Project

Streamlining train bookings has long been a perennial pipe dream in the European Union (EU), despite regular calls to end the fragmentation of the rail network across twenty-seven national systems, which makes travel unnecessarily complicated and costly.

The growth of rail, however, remains crucial for Europe’s climate ambitions. At the outset of her second term in July 2024, the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, had pledged a single, unified booking system.

To turn this ambition into reality, Brussels is poised, according to sources close to the matter, to table a proposal that would compel operators to sell the tickets of their rivals on their own websites and to share their data with booking platforms.

Currently, “booking cross-border rail travel in Europe remains unnecessarily complicated”, notes Vivien Costanzo, a German member of the European Parliament from the Social Democrats. “A European rail system needs simple reservations, reliable connections, and clear rights for passengers. It is only under these conditions that rail will become a genuine European alternative to short-haul flights”, she warns.

But the proposal is likely to meet fierce opposition from national operators. In Brussels, the “European Rail Community” (ERC), a lobby of EU operators, denounces an “unprecedented interference” by the Commission. “I know of no case where anyone is forced to sell a competitor’s product. Imagine Lufthansa being forced to sell Ryanair tickets”, says Alberto Mazzola, an ERC official interviewed by AFP.

The Network Has Shrunk

Train tickets in Europe are currently primarily sold by national operators. The new legislation would require them to display offers from other companies, enabling passengers to compare prices and book a trip in one go.

A 2025 YouGov survey for the NGO Transport & Environment (T&E) shows that nearly two in three people forego a trip because the booking process is too complex. Studies also indicate that booking a train journey takes on average 70% more time than booking a flight. “With more competition in rail, passengers will benefit from better services and lower prices”, says Jan-Christoph Oetjen, a centrist Member of the European Parliament.

The Commission should also update passenger rights in cases of missed connections, regarding compensation or flexibility to board the next train.

This initiative comes as the war in the Middle East has driven up kerosene prices and raised concerns about supply difficulties for the aviation sector during Europe’s peak tourist season. It could offer railway operators the “opportunity” to “change the narrative” around international train travel and to invest in improving services, believes Victor Thévenet of Transport & Environment.

Rail accounted for only 0.3% of the transport sector’s greenhouse gas emissions in Europe in 2022, compared with nearly 12% for civil aviation. But between 1990 and 2021, the EU railway network shrank by more than 12,000 kilometers, eurodeputies lamented in 2024, vowing to halt this trend.