market (open access services). In case of lack of a viable
business case, Member States / public authorities can procure public
services. Member States / infrastructure managers are responsible for
ensuring high quality infrastructure capacity and cross-border
cooperation. At present, infrastructure capacity planning for international
passenger services is less developed (compared to domestic services)
track access charging schemes for cross-border services is often not
coordinated and capacity / interoperability bottlenecks reduce the
attractiveness to offer cross-border services. In a national context,
infrastructure managers are planning in a multi-annual way train paths
and travel times (NL PHS, DE Deutschlandtakt, CH etc), whereas this is
missing at an European level. Sector plans for Time Table Redesign will
help to achieve this at an European level;
Problems related to punctuality of international rail passenger services:

Departure and arrival punctuality of international railway passenger
services is in many cases below domestic service punctuality which is
hindering smooth transfer of passengers between services e.g. in cases of
rail connections.
Problems related to quality of international rail passenger services:

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Lack of high quality and multimodal / integrated ticket booking systems
offering services across railway undertakings;
Organizing international rail passenger services is hindered by technical
bottlenecks resulting from the use of different national systems.
Bottlenecks are related to requirements to rolling stock (e.g. electrical
power supply and signalization), timetabling conditions, capacity issues;

Bestuurskern
Dir. Openbaar Vervoer en
Spoor
Veiligheid en Goederen

Problems related to price / competition for the provision of international
rail passenger services:

Lack of competition between railway undertakings in international railway
passenger services lead to a low development of competitive services by
the existing (incumbent) operators. With suitable framework conditions,
the market can further develop, for example when infrastructure
managers offer international rail capacity that railway undertakings can
actually use for more attractive international services. Member States
may also use the instrument of cross border PSO contracts to provide
international rail passenger services under competitive tenders as defined
in the 4th railway package.

4A. What can the rail community (including the new
European Commission) do on international rail passenger
services?
Based on the analysis of obstacles to cross-border passenger services and the
subsequent solutions, we may derive actions that various stakeholders (EU,
Member States, infrastructure managers, railway undertakings, rolling stock
companies, competent authorities, etc.) should take in order to support the
development of cross-border services. Below the actions are allocated to EU
level or EU Member State level, whereas for many actions both levels will be
involved for success. All actions defined at EU and / or EU Member States levels
should be complemented by sector action; only at sector level real improvements
can be made for international rail passengers.
A. Actions at EU Member States level
1. Invite EU Member States to define (framework conditions for) the
development of a consistent network of international rail passenger
services (including night trains) involving corridors along for important
origin-destination relations. A starting point is to identify the relations
that connecti European cities with more than 250.000+ inhabitants and
(mayor) airports within a radius of 600km. The framework conditions
would need to build upon existing legislation and cooperation. The
corridors and the network would need to take into consideration already
existing (and planned) services. For example framework conditions could
include offering multi-annual capacity for international passenger services
(secured frequencies and travel times on the defined origin destination
relations), infrastructure development in line with TEN T specifications,
agreements on rail security and where applicable border control and
customs, commitments to improve railway interoperability and
implementation of Time Table Redesign 2024 because TTR allows

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planning of regular (also international passenger) services on a multiannual basis;
2. Continue to work on missing links and bottlenecks in the interoperable
TEN-T international rail core and comprehensive network for
international railway passengers transport to connect national high speed
and conventional rail networks.
3. Support the development of cross border PSO contracts, based on
competitive tendering, only for the relations on which no attractive
service can be operated on a commercial basis. Good practices to award
cross border PSO contracts, covering elements such as cross border
ticketing, passenger rights and international cooperation with
infrastructure managers, safety authorities and regulatory bodies.

Bestuurskern
Dir. Openbaar Vervoer en
Spoor
Veiligheid en Goederen

B. Actions at EU level
4. Ensuring data availability & interoperability to make (through)ticketing and the provision of travel information easier (example Mobility
as a Service). The technological and the commercial approach must
include intermodal reservation and ticketing services with particularly air,
maritime and road transport. Taking due account of OTIF provisions for
intermodal services. Shift2Rail2 will be invited to take account of these
needs and to support through research and innovation where needed.
5. Further develop multi-modal passenger rights that offer business
opportunities and safeguards rights of passengers in multimodal transport
chain.
6. Based on research, innovation, existing legislation / standards and
existing sector initiatives, the Commission could launch legislative
(supported by the work of ERA) and other initiatives to ensure data
standards (ontology), openness of data to foster a:
a. Full implementation and application of TSI TAP including
monitoring mechanism.
b. A competitive open market for selling international rail tickets,
including by third parties.
c. Facilitate offer of cross border rail tickets by internet based
selling, account based ticketing and include railways in the
Mobility as a Service concept.
d. Air – rail complementary services offered to passengers in a
competitive way;
7. Consider possible measures to promote the development of the market
for rolling stock rental and leasing, including state aids, the role of EIB
and Eurofima and the implementation of the Luxemburg rail protocol.
8. Enforce the application of 4th railway package technical pillar to
ensure efficient and timely authorizations of rolling stock for cross border
passenger services. Next steps could include an issues logbook for
international passenger services, on data interoperability, ETCS OBU and
efficient cross border supervisions by NSA’s.
9. Enforce the application of 4th railway package market pillar to ensure
a level playing field and harmonised rules for railway undertakings to
initiate and operate international passenger services.
10. Following the European Court of Auditors report on high speed
infrastructure and a fragmented network, designing an EC agenda for
international high speed services combining where needed both
high speed and conventional infrastructure. Coherent action must

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ensure a good level of services / frequencies on the identified
connections. A conceptual and legal framework should help to identify
whether there a role for public service contracts.

Bestuurskern
Dir. Openbaar Vervoer en
Spoor
Veiligheid en Goederen

4B: How can this be done?
In this paragraph some ideas are presented in which way international rail
passenger services could be on the 2020-2024 EC agenda for transport.
As a follow-up to the paper the Netherlands ministry of Infrastructure and Water
Management will invite interested Member States to set up a high level platform
to take the international railway passenger agenda forward at national, cross
border / corridor and at European level (coalition of the willing). The aim is to
have the first meeting of the platform to take place February / March 2020. This
platform will cooperate with sector parties and will prepare a Memorandum for
consideration of transport Ministers. The Memorandum aims at ensuring the
commitment of Member States in the development of international railway
passenger transport and presenting the perspective on the related EU agenda.
TEN-T days 13-15 May in Croatia may give the first opportunity for a public
communication on this initiative.

Below are some more specific proposals to complement the ongoing actions at EU
/ Member States level linked to the aforementioned objectives.

General perspective is to combine voluntary actions at Member States /
sector level with where necessary regulatory approach (passenger
corridors including infrastructure capacity, digital agenda, TEN-T
interoperability). Developing international rail passenger services is a
business opportunity based on open access services. Member States and
EU can contribute to this by improving the framework conditions for rail
and contracting international rail passenger services based on competitive
tenders where the market does not offer this sufficiently.

For action 1 design and development of cross border railway
passenger network (see also suggestions included in the addendum)
o As a first step, Member States should define international origindestination relations with sufficient market potential based on
specific criteria and on a sound market analysis.
o For those rail passenger corridors Member States use / adapt an
existing governance structure or set up a new governance
structure which also includes infrastructure managers. As a first
step, pilots could be launched, for example the case studies on
the agenda for the 15 November 2019 workshop could be
considered (Berlin – Amsterdam corridor, Prague – Bratislava /
Vienna / Budapest, night trains Sweden).
o Develop an implementation plan which includes measures to
provide adequate infrastructure – interoperability – coordinated
capacity (frequencies / travel times).

For action 2 interoperable TEN-T international rail core and
comprehensive network the TEN-T regulation 1315/2013/EU is the
basis and includes obligations for Member States to complete the TEN-T
core network corridors by 2030. In the EU (CEF, Cohesion / Regional)
financing considerations including conditions may be given to cross border

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interoperability issues (e.g. multiple electricity systems interfaces,
ERTMS) and missing links.
For action 3 cross border PSO contracts based on the rules of the
4th railway package. Here the EU legal framework is set in the 4th
railway package. First EC could clarify the conditions under which the PSO
regulation applies to international transport services. Secondly, Member
States could identify good practice modelsto support further cross border
PSO contracts (supported via CEF / Intereg ?) for contracting such
services taking into account multiple infrastructure managers and their
network access conditions. Also the inclusion of good practice models on
cross border ticketing could be included here.
For action 4 on data availability and interoperability. Shift2Rail1 IP4
(2014-2020) includes already projects on rail ticketing, Shift2Rail2 (20212027) could further support innovation in international rail ticketing and
information services to passengers (i.a. Mobility as a Service, Account
based ticketing)
For action 5 on multi-modal passenger rights an analysis can be
made.
For action 6, identify shortcomings in current data standards and
openness of data legislation. Present EU initiatives, supported by the
work of ERA, include TSI TAP which gives a standard for Telematics in
passenger services. The implementation is largely left to the railway
industry. Additional work including consideration of possible legislative
actions to establish an efficient market for tickets vendors/retailers is
needed to achieve data interoperability within railways and with other
modes, including aviation. The Strategic Programming Document ERA
2020 already refers to (pilot-) actions for data interoperability.
For action 7 an analysis can be made on functioning rolling stock
market for international passenger services.
For action 8, full implementation and optimization of 4th railway
package technical pillar is needed. This requires a dynamic
cooperation between ERA and National Safety authorities that is aiming at
further streamlining of authorization procedures and is supporting
innovations highly relevant for international rail. Among those innovations
are digitalization of ticketing and travel information for passengers.
For action 9 implementation of 4th railway package market pillar is
needed including (use of) implementing regulations, procurement
procedures and regulatory oversight;
For action 10 a focus is needed on the present status of international
passenger services in the European network of dedicated high speed
lines combined with (upgraded) conventional lines. The investments
done at EU and national level must be instrumental in promoting the
development of international rail services as expected and must be
complemented by framework conditions set up by by governments and
Member States. EC gives a follow-up on the report from European Court
of Auditors.
Define a (European) monitor on development of international rail
passenger services in an intermodal context. In such monitor market
developments of service levels and use by passengers, investment levels,
service quality, interoperability status are to be monitored. In the monitor
also intermodal aspects may be covered. The Monitor can be part of
existing monitoring instruments.

Bestuurskern
Dir. Openbaar Vervoer en
Spoor
Veiligheid en Goederen

Page 8 of 10

Addendum.
Developing an international railway passenger corridor (example)

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Dir. Openbaar Vervoer en
Spoor
Veiligheid en Goederen

Member States and Infrastructure managers are working together to develop
well-functioning international railway passenger corridors which will attract new
passengers and achieve modal shift from air and road to railways. As in the
governance of rail freight corridors, Member States will work together in
executive boards and Infrastructure Managers in management boards.
Within their respective competences Member States and infrastructure managers
will undertake the following actions:

Market analysis. Investigate international railway passenger transport
markets with substantial potential to shift passengers from air and road
to rail. High Speed and conventional railways. Reference point will be the
analysis of connecting cities of <250.000> plus inhabitants within <600
km > distances to be connected with railway services of maximum 6
hours duration and frequencies of <8 trains per day >. Identify which
services quality, also in terms of travel time and frequencies between
cities is needed for the modal shift.. The market analysis will show the
potential modal shift market and compare this to the existing
international railway passenger market on the existing infrastructure.
Building upon existing studies;

Management Board will develop a corridor implementation plan for
the corridor to be adopted by the executive board. Management board
will analyse the existing infrastructure conditions and where needed
develop proposals on meeting the reference values for infrastructure
coming from the market study (travel times, frequencies). Proposals from
infrastructure managers will focus on measures at short term and lower
costs and may include:
o Proposals for international capacity strategies and capacity
models, following the tools of Time Table Redesign;
o Interoperability enhancements (e.g. ERTMS, border stations
facilities, traction current changing stations,)
o Measures to introduce innovative technologies and tools on the
corridor (example ATO, Hydrogen, passenger information and
ticketing);
o Infrastructure enhancement projects;
o New infrastructure projects;

Executive Board will establish a corridor regulatory plan. The objective
is to understand present (deficiencies of) functioning of the railway
market and asses potential measures. Regulatory bodies will be
consulted. The analysis which may include measures for the passenger
corridors which are already provided for by European legislation, including
i.a.:
o Capacity allocation (priority) rules in case of congested
infrastructure. Art 39.1 2012/34;
o Measures to support functioning rolling stock market. Applicable
EU state aid rules;
o Where applicable the frameworks for economic equilibrium tests
for the corridor art 11.1 2012/34/EU as amended by
2016/2370/EU;

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Measures on pricing, e.g. reduction of infrastructure charging for
new services. Art 33.3 and 37 of 2012/34/EU
o Public service contracts for international railway passenger
services on the corridor. As a start up support, to ensure high
frequencies or other public objective. 1370/2007/EC
Management board will publish a bi-annual market monitoring report
for the corridor. Railway undertakings will support the monitoring by
providing market data.
o



Bestuurskern
Dir. Openbaar Vervoer en
Spoor
Veiligheid en Goederen

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