Enrico Letta’s Report on the Future of the EU Single Market Says the Right Things about Rail
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.
The EU Green Deal Needs to Make Train Tickets Easier to Find and Book
Potential passengers need easy access to timetable information and quick access to tickets. Recent legal rulings have shown: The EU and its Member States finally need to make trains easier to find and book for the citizens who are paying for it.
Renfe’s Commitments: Good First Step, but not Enough to Ensure Transparent and Impartial Rail Ticket Retail for EU Citizens
The EU Commission last week accepted the Spanish state-owned passenger rail incumbent Renfe's commitments to a fairer, more transparent market - a step that ALLRAIL welcomes.These commitments, now legally binding, constitute a positive step following the DB precedent last year in Germany and can lead to enhanced competition in the European rail ticketing market, allowing independent ticket vendors more chance to compete with the in-house ticket vendor of market-dominant Renfe.
German court rules against DB in rail ticketing lawsuit filed by Flix
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.
Germany: in a judgement, Court recognises the dominant position of incumbent Deutsche Bahn’s in-house online rail ticket vendors
The Hamburg Regional Court, in its judgment of 1 December 2023, fully upheld a lawsuit filed by an independent operator, prohibiting the in-house online rail ticket sales vendors of the state-owned rail incumbent Deutsche Bahn (DB) from using certain filter options which led to misleading search results.
It confirms that DB's in-house online rail ticket sales vendors are market-dominant in Germany - and by deliberately suppressing competing long-distance competitors this has had a direct and lasting negative effect on competition - because booking a train ticket requires the search and comparison of visible offers.