Despite 70% Of Funding For Passenger Rail Coming From EU Citizens (via Taxes), Less Than Half Of Cross-Border Rail Options Are Easy To Buy At One Single Ticket Vendor – As In the Example of Cologne to Lille

Travelling by train between Cologne in Germany and Lille in France (or vice-versa) is a very good example of the current fragmentation in EU passenger rail ticketing.

The distance between these two major cities is 320 kilometres; this is the kind of route where Rail should be the mainstay of EU cross-border transport. Two internal EU borders are crossed during the journey, and there is a minimum of one change of train necessary (because there is no direct service).

Alas, less than half (43%) of the cross-border connecting rail journeys that are actually operating can be booked online in a single transaction at the same ‘One Stop Shop’ ticket vendor 1.

The remaining connecting rail journeys are deliberately being hidden from passengers – despite EU taxpayers funding 70% of passenger rail 2.

  • If this continues, how will modal shift to rail ever be achieved ?!

There are around 50 connecting rail journeys each day in each direction between Cologne and Lille, travelling either via Brussels or Namur in Belgium, when combining regional, Intercity and high-speed trains in any variation and adhering to reasonable Minimum Connection Times (MCTs).

It is worth remembering: budget conscious travellers cannot always afford to take a high-speed train. On such a route, it is often the slightly slower, more affordable connecting journeys (i.e. regional combined with Intercity trains) that will win them away from less sustainable transport modes – such as the car – especially when booking at shorter notice.

Three days ago, we checked various online rail booking channels in order to book a connecting rail journey from Cologne to Lille on Thursday 18th May 2023.

Results:
Of all the state rail incumbent in-house ticket vendors, it was Belgian Railways SNCB/NMBS that offered the most connecting rail services: 21 out of 49 (= 43%) 3.

Meanwhile, independent 3rd party rail ticket vendors – whose core mission is to provide impartial ‘One Stop Shop’ access to all available rail options, including connecting journeys – do not receive access to all the relevant data, or they are restricted by punitive commercial and ‘Look-to-Book’ schemes imposed by market dominant incumbents . The maximum that we found here was 10 out of 49 rail options – just 20%.

However, despite these poor results, there is no indication that the EU state-owned rail incumbents will change anything major in the future. They only suggest voluntary improvements that will continue to hide many of the connecting rail services.

“Europe needs a simple and effective legislative framework: all rail options must be bookable at all rail ticket vendors at Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (FRAND) commercial terms between the operator and ticket vendor involved. Passengers deserve transparency.”

ALLRAIL Secretary General Nick Brooks

EU Member States and MEPs must finally make all Rail journeys accessible to citizens and voters. After all, as taxpayers, they subsidise most of it.

  • Otherwise, How Will Modal Shift To Rail Ever Be Achieved ?!

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1 Only rail ticketing experts & enthusiasts know how to book all such fragmented one-way journeys at present without needing a ‘One-Stop Shop’, namely by piecing together separate rail tickets at separate rail ticket vendors. By contrast, the vast majority of passengers do not know how to do this.

2 Approximately 70% of passenger rail operations in the EU are subsidised Public Service Obligations (PSOs). In addition, the EU rail track infrastructure is also subsidised to a similar amount. This does not happen in any other transport mode.

3 See the annex below.

Annex

On Friday 21st April 2023, we counted all connecting rail journeys between Cologne to Lille (via Brussels or Namur) for travel on Thursday 18th May that are actually operating (i.e. the trains are running), adhering to following conditions:

  1. Reasonable and Acceptable Minimum Connection Times (‘MCT’s).
  2. The connecting train is always the next available departure (adhering to MCTs). Otherwise, the number of rail options would be many hundreds more. That being said, breaking the journey on the same day, e.g. for a lunch meeting in Brussels, is legitimate and passengers should be offered such stopover options as well.

The Results

  • Changing between Intercity/regional trains for the entire route: 17 connecting rail journeys.
  • Intercity/regional trains changing onto high speed train in Brussels: 14 connecting rail journeys.
  • High speed train changing onto Intercity/regional trains in Brussels: 9 connecting rail journeys.
  • High speed train changing onto high speed train in Brussels: 9 connecting rail journeys.
    • Total: 49 connecting rail journeys per direction in one day.

However, we did not count the number of connecting rail journeys firstly by high speed rail from Cologne to Liège, then changing onto Intercity/regional trains for the rest of the journey to Lille (and vice-versa). This possibility exists as well, meaning in reality there are more than 50 daily rail options per direction.

Then we researched how many of these 49 connecting rail journeys are actually bookable for passengers, namely at one single ticket vendor:

  • State-owned rail incumbent German Railways DB’s in-house online ticket vendor shows 9 rail options -> 18% of existing connections.
  • State-owned rail incumbent Belgian Railways SNCB/NMBS’s in-house online ticket vendor shows 21 rail options -> 43% of existing connections.
  • State-owned rail incumbent French Railways SNCF in-house online ticket vendor shows 11 rail options -> 22% of existing connections.

Of all the independent online rail ticket vendors, the highest number was 10 rail options: 20% of existing connections.