Brussels is promoting a single rail ticket for travel across Europe with different operators

The European Commission has presented a new legislative proposal to facilitate rail travel within the European Union by creating a single, interoperable ticket system across different rail operators. The goal is to simplify the planning, comparison, and booking of domestic and cross-border trips, as well as to strengthen passenger rights in the event of incidents such as delays or missed connections.

The initiative, presented this Wednesday by Brussels, is part of a package of measures aimed at improving sustainable mobility and removing the barriers that currently make it difficult to book multimodal and rail travel in Europe.

According to the European Commission, many travelers still find it difficult to compare transportation options and combine different services in a single booking, especially on international routes. The problem is particularly evident in the rail sector, where ticketing systems remain highly fragmented and, in many cases, dominated by platforms linked to specific operators.

The proposal aims to enable passengers to find, compare, and purchase tickets that combine services from different rail companies in a single transaction, through any authorized sales platform, whether independent or owned by an operator.

In addition, Brussels wants to strengthen passenger protection for journeys involving multiple operators. Thus, those traveling with a single ticket will be entitled to assistance, alternative transportation, a refund, or compensation in the event of missing a connection due to delays or incidents during the journey.

The Commission also proposes to facilitate integration between different modes of transport, allowing travelers to combine, for example, a train journey with a flight in a single booking. The European Commission believes that the current fragmentation of distribution systems limits consumers? choice and hinders access to more sustainable mobility options.

Greater transparency on sales platforms

The new regulation will include specific obligations for platforms and ticket distributors. Among these is the requirement to display offers in a neutral and transparent manner, including, where possible, information on the greenhouse gas emissions associated with each travel option.

Likewise, the rules aim to ensure that all transport operators can establish ?fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory? commercial agreements with sales platforms.

Following its presentation, the proposal must be reviewed by the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament. If both institutions reach an agreement, Brussels estimates that the new rules could begin to apply within approximately twelve months.

To make this single-ticket model viable, the Commission is also urging Member States to accelerate the development of multimodal transport data exchange systems, as provided for in the European Directive on Intelligent Transport Systems.