Seamless Rail Ticketing by 2025? CER Pushes Forward with EU-Wide Digital Booking Overhaul

The Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) reports significant progress in implementing its Ticketing Roadmap, aiming for enhanced passenger experiences across Europe by 2025 and 2030.

The Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) has released its fifth progress report on the implementation of its Ticketing Roadmap, a strategic initiative introduced in autumn 2021. This roadmap delineates the rail sector's vision for ticketing and distribution enhancements by 2025 and 2030, with the objective of elevating the passenger experience within the Single European Railway Area.

CER_railways: The #CERTicketingRoadmap continues to drive progress towards smoother, connected rail journeys in Europe:

🚄By 2025, we aim to improve ticket availability & multi-carrier support. By 2030, a fully integrated system for seamless cross-borde… pic.twitter.com/pPH9oRLIym

— Logical Logistics (@be_logistical) December 6, 2024

CER's Commitment to Digital Transformation

CER members are actively supporting the European Commission's policy agenda to simplify digital booking and ticketing processes. Achieving the roadmap's key milestones by the end of 2025 is anticipated to significantly improve the European ticketing experience. To monitor progress, CER passenger railways conduct biannual surveys, with findings presented to the CER General Assembly. The latest report includes the survey conducted between November and December 2024, focusing on current statuses and areas requiring further attention.

The delivery of the roadmap is progressing well, with multilateral solution development nearing completion. Survey respondents are individually implementing these solutions, and their timelines have been largely reconfirmed. Any reported delays are being addressed collaboratively between the affected railways and the central project team.

OSDM: A Technical Enabler

The Online Sales & Distribution Model (OSDM) remains a crucial technical enabler for several roadmap goals. In 2024, Sweden adopted OSDM as the national standard for ticket distribution, benefiting both rail ticket retailers and distributors. Other CER member railways are also enhancing their sales and distribution systems to achieve OSDM readiness. While project maturity varies among railways, significant achievements will be communicated throughout the year. Use cases demonstrate that OSDM, developed in collaboration with third-party ticket vendors, is interoperable with other standards like the Network Exchange Format (NeTEx) for timetable data.

CER is Enhancing Passenger Rights

Lithuanian CER member LTG Link has announced its intention to join the CIT Agreement on Journey Continuation (AJC) starting 1 April 2025. The AJC ensures passenger care during major delays and disruptions on multi-carrier journeys. Consequently, LTG Link passengers will be able to continue their journey in case of a missed connection, without any extra cost if this is due to a delay or cancellation. The AJC represents over 90% of CER members' passenger traffic in the EU. CER invites and expects more railway undertakings to join, further fulfilling the goal of passenger protection across the EU.

Future Monitoring and Advocacy

The next implementation progress monitoring survey will be carried out in April/May this year. Significant outcomes will be shared following their endorsement by the members of CER. CER Executive Director Alberto Mazzola said, "The full and timely implementation of the CER Ticketing Roadmap remains a top priority for CER members, as reaffirmed at the latest CER General Assembly. To improve international rail ticketing, we once again urge the European Commission to incorporate OSDM into the TSI TA Regulation (Technical Specification for Interoperability, Telematics Applications). The revision of this regulation should not be finalised without ensuring that the sector’s ongoing investments are safeguarded. The Roadmap’s second phase (2026–2030) will address rail in the multimodal context, improving the rail passenger experience on journeys involving multiple transport modes."

Source: CER Press Releases