According to Nick Brooks, this is due to an important difference between air and rail transport: "It is not possible to go directly from place to place by train because there are different signal systems in Europe."

"You can't just take a train and set it down on some random tracks somewhere in Europe," he explains. He also believes that a different policy is needed - indeed he even calls it 'a revolution' - in the train area, also in the ticketing system:

"It is our wish that all train tickets can be displayed and sold at all train operators and at independent train portals so that you have a fully accessible train ticket system. Only then will train travel really flourish."

"The national train companies are satisfied with things as they are. There is very little competition. If I asked 100 people in Denmark where they would buy their train tickets, 97 would answer DSB. They have a huge market share, and therefore they have no incentive to change anything."

In her Political Guidelines for the Next European Commission, the re-elected President of the EU Commission Dr Ursula von der Leyen correctly identifies the fragmentation of ticketing as the biggest problem in EU passenger rail. The next 5 years of the new EU Commission will be crucial to legislate and introduce solutions – it is Now or Never.

Transmodel is the technical standard that is best suited for creating impartial and seamless ticketing in passenger rail. It provides passengers with all possibilities to plan their rail journey and is the only ticketing standard that is fully transparent.

ALLRAIL have issued a statement, arguing for full transparency when implementing a single standard for ticket distribution.