From plumbers to Hasselhoff: railway operators and digital platforms remain divided over European ticketing rules

EUROPE: Railway operators and digital platforms debated commission rates and ticket regulation at a side conference during InnoTrans, hosted by Trainline. While stakeholders clashed over the need for mandatory rules, panellists agreed that buying cross-border tickets must become simpler.

It was clear from the discussion that the sector remains divided over the passenger package regulation proposal presented by the European Commission in May, which aims to improve the booking of rail and multi-modal tickets. Stakeholders expressed sharply contrasting views on legislation, commission fees, and mandatory data sharing across national borders.

Representing the incumbent state-owned railway operators, CER Executive Director Alberto Mazzola began by accepting there would be ‘an expectation that I’m going to fully criticise the package’. However, he pointed out that ‘we met the Director General of the European Commission yesterday with our CEOs’ and said we wanted to be constructive.

However, he condemned the proposals for mandatory obligations on ticketing and distribution, arguing that forcing the railways to share ticketing data lacked economic justification, and insisting that there was ‘no proof of market failure’.

This story was originally published by Railway Gazette. Read the full story at Railway Gazette →