In order to comply with the Green Deal’s objectives, the European Commission has decided to clarify under which conditions the PSO Regulation 1370/2007 could apply to other than local and regional public transport services. To EPF, precisions included in the revised guidelines are welcomed as they reinforce the importance of rail and multimodality.

Thus, with a view to the necessary modal shift, the PSO Regulation could be applicable to regional cross-border, international and night passengers services, and to international freight links. The Regulation could be also applicable to multimodal services combining different modes of transport (road, rail, waterborne). As for cross-border cooperation, which according to the Commission should be encouraged, it would be possible to combine PSO contracts with open access for geographical or operational reasons if this is in the interest of passengers, and cooperation between transport authorities should help to develop customer oriented solutions to facilitate international connections.

Discussions about these guidelines should go on during the coming months for an adoption during the second half year of 2022.