EU in push to standardise rail bookings. (BBC News 5th May 2011)

JayMac

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EU in push to standardise rail bookings. (BBC News 5th May 2011)

« on: May 06, 2011, 00:37:05 »

From the BBC^» British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Quote

European rail operators will have to use standard ticket and timetabling systems in future to make cross-border train journeys easier for the public, the European Commission says.

A new Commission regulation aims to make rail bookings as easy as airline bookings in Europe.

The goal is to move to a pan-European system because currently passenger data is handled differently in each country.

Rail travel is generally seen as more environmentally friendly than flying.

EU^» Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas said standardised ticketing procedures would help the railways compete with airlines in Europe.

"We want to make it as easy, in the future, to book a rail ticket from Barcelona to Brussels or Berlin to Bratislava as it is to book a corresponding flight," he said.

He called the new regulation "just the start of a much bigger push to make pan-European rail planning and ticketing a reality".

Currently cross-border rail bookings are limited because national booking systems cannot exchange data seamlessly, the Commission says.

Next year the EU will require rail operators by law to standardise their IT systems and practices.

Will it soon be possible to book one ticket for Melksham to Malm^, Penzance to Perugia or Montpelier to Montpellier?


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ChrisB

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Re: EU in push to standardise rail bookings. (BBC News 5th May 2011)

« Reply #1 on: May 06, 2011, 09:32:40 »

Yes! A trans-europe alliance of TOCs^▸ is already in existence setting this up...


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grahame

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Re: EU in push to standardise rail bookings. (BBC News 5th May 2011)

« Reply #2 on: May 06, 2011, 10:39:28 »

Quote from: bignosemac on May 06, 2011, 00:37:05

Will it soon be possible to book one ticket for ... Penzance to Perugia ... ?

Or even Mousehole to Pincetto - don't forget onward transport away from the main railways too, making it really door to door.

http://www.cornwall-online.co.uk/westcornwall/mousehole.htm
http://www.urbanrail.net/eu/per/perugia.htm

I pride myself in being reasonable "au fait" with the web, timetables, maps, etc, but even I struggled to find the best way from The Spa in Melksham (UK^▸ ) to the Dorint hotel in Sulzbach, Main (Germany) in February. An easy to use door to door planner, giving timetables and fares, selling tickets, and printing out itineries and maps of the source, destination and interchanges would give the most tremendous encouragement to would-be passengers who are put off by hard it is to work out at the moment / could be temped by an easy solution.

Could they even add prebooked taxis?


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