The European
Parliament adopted a resolution on the joint text approved by the
Conciliation Committee for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the
Council on rail passengers’ rights and obligations. It approved the joint
text.
The key points
of the agreement reached on the scope of the Regulation (Article 2) can be
summarised as follows:
- the
Regulation will apply to all rail journeys and services provided by
licensed railway undertakings;
- when the
Regulation enters into force in late 2009, all rail passengers will
enjoy a set of basic rights (covering, for example, companies' liability
for passengers and their luggage, and the right to transport of people
with reduced mobility);
- Member
States may exempt long-distance domestic rail services from the other
provisions of the Regulation for an initial period of five years, which
may subsequently be extended for two further periods of up to five
years;
- with the
exception of the basic rights which will apply universally, Member
States may grant urban, suburban and regional services an indefinite
exemption;
- the
Commission is required to take appropriate action if an exemption
granted by Member States is deemed to be not in accordance with the
provisions of Article 2.
Other
important elements of the overall agreement are:
- if Member
States grant exemptions from the Regulation, they should encourage
railway undertakings, in consultation with organisations representing
passengers, to put in place arrangements for compensation and assistance
in the event of major disruption of a rail service;
- railway
undertakings must inform passengers of their rights and obligations
under the Regulation. They may make use of a summary of its provisions
to be drawn up by the Commission in all official languages;
- companies
must put in place non-discriminatory access rules for the transport of
disabled people and persons with reduced mobility. At unmanned stations,
railway undertakings must make every reasonable effort to give disabled
people and persons with reduced mobility access to travel by rail;
- carriage of
baby carriages and wheelchairs is covered by the provisions of the
Regulation dealing with disabled people and persons with reduced
mobility, and by COTIF. A new Article in the Regulation provides that
railway undertakings must enable passengers to bring bicycles on to a
train, if appropriate for a fee, provided they are easy to handle, that
the rolling stock permits this, and that the railway service is not
adversely affected;
- railway
companies must define service quality standards and publish an annual
report on how far they have met these. These reports must be put on the
website of the railway company concerned, and will also be made
available through the website of the European Railway Agency.