EU rail passengers’ rights

KEY POINTS

The regulation applies to international or domestic rail journeys throughout the European Union (EU) provided by one or more railway companies. It includes a number of new and important features.

• Through-tickets. A new obligation for carriers qualifying as a ‘sole railway undertaking’¹ to offer their long-distance (international and domestic) and regional rail services as a through-ticket.
• Real-time travel information. Infrastructure managers shall distribute real-time traffic data to railway undertakings, ticket vendors, tour operators and station managers. Railway companies must provide real-time dynamic travel information to other railway companies selling their tickets, as well as to ticket vendors and tour operators.
• Right to self-routing. Where passengers have not been offered a timely solution (within 100 minutes) in the event of a disruption to their journey, they can themselves organise alternative public transportation by rail or bus, and be reimbursed by the carrier for the ‘necessary, appropriate and reasonable’ cost of the additional ticket.
• Transporting bicycles. Dedicated spaces for assembled (not merely folding) bicycles will be required on new trains and on those which have had major upgrades.
• Persons with disabilities or reduced mobility. Reduces the pre-notification period for assistance requests to 24 hours along with a number of other measures.
• Enforcing passengers’ rights. Introduces an improved enforcement framework including:
  • an amended complaint-handling mechanism;
  • a reinforced obligation for cooperation between the national enforcement bodies;
  • a standardised EU-wide form allowing passengers to request reimbursement or compensation.
• Force majeure clause. Railway undertakings do not have to pay compensation for delays or cancellation in the case of extraordinary circumstances such as a pandemic or extreme weather conditions.
• Equal treatment. Discrimination based on the passenger’s nationality or the place of establishment within the EU of the carrier or the ticket vendor and tour operator is prohibited.
• Major disruptions. In coordination with infrastructure and station managers, railway undertakings should prepare contingency plans (including accessible alert and information systems) to prepare for the possibility of major disruption and long delays causing a considerable number of passengers to be stranded in a station.
• Exemptions. Previously existing exemptions are curtailed and no rail services are per se exempted. Certain exemptions can still be granted by EU Member States, such as for urban, suburban and regional passenger services, to which an increased number of mandatory provisions would then remain applicable.