EU adopts regulation for pan European passenger rail ticketing

EU adopts regulation for pan European passenger rail ticketing

2011-05-06 00:55:35 GMT+7 (ICT)

BRUSSELS (BNO NEWS) -- The European Commission on Thursday adopted a regulation to facilitate of the pan European passenger rail planning and ticketing through a standardization of rail passenger data on fares and timetables.

The new regulation, Telematics Applications for Passenger Services, will allow key reservation and ticketing information to be inter-operable and exchanged between rail companies throughout the EU Member States as well as ticket vendors.

"If we are serious about having rail compete with air travel over middle distances then we need to offer rail passengers the seamless planning and ticketing offers that match the airlines," said European Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas.

In 2012, the Commission will bring forward a complementary legal measure requiring rail operators to bring their ticketing information (IT) systems and practices into line. This will translate in the transfer of the standardized data between operators.

Kallas, who is also the Commission's responsible for transport, added that the measures will lay the foundations to allow a new generation of more simplified European rail journey planners and ticketing systems to start to emerge on market.

"Making common timetabling and fare information available to operators is a significant first step, but it is just the start of a much bigger push to make pan European rail planning and ticketing a reality."

According to the EU, there are widely differing booking systems in Europe as data is processed in different ways and is not interchangeable. Thus, passengers have very limited possibilities to book rail tickets cross border.

This situation puts the railways in a significant disadvantage with the airline industry which has evolved serving mainly cross border routes and providing wide and easy journey planning and ticketing on a pan-European basis. Airlines use the common central reservation system Amadeus.

The new EU technical regulation adopted Thursday will force the standardization of data relating to timetables and fares and will legally require operators to make data related to timetabling, accommodation, reservation and ticketing available in the public domain.

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