Railway operators must pay a total of approximately €170 million annually for the use of the Amsterdam-Belgium/Breda high-speed line. This amount was agreed between the Dutch government and Dutch Railways (‘NS’), and it stems directly from the Fyra concession fee offered by NS in overpriced bidding back in 2001.

Treinvervoerders moeten in totaal jaarlijks ca. € 170 miljoen betalen voor het gebruik van de hogesnelheidslijn Amsterdam-België/Breda.Dit bedrag is afgesproken tussen Nederland en NS bij de Fyra-problematiek en komt direct voort uit de in 2001 door NS geboden concessievergoeding voor Fyra.

This week, AIPRO - the US Association for Innovative Passenger Rail Operations - submitted testimony to the US House of Representatives Railroad Subcommittee. It presented to Congress a comprehensive long-term program designed to introduce competition on the rapidly expanding intercity passenger corridors.

As the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) celebrated its 20th anniversary, ALLRAIL’s team travelled to its home city of Valenciennes to reflect on the Agency’s achievements so far. The ERA plays a central role in harmonising a fragmented EU rail market, and now it should be given more responsibility and funding. 

State-owned rail incumbents continue to present themselves as financial success stories - which is deliberately misleading. This narrative fails to mention the astronomical growth in directly awarded taxpayer subsidy, without which there would be no ‘profit’.

After over 400 meetings and visiting 65 cities, the President of the Jacques Delors Institute and former Italian prime minister Enrico Letta has issued a report on the future of the EU Single Market and presented it to EU leaders.

It clearly highlights the obstacles that still prevent the Single European Railway Area from leading the way towards sustainable, affordable free movement of people across the Union.

This month, at a meeting in Brussels, European Transport Ministers called on the EU to make rail the backbone of European mobility and that “passengers can easily compare, book and pay for their door-to-door train journey in a trans-European perspective".

It must be possible for travellers to book door-to-door journeys across the EU using ground-based public transport at the same App or website – in one single transaction - with rail as the backbone of the trip.

To counter the dominance of the private motor car and reduce carbon emissions, it is crucial to enable door-to-door bookings on ground-based public transport, with rail as the backbone of the journey.

Therefore a common technical standard across all ground transportation modes must be introduced. The tried and tested Transmodel NeTEx is proven to be technically superior and flexible, and offers full transparency for travellers.

Dieses Jahr, passend zur UEFA EURO 2024™ (Europameisterschaft im Fußball), gibt die Deutsche Bahn (DB) die pompöse Behauptung ab, dass sie „Ein Team. Fürs Klima.“ sei.

Es ist jedoch an der Zeit, Fakt von Fiktion zu trennen – ein neuer Nachtzug fährt auf Deutschlands Schienen, und die DB weigert sich, ihn zu verkaufen.

This year, to coincide with the UEFA EURO 2024™ (European Football Championship), German Railways ('DB') is making the pompous claim that it is “One Team. For The Environment."

But it is time to separate fact from fiction – a new night train has come to Germany, and DB is deliberately refusing to sell it.

Yesterday evening, ALLRAIL member operator RegioJet launched the first ever Open Access 100% commercial passenger rail service between the EU and Ukraine. That means: it operates without subsidy. And it will operate daily – in both directions.

The First Ever Direct Passenger Rail Service Between Prague and Brussels!

3 marca 2024 roku, po 531 (!) dniach procedowania, Prezes Urzędu Transportu Kolejowego wydał decyzję otwartodostępową jednemu z niezależnych operatorów dla połączeń na trasie Kraków Główny – Gdynia Główna i z powrotem przez Warszawę. Sam ten fakt nie byłby niczym nadzwyczajnym, gdyby nie zakres wnioskowanych usług oraz decyzja regulatora zakres ten ograniczająca.

On 3 March 2024, after 531 (!) days of proceedings, the Polish rail regulator UTK only approved a minor portion of independent operator RegioJet’s application to operate commercial passenger services on the Kraków–Gdynia route, and confined mostly to off-peak hours.

UTK's decision to approve state incumbent's application while imposing severe limitations on that of the independent operator showcases a troubling instance of double standards and protectionism.

ALLRAIL welcomes the adoption by the European Parliament of its position on the Railway Capacity Regulation. However, ALLRAIL also expresses significant reservations regarding the introduction of the concept of clockface timetables, which raises concerns about its impact on the flexibility and commercial viability of long-distance passenger rail services.

DSB's rapporterede "overskud" er dog faktisk en falsk profitmargin, som er 'tjent' fra en landsdækkende offentlig servicetrafik ('PSO')-kontrakt, der blev direkte tildelt af den danske regering uden fordelene ved en konkurrenceudsættelse i udbud (hvilket ville have opnået lavere omkostninger for skatteyderne og højere kvalitet for passagererne).

DSB’s reported “profits” are in fact a fake profit margin that is 'earned' from a countrywide Public Service Obligation ('PSO') contract that was directly awarded by the Danish government without the benefits of a competitive tender (which would have achieved a lower cost for taxpayers and higher quality for passengers).

Two years into the war, the global rail sector has stood with Ukraine since Day One and remains committed until the Russian aggression is beaten.

To coincide with this anniversary, a new article has been published by the Global Railway Review outlining the work of our Task Force.

Yesterday, the annual “Ukraine meets Europe” event was held at Café Kyiv in Berlin, Germany. This gathering, occurring just a few days before the second anniversary of Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine, served as a reminder of the enduring spirit of the Ukrainian people.

España es presentada por algunos como un ejemplo en Europa de los beneficios de la apertura del transporte ferroviario de pasajeros. Sin embargo, el nuevo ministro socialista de Transportes, Óscar Puente, dijo recientemente en el Congreso de los Diputados que este modelo de liberalización - en el que solo compiten entre sí las compañias estatales - tiene "efectos perjudiciales" ya que sus pérdidas "tendrán el colchón del Estado para cubrirlas".

The EU needs to move from annual, manual and national system to a flexible, digital and European one. There must be cooperation in a competitive market.Therefore, there are Six Key Success Factors that are necessary.

AERRL, ALLRAIL, CER, EAL, EIM, ERFA, UIP, UIRR and UNIFE support the implementation of the centralised registration function as the European Vehicle Register (EVR) defined in the Commission Implementing Regulation 2018/1614 of 25 October 2018 and the corresponding transfer of the relevant data of registered vehicles from the National Vehicle Registers to the EVR.

22 September 2023: today, the privately owned passenger rail operator Brightline will start regular, scheduled Intercity services between the two largest transport hubs in Florida: Miami and Orlando.

ALLRAIL congratulates Brightline on the milestone that it has achieved today and hopes that this will be the start of a new era of privately owned operators playing a major role in the US Intercity rail market.

ALLRAIL supports the EU Commission's new Interpretative Guidelines concerning Regulation (EC) 1370/2007 on public passenger transport services by rail and by road, that were published on 22nd June 2023.

ALLRAIL, together with the Community of the European Railways and Infrastructure Companies (CER), the European Rail Infrastructure Managers (EIM), the European Rail Freight Association (ERFA), the International Union of Wagon Keepers (UIP) and the European Rail Supply Industry (UNIFE), issued recommendations to the European Commission regarding its proposal for amending the Taxonomy Climate Delegated Act and the Taxonomy Disclosures Delegated Act.

We, the European rail sector, reaffirm our readiness to work with EU Institutions to make the EU Taxonomy successful.

The undersigned organisations, representing diverse interests from across the mobility sector (such as consumers, business travelers, rail new entrants, travel intermediaries) express their strong support for the EU Commission's upcoming initiative on a Regulation on Multimodal Digital Mobility Services (MDMS).

However, we voice our strong concerns regarding the presented scope of obligations for transport operators. To fully achieve its ambitious objectives, the MDMS Regulation must cover relevant players of all modes, meaning those with a certain degree of market power.

On 21 September 2022 at the Innotrans trade fair in Berlin, the European railway sector (including ALLRAIL) handed over the Sector Statement on Digital Automatic Coupling (DAC) to the European Commission, represented by DG MOVE's Director General Henrik Hololei.

This Sector Statement on the DAC showcases the need and the advantages to roll-out this innovative device across the European railway system in an accelerated and concerted manner, presents the commitment of the European railway sector and calls the European Commission, the Members States and the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) to action.

"ALLRAIL believes that the Netherlands should waive the levy it charges for the use of the high-speed railway line (HSL-Zuid) from Amsterdam to Hazeldonk. As its reason, the alliance argues that the levy is discriminatory by nature."

Salim was interviewed by the British leading TV channel ITV

RegioJet launched the first Open Access fully commercial passenger rail service between the European Union and Ukraine, on Tuesday evening. The service will run daily in both directions, establishing a direct connection between the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Ukraine.

“Spain and Italy show that with fares having decreased and ridership having grown — similar to what happened in the EU aviation market opening 30 years ago — ‘renationalisation’ is not even on the agenda” says [Nick] Brooks.

On Thursday, March 7, at 11:15 a.m., the gloves will come off and proponents and opponents of market forces in rail will discuss all the possibilities and impossibilities, challenges, wishes and legislation. Secretary General of ALLRAIL, will probably point out that the Netherlands has been on thin ice with the private awarding of the main rail network concession to NS for the years 2025-2033.

In the new Q and A series, ‘Off the Rails’, with figures from the rail industry, Emily Budgen from the Global Railway Review spoke to Nick Brooks, Co-Chair of the Global Ukraine Rail Task Force, and Secretary General of ALLRAIL, regarding the current situation in Ukraine, why rail is important to the Ukrainian war efforts and what would reconstruction entail for the country post-war. 

As one of the 12 recognized rail associations representing the rail industry at a European level, the non-governmental organisation ALLRAIL, the ‘Alliance of Passenger Rail New Entrants in Europe,’ has been advocating for European Union (EU) regulation that will enable faster market opening in Europe since 2017. ALLRAIL Secretary General Nick Brooks discusses the core challenges to reaching their objective with RailTech.

Grenzüberschreitende Zugfahrten sind umständlich. Dabei gäbe es wie im Fluggeschäft Portale, die Tickets verkaufen. Doch diese beklagen sich, sie würden von den Staatsbahnen gezielt behindert. Nun schalten sich Kartellbehörden ein.

The Alliance of Passenger Rail New Entrants (ALLRAIL) and The European Passengers' Federation (EPF) have issued a statement, calling for the EU Green Deal to review ticket purchasing.

Concerns have been raised over the signing of directly awarded train operating contracts in several countries, shortly before the expiry of a provision in the Fourth Railway Package regulation on competitive tendering.

Pociągi międzynarodowe Praga – Gdynia dostarczają kolejnego argumentu na rzecz wybierania operatorów w drodze otwartego przetargu zamiast powierzenia bezpośredniego – uważają przedstawiciele stowarzyszenia niezależnych przewoźników pasażerskich ALLRAIL. Jak wskazują, po obu stronach granicy przewoźnicy obsługujący połączenie zostali wybrani w różnej formule, co ma bezpośrednie przełożenie na koszty ponoszone przez polskich i czeskich podatników.

Podle sdružení alternativních dopravců rozdíl ukazuje výhodu soutěží

Europejskie stowarzyszenie prywatnych przewoźników kolejowych ALLRAIL oceniło ostatnie zwiększenie dotacji dla PKP Intercity, jako dorzucenia do worka bez dna.

In a significant legal development, the Hamburg Regional Court has handed down a judgement recognising the dominant position of Deutsche Bahn’s (DB) in-house online rail ticket vendors. The ruling, issued on December 1, stems from a lawsuit filed by independent operator FlixTrain. It successfully challenged certain filter options used by DB’s online ticket sales vendors, leading to misleading search results.

SJ:s krav på ekonomiskt stöd från Trafikverket och Jernbanedirektoratet har fått ALLRAIL att se rött. ALLRAIL, som har MTR, Flixtrain och Transdev, som medlemmar, kräver att de svenska och norska regeringarna stoppar det ”orättvisa skattefinansierade stödet” till SJ.

After almost 30 years of monopoly, Eurostar is suddenly facing a raft of new challengers on its core international routes, with competition offering the prospect of more trains, more choice and lower fares.

Heuro and other newcomers will be extremely good news for the Amsterdam-Brussels-Paris-London rail network. Indeed, in all countries where high-speed rail competition has been introduced, the fares for passengers have dropped and passenger numbers have grown fast. It is a clear win for modal shift to rail.

PRO BAHN is a non-governmental organisation run by volunteers that speaks for public transport users in Germany. To ALLRAIL, this new Award shows that the policy of both Full Transparency and Mandatory Through Tickets is extremely popular with passengers.

Nick Brooks says national rail companies have an unfair advantage that could stymie efforts to expand services. “Politicians must be clear: the night train market will be effectively closed for a very long time,” he says. “This would run contrary to the goals of the single EU Rail market – which is madness when a clear and efficient alternative model already exists.

ALLRAIL is pleased to feature in this new article about future reform of passenger rail in the United States of America.
The benefits of market liberalisation are not limited to any one country; instead they can be achieved all over the world.

ALLRAIL's Secretary General Nick Brooks introduces to our new ALLRAIL podcast series, in which we will discuss the latest policy developments in passenger rail transport in Europe.

Fair competition in the rail sector is crucial to securing EU climate change goals and sustainable recovery

Panelists: Erich Forster, President ALLRAIL & CEO WESTbahn

Christian Schreyer, Vice-President ALLRAIL & Transdev CEO for North & Central Europe

Nick Brooks, Secretary General ALLRAIL

• Link to the press conference - YouTube

• Aleš Ondrůj, Senior Director Communications, RegioJet
• Carl Adam Holmberg, Head of Snälltåget
• Nick Brooks, Secretary General ALLRAIL
• Barbora Mičková, Policy Officer ALLRAIL
-> Recorded 17th June 2020

Links:
• YouTube
• Podcast (Spotify)

After COVID-19 webinar in April 2020 ALLRAIL issued a discussion on YouTube and Podcast channels.

First episode on the impact of COVID-19 on our members:
• YouTube - Key points (10min.)
• YouTube Full version (50min.)
• Podcast (Spotify)
• Podcast (Apple)
• Podcast (Google)

We consider the future of passenger rail in the 2020s. There can be little doubt that the coronavirus pandemic has shaken faith in public transport, but rail remains fundamentally attractive for its ability to move people efficiently with minimal land take and an extremely low carbon footprint. This discussion will assess the outlook for passenger operators and how they might adjust to a ‘new normal’.

Arthur Kamminga presented ALLRAIL vision on the topic of "How to stimulate international passenger rail?" at the Hearing on European support for international passenger rail transport at the Commission for Mobility of the Belgian House of Representatives, taking place on 17th December 2019 at the Chamber of Representatives of Belgium.