Comments to the EU Comission about Train Passenger Rights
Posted on 22 September 2025 by Jedidjah de Vries — 3 min
The European Comisssion is asking for public input on their plans to update the current rail passenger rights legislation. The window for that ends tomorrow!
Cross border rail travel often requires combining tickets from multiple different rail operators. Because of this, when passengers miss connections because of delays or disruptions no one is held responsible for helping them get back on their way, unlike for example with air travel. The European Commission wants to change the rules to address this. Their proposal is that any journey bought as a single transaction on a ticket platform—even if it is made up of multiple tickets from different operators—should count as a through-ticket, and thus be afforded the appropriate passenger rights.
This is a step in the right direction and would be an improvement over the current situation, but it also it isn't enough. Not all journeys can be currently purchased as a single transaction.
I think it's important that the EU hears from us that (1) this is issue is something that we care about, (2) Their proposal would meaningfully improve #CrossBorderRail in Europe, and (3) it's only the minimum and should be adopted and built upon even further in the future.
If you are seeing this before September 22, 2025 you should go give your own feedback!
Here is what I wrote:
As a frequent user of cross border rail in Europe, for work, to visit family, and exploration of our shared continent I (unfortunately) have first hand experience with the shortcomings of the current ticking situation. The proposed changes are an important step in the right direction and would make a real and meaningful difference for us, the passengers. However, while necessary, they are only the bare minimum.
There is still work to be done to ensure that it actually becomes possible to purchase most trips as a single transaction on a ticket platform. And even then, there will be journeys where purchasing tickets in a single transaction is not possible for technical reasons such as how they are sold or when they become available, or because of the use of local discount cards, etc., for which this narrow approach is simply insufficient.
I hope that a strong and robust version of the current proposal is enacted and can be used as a basis for further legislation in the future.
And here are takes from some other folks: