In her recent re-election pitch to the European Parliament, European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen reiterated her commitment to simplifying cross-border train travel in Europe through a single-ticket system. This initiative aims to allow passengers to purchase one ticket for multiple train operators on a single platform, ensuring comprehensive passenger rights throughout their journey. Despite its appeal, a similar proposal during Von der Leyen's previous term failed to materialise.
Currently, travellers moving across European borders often have to buy separate tickets for different segments of their journey, facing the risk of losing connections without any compensation if delays occur. To address this, Von der Leyen's proposed "Regulation on Single Digital Booking and Ticketing" intends to streamline the ticketing process, providing a unified booking system that could potentially transform cross-border rail travel.
However, this isn't the Commission's first attempt at such a regulation. In December 2020, the Commission's 'Sustainable & Smart Mobility Strategy' suggested recommendations for developing multimodal ticketing services, including rail ticketing. This led to the proposed Multimodal Digital Mobility Services Regulation (MDMS), designed to allow seamless ticket purchasing across various transport modes.
Despite public consultations held between December 2021 and February 2022, the MDMS proposal has not advanced past the Commission's Regulatory Scrutiny Board, which is responsible for evaluating the fitness of legislative proposals. The board's 2023 Annual Report indicated that work on the MDMS is ongoing, with no significant updates since September 2023.
The MDMS proposal initially considered two approaches: creating an independent booking platform to sell combined tickets from various operators or merely a search platform to display separate offers. However, internal delays and lobbying from rail operators, who feared revenue losses and increased competition, have stymied progress. This led to then-Transport Commissioner Valean pushing for a less ambitious proposal, ultimately delaying the initiative.
The Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) expressed concerns that regulatory interventions reducing profit margins could result in diminished services, negatively affecting passengers. Nonetheless, CER is working on an Open Sales and Distribution Model (OSDM) to harmonise rail ticket distribution and promote multimodality, which has already seen implementation in Sweden.
Von der Leyen's recent announcement narrows the focus to rail travel, unlike the broader MDMS proposal that included various transport modes. The Commission now faces a decision: pursue the streamlined rail-only initiative or revisit the comprehensive MDMS plan.
.jpg)