TRANSPORT: THE EESC RECOMMENDS IMPROVING PROTECTION FOR RAILWAY PASSENGERS

Through several opinions in its September plenary, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) recommends focusing on protection, transparency and inclusiveness for passengers, backing the establishment of a single digital booking system and multimodal mobility platforms.  

Three opinions formed part of the EESC’s response to the European Commission’s long-awaited railway Passenger Package. The first opinion, drafted by Baiba Miltoviča, underlined the EESC’s appreciation of the initiative to introduce more protections for rail passengers.  

It stresses that passengers should be allowed more flexibility after missed train connections and emphasises the importance of final ticket prices being transparent from the start of the booking process. It reiterates the importance of supporting accessibility and inclusiveness for all passengers, which can be achieved through maintaining human assistance systems.  

The second opinion, drafted by Dumitru Fornea, welcomed the Commission’s initiative to set up a single, interoperable European booking and ticketing framework for rail transport, considering it essential for a genuine EU railway area.  

‘This initiative would break down the current barriers that passengers face when dealing with fragmented national booking systems,’ said Mr Fornea. ‘Digital simplification would contribute to making integrated EU mobility a reality and should be developed to this end, not simply to digitalise/connect different online national systems.’ 

The third opinion, drafted by Mateusz Szymański, concerned the Commission’s efforts to develop multimodal mobility platforms – tools that allow passengers to combine different transport modes when planning, booking and paying for journeys.  

‘The development of these tools should be promoted, as they can offer multimodality, inclusiveness and sustainability throughout the EU, both within Member States and in cross-border travel,’ Mr Szymański said.  

However, the EESC calls for more comprehensive efforts to ensure that multimodal journeys would be purchasable through a single ticket. (ma/mp)