Action plan to boost long distance and cross-border passenger rail

Summary:

Communication published by the European Commission on 14 December 2021, laying out a roadmap aimed at helping the European Union (EU) achieving its targets on high-speed rail traffic.

Further information:

The Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy was published in December 2020 in the framework of the European Green Deal, setting out how the transport system in the European Union (EU) can achieve its green and digital transformation and become more resilient to future crises. Rail transport was placed at the heart of those efforts.

This Action Plan complements that Strategy and builds on the experiences and findings of the 2021 European Year of Rail. It sets out actions aimed at removing barriers to cross-border and long-distance travel, and make rail travel more attractive for passengers. These include:

• a multimodal legislative proposal in 2022 to boost user-friendly multimodal ticketing, and a commitment to investigating an EU-wide VAT exemption for train tickets;
• the repeal of redundant national technical and operational rules;
• an announcement of proposals for 2022 on timetabling and capacity management;
• guidelines for track access pricing in 2023.

• Primary Source

• Alternative Source

Official

European Commission: Press Release, 14/12/2021: New transport proposals target greater efficiency and more sustainable travel https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_6776

European Commission: Questions and Answers: Action Plan to boost long-distance and cross-border passenger rail services (14 December 2021) https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/qanda_21_6701

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