Swedish study of international night trains released

By |May 5th, 2020|

Last week the Swedish Transport Administration released a report as a result of a government assignment in order to investigate possible opportunities to procure sleeper services from Sweden to the European continent. The report is only available in Swedish but below is a summary and some reflections.

Despite the long distance from the European continent to Scandinavia almost all international […]

Eurostar and refunds

By |April 16th, 2020|

Eurostar has cancelled many trains and is now operating a very limited timetable between London and Brussels/Paris. Many passengers therefore cannot travel or if they were to travel would face long delays.

On Eurostar’s web page on the corona virus, passengers are only offered an “eVoucher”, that can be used for a future Eurostar journey, or a possibility to rebook. […]

Enjoyable holidays with public transport

By |March 18th, 2020|

At the annual General Meeting in Düsseldorf on 14th March, EPF adopted a new position paper with recommendations on public transport promotion for touristic trips.

The paper was prepared by EPF member PRO BAHN and deals with:

the journey to a holiday destination
mobility at the holiday destination
day trips from the place of residence
luggage and passenger transfer.

The full […]

ERA PRM TSI Regulation Revision Working Party

By |March 4th, 2020|

During 2019 the work in the ERA PRM TSI working party has come to a final result. After several years of quite intense work a number of improvements are proposed.

The new regulation will be decided probably in June 2020. The results are, apart from rules concerning functional working of railway carriages and station service design, especially two major new […]

Netherlands Proposal for International Rail Passenger Transport

By |February 18th, 2020|

The Netherlands Government has submitted a position paper to the European Commission that sets out plans for the development of international passenger rail. It follows a high-level meeting, mainly with representatives of Member States and the Commission, that was organised towards the end of last year by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure & Water Management. EPF board members Arriën […]

Update: Competition policy implication of the Green Speed project

By |January 24th, 2020|

EPF is keen to ensure that the various competition authorities make safeguarding passengers’ interests a precondition for authorising the proposed merger between Eurostar and Thalys.  Members were updated at their General Meeting in January on constructive exchanges that have already taken place with DG COMP.  As we recorded last month, EPF recognises that the merger should allow the two […]

Green Speed project – competition policy implications

By |December 12th, 2019|

Eurostar/Thalys merger proposal: what will be the consequences for the passengers?
Following discussions in October between a delegation from EPF and the team in the European Commission’s powerful Competition department responsible for transport, EPF undertook to give thought to the implications for passengers of the proposed merger of Thalys and Eurostar which had just been announced.  

SNCF is currently the […]

Urban mobility consultation

By |December 9th, 2019|

EPF has responded to the European Commission’s consultation on urban mobility.

In EPF’s view, it is very important to have an urban mobility policy at EU level. Whereas the local level has the best local knowledge, their financial situation is often not that solid and infrastructure investments  have to compete with other social expenses. Permanent EU funding for local investigations and […]

Station areas: what do passengers want?

By |November 21st, 2019|

EPF was invited to join the 7th edition of the UIC nextstation conference in Teheran (11-13. November) to talk about passenger expectations with regard to railway stations.

The UIC nextstation Conference is the global reference for leaders and decision-makers to share the latest experiences and best practices regarding the design, financing and operation of railway stations. It provides a unique opportunity […]

“Introducing international rail-corridors for passengers”

By |November 15th, 2019|

On the 15th of November, the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management  organized a high level expert meeting for the member states, the EC, and the ERA in Amsterdam to discuss in which ways international rail services for passengers can be further stimulated.

International passenger trains offer travellers the opportunity to travel across Europe in a sustainable way. The international passenger train […]