➢ The Italian state-owned operator FS Trenitalia is quite right: the next stage of rail competition is no longer only on the tracks. It is on the screens – where passengers go to buy their tickets.

The only caveat? Trenitalia is saying this in France, where it also operates.

In France, nearly 85% of online rail ticket distribution reportedly goes through the market-dominant digital rail platform SNCF Connect. Yet it is SNCF Connect’s choice not to display the trains of alternative operators.

➢ This severely limits passengers’ access to all available rail offers.

Marco Caposciutti, President of Trenitalia in France, says: “We want to be compared… What matters is that travellers have access to all the offers.“

Exactly!

➢ So, let’s be clear: if FS Trenitalia wants to be sold on SNCF Connect in France, ALLRAIL agrees. But then the same must apply in Italy too.

➢ The Single European Railway Area cannot mean: “open your digital platform to us, but we keep ours closed to you.”

Trenitalia is right in saying: “Now the main topic is customer access”.

That is why the EU Commission’s new Passenger Package proposalcomes at exactly the right time. It will finally give EU citizens, not market-dominant rail platforms, the power to choose the rail journey that works best for them.

ALLRAIL Secretary General Nick Brooks says: “Member States should endorse this new Passenger Package and ensure that the principles of transparency and non-discrimination benefit rail passengers all across Europe.”