A big task for Croatian railways
Strasbourg, May 19, 2026 - “Today's adoption of the Regulation on a Single European Railway Area is a great victory for railway passengers across the EU and the first step in protecting them from delays and cancellations, but also a significant green victory in strengthening this environmentally friendly mode of travel. However, this is only the first victory in protecting European rail passengers, as we are still far from a single European rail ticket for passengers”, commented on the outcome of today's vote Gordan Bosanac, MEP for Možemo and the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament.
He also called on Croatian citizens to sign and support the Greens' campaign for a single European rail ticket, at the link https://act.greens-efa.eu/hr/ticket/ , as one of the sponsors of that campaign.
Compared to the Commission's initial proposal, the European Parliament managed to significantly improve the Regulation by introducing key changes that directly benefit rail passengers, Bosanac said, but also noted that it is a pity that the implementation period for the new rules will last almost five years.
Thus, starting from 2031, a system of penalties will be introduced for infrastructure managers and railway undertakings in case of late cancellations or untimely track closures. The aim of this system is to reduce short-notice cancellations and encourage better maintenance planning, which directly increases the reliability and predictability of travel for passengers.
Furthermore, the practice of changing timetables twice a year will be discontinued. The introduction of a so-called "rolling timetable" will enable passengers to book tickets better and earlier in advance, as passenger operators will be able to start sales sooner. Also, through digitalization and the interconnection of operators, the process of allocating railway capacity in a broader sense, between passenger and freight services, will be better coordinated, which should lead to an expected overall European increase in railway capacity of four percent.
“This four percent increase should also lead to an increase in the number of trains and routes, which is good for passengers in the long run. However, the European Parliament and the Commission still face another major task, which is the introduction of a single European rail ticket, which should allow passengers to buy one ticket for travel across the entire EU, instead of having to buy a separate ticket for each transport service provider, depending on the country they are traveling through, as well as the introduction of compensation for passenger delays” he said.
“Since I started my campaign for the European Parliament elections two years ago by train, I call on HŽ Passenger Transport and HŽ Infrastructure to start preparing for the implementation of the new provisions as soon as possible, given the delays they have accustomed us to” he concluded.
