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This autumn, Deutsche Bahn (DB), Germany\u2019s national railway company, will begin rolling out a new digital infrastructure that it says will streamline international rail bookings.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The move is part of a long-awaited push to simplify travel across Europe\u2019s patchwork of national railway networks.<\/p>\n
\u201c[You will] be able to book an international journey just as easily as a domestic one,\u201d Michael Peterson, DB\u2019s board member for long-distance transport, told German press agency DPA.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis brings us closer to a major goal,\u201d he continued: seamless cross-border rail travel across Europe, powered by a unified digital system and regulations backed by the EU.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s changing, and when?<\/p>\n
Starting this autumn, DB will adopt a new data-sharing standard known as OSDM (Open Sales and Distribution Model). This EU-endorsed interface is intended to give European rail operators instant access to each other\u2019s ticketing systems.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Using the OSDM as a framework, DB says it aims to offer integrated ticketing for virtually all major European railways<\/strong><\/a> by the end of 2026, including local transport, through its website and DB Navigator app.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rail expert Jon Worth is quick to point out that this will not be a single ticket, but rather \u201ca better way to stitch together tickets from different railways,\u201d however.<\/p>\n DB will initially integrate with Austria<\/strong><\/a> and Switzerland\u2019s national operators \u2013 the \u00d6BB and SBB, respectively \u2013 with other operators to follow in the coming months.<\/p>\n Currently, booking international train<\/strong><\/a> tickets through DB\u2019s platform can be confusing, limited and, in many cases, expensive.\u00a0<\/p>\n While passengers can already buy some cross-border tickets running through Germany<\/strong><\/a>, many popular routes<\/strong><\/a> still require piecing together fares from different companies or making sense of multiple national rail sites. No single rail provider can cover a journey from Berlin to Barcelona, for example.<\/p>\n Why does this matter?<\/p>\n Aside from convenience, the new system could begin to address a gap in passenger rights<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Currently, travellers using separate tickets for different legs of a cross-border<\/strong><\/a> trip risk losing protection if a delay causes a missed connection. Addressing this issue \u2013 and ensuring full passenger rights throughout the journey, including rebooking and reimbursement \u2013 is such a priority that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has made it a cornerstone of her second term.<\/p>\n \u201cCross-border train travel is still too difficult for many citizens,\u201d she wrote in 2024.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople should be able to use open booking systems to purchase trans-European journeys with several providers, without losing their right to reimbursement or compensatory travel.\u201d<\/p>\n But such protection<\/strong><\/a> isn\u2019t yet guaranteed.<\/p>\n Worth says that the OSDM doesn\u2019t compel rail operators to sell unified tickets. It also doesn\u2019t ensure consistent enforcement of passenger rights.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhat DB is doing is welcome for Germany, in particular, but it is insufficient,\u201d he explains.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTo get genuine portals on which you can book any train anywhere in Europe, we need more than a technical standard \u2013 which is what DB is implementing, essentially \u2013 but [rather] binding rules for data sharing, commissions for ticket re-sale and better passenger rights if something goes wrong in a multi-operator rail journey.\u201d<\/p>\n Cross-border rail travel still faces some friction<\/p>\n The initiative comes amid increasing pressure from Brussels<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n EU Transport Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas has said he plans to propose legislation to create unified platforms and make full passenger rights mandatory.<\/p>\n That\u2019s causing some concern for DB \u2013 \u201calready one of the best\u201d rail operators in Europe, according to Worth.\u00a0<\/p>\n Peterson warned that a digital standard other than the OSDM could undermine years of investment. \u201cThat costs money, that costs time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Despite the lingering challenges, DB is optimistic. The company recently launched a direct high-speed ICE route<\/strong><\/a> between Berlin and Paris<\/strong><\/a> and plans further expansions.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2024, DB also saw a 22 per cent increase in cross-border ticket sales compared to pre-pandemic levels \u2013 its best year yet.<\/p>\n Now, with better tools, more collaboration and upcoming legislation, Europe\u2019s railways could finally begin to catch up with the expectations of climate-conscious travellers \u2013 and deliver on the promise of a truly connected continent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ADVERTISEMENT This autumn, Deutsche Bahn (DB), Germany\u2019s national railway company, will begin rolling out a new digital infrastructure…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138996,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2000,299,5187,1699,46,5204,60476,7857,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-138995","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-european","11":"tag-european-union","12":"tag-policy","13":"tag-rail-transport","14":"tag-railroad","15":"tag-trains","16":"tag-travel"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114586115390426413","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}