European passenger rail CEOs from the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure companies (CER) and the International Union of Railways (UIC) gathered in Prague on 6 October for their annual high-level meeting to discuss their long-term vision for customers and passengers. The European railway system is a fundamental pillar of the carbon emission goals of the ‘European Green Deal’, and European railways are committed to actively contribute to its successful implementation. To achieve the necessary modal shift, focus is needed on different areas, including ticketing.

In recent years, European railways have been working on enablers, creating the respective specifications for train ticket sales that harmonise the different ways of selling tickets, Europe-wide integrated rail timetables, and the basis for full ticket digitalisation. And last year, CER published a ticketing roadmap which addresses the further improvement of the customer experience when planning, booking, and travelling internationally by rail. This will allow a lot of new services to be offered to passengers.

To show the firm commitment of the rail sector to improve the passenger experience, passenger rail CEOs at their annual gathering adopted the below resolution.