MEPs backed changes to the 2009 rules that aim to
ensure better assistance to people with reduced mobility,
better access for cyclists, and clearer complaints-handling
procedures. Furthermore, rail companies should improve
information given to passengers about their rights and
increase compensation paid to commuters in case of delays.
Higher compensation rates after long delays
MEPs increased compensation for delays longer than an hour,
from 25 percent to 50 percent of the ticket price.
Passengers have this right to compensation in addition to
maintaining the right to continue the journey or be
rerouted.
Passengers would be entitled to 75 percent of the ticket
price for a delay of an hour and thirty minutes, and 100
percent of the ticket price for delays of more than two
hours.
To avoid passengers being left stranded after a missed
connection, MEPs clarified that in the case that a
passenger has been issued several tickets for a multi-leg
journey, the rights to information, assistance and
compensation are the same as under a through-ticket.
MEPs also rejected proposals to exempt rail operators from
paying compensation in case of “extraordinary
circumstances”.
Better assistance for people with reduced
mobility
Assistance for people with reduced mobility should be free
of charge and available at larger stations, without the
need to give prior notification.
MEPs also reduced the time for pre-notification in case
assistance is needed at smaller stations and clarified the
responsibility of rail operators and station managers for
fully compensating passengers, if they have caused loss of
or damage to mobility equipment.
More room for bicycles
Passengers are entitled to take bicycles on board the
train, including on high-speed trains, long distance,
cross-border and local services, the adopted text says. New
and refurbished trains must have well‑indicated spaces to
transport assembled bicycles.
Uniform application of EU rail passenger rights
rules
MEPs also backed an earlier phase-out of
temporary exemptions used
by a number of member states to apply only parts of the
2009 passenger rules on domestic rail services. These
exemptions should end at the latest 1 year after the entry
into force of the amended rules.
MEPs also want the rules to apply to suburban rail
services.
Quote
Rapporteur Boguslaw
Liberadzki (S&D, PL):
"Today is a great day for consumer rights. Soon passengers
will be able to take bicycles on every train and persons
with reduced mobility can rely on better assistance at
stations and on trains. Parliament takes consumer rights
very seriously, so we are also proposing higher
compensation payments in case of delays and want to ensure
that passengers on journeys which involve more than one
connection and who have been issued separate tickets have
the full protection of the rules".
Next steps
MEPs adopted the Parliament’s position on the revision of
rail passenger rights’ rules with 533 in favour, 37 against
and 47 abstentions. Once the Council has adopted its
position, the negotiations can start on the final wording
of the new rules.
