The European Union and its Member States should guarantee fair competition in the rail sector and adopt regulations on single ticketing, the NGO network Transport & Environment (T&E) recommended in its report published on Monday 9 December.
T&E also recommends reducing excessive rail tolls, lowering value added tax (VAT) and investing in network maintenance and digitalisation. To encourage improvements in the sector, T&E has compiled the most comprehensive ranking of European rail operators’ services to date. It assessed 27 operators according to eight key criteria, including ticket prices, punctuality and on-board facilities.
Of the 25 operators with punctuality data, only 11 (44%) achieved a rate of over 80%. Italy’s main rail operator, Trenitalia, is in first place, while Eurostar is at the back of the pack. Trenitalia scored well on several major criteria, with the exception of adaptability for bicycles. On the other hand, Eurostar is facing problems with ticket pricing and reliability.
Read the study: https://aeur.eu/f/eq0 (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)