Customer protection top priority for Europe’s rail operators

Today, the European Commission will officially publish a proposal to revise Regulation 1371/2007 on rail passenger rights. The Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) considers the protection of their customers first and foremost as the sector’s own long-standing commitment. 

Since its entry into force in 2009, the sector has taken the implementation of the Regulation very seriously by investing significant resources to effectively deploy the new requirements and to further speed up the complaint handling process. These efforts were recognised by two different implementation reports – one by the European Commission (2013) and another one by Steer Davies Gleave (2012).

In this context, CER will carefully review the Commission’s text, in particular the new proposals in the area of information to passengers, complaint handling, delay compensation and scope of application. CER looks forward to a constructive and fruitful exchange of views with the EU institutions and the customers’ associations.

CER Executive Director Libor Lochman said: “CER’s members are fully committed to promoting passengers’ rights and a proper implementation of EU requirements. It is essential that this revision enables rail operators to keep up the good work in this area to the satisfaction of the customers, without jeopardising the sector’s competitiveness”.