15 European railway undertakings have signed the Agreement on Journey Continuation (AJC) which highlights that rail passengers who miss a connecting train and lose their seat reservation due to a delay, will be transported on the next possible train without additional costs if they can present a confirmation of delay.
The railways involved in the agreement have put into place the relevant procedures and in particular the information to be provided to passengers. This solution was developed by the International Rail Transport Committee (CIT) as part of a Ticketing Roadmap, a sector initiative launched by the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) to improve international rail services for passengers.
“The AJC is another important step towards improving the customer experience in international rail transport; The aim is for all railways concerned to adopt this agreement. Passengers should take for granted a simple, European sector solution for connection interruptions,” Cesare Brand, Secretary General of CIT, said.”
The participating undertakings are BLS and SBB/CFF (Switzerland), ČD (Czechia), CFL (Luxembourg), DB (Germany), DSB (Denmark), NS (The Netherlands), ÖBB (Austria), Renfe (Spain), SJ (Sweden), SNCB/NMBS (Belgium), SNCF (France), SŽ (Slovenia), Trenitalia (Italy), ŽSSK (Slovakia).
The Ticketing Roadmap aims at improving the customer experience when planning, booking and travelling internationally by rail. While national journeys are quite easily arranged, today booking a train ticket for an international journey can leave much to be desired.
Under the roadmap, passengers will have a seamless user experience when searching, selecting, buying and using rail services, including first and last mile transport, benefiting from access to simple, reliable and comprehensive online information regarding timetables, prices, dependable real time information and ticket purchasing for (rail) transport services, both domestic (urban, regional, long-distance) and international. The vision also wants easy acceptance throughout Europe of tickets issued by different railways and ticket vendors and guidance in case of travel disruption on onward journey options and passenger rights.
In September 2021 CER published the Ticketing Roadmap with a long-term vision – 2030 – containing concrete actions until 2025 to improve the booking experience for passengers.
“All CER members in September 2021 agreed to offer to passengers by 2025 a seamless experience when searching, selecting, buying and using rail services, including first and last mile, with access to real time information, ticket purchasing, and guidance in case of travel disruption. With the CIT Agreement on Journey Continuation, the rail sector moves ahead with a concrete step,” Alberto Mazzola, CER Executive Director said.
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