European Rail Passengers Union

The upcoming timetable change on 13 December 2026 will bring a few small improvements to cross-border rail. Although there isn’t any major news – this year’s changes mainly see the slight expansion of existing connections – the new timetable will make travelling by train a little bit easier.

Germany is expanding its cross-border offer on the route via Salzburg as well. The weekend train from Munich to Vienna and the late evening train from Stuttgart to Vienna are back. In cooperation with the French SNCF, Deutsche Bahn will introduce a new train pair from Stuttgart to Paris as well.

The upcoming timetable change on 13 December 2026 will bring a few small improvements to cross-border rail. Although there isn’t any major news – this year’s changes mainly see the slight expansion of existing connections – the new timetable will make travelling by train a little bit easier.

The closest European capitals are getting more trains! First, the existing connection between Bratislava and Viena will be shortened by ~30 min. And then 2 additional trains per day will be added. These will continue to Kosice, marking the return of direct trains to Eastern Slovakia after two years.

⚠️ Our website erpu.eu is currently down as we wait for the expected PHP security patch. We will back as soon as possible. Thank you for your understanding, and safe travels!

The @RailwayGazette ’s write-up of the special train to InnoTrans also thought our ticketing challenge was a highlight: www.railwaygazette.com/innotrans/20...

“A highlight was a ticketing challenge hosted by cros-border rail connectivity campaigner Jon Worth’s recently founded European Rail Passengers Union, which saw four teams compete to calculate optimal fare options and itineraries for complex rail journeys within the EU, […]

Challenge C: Find the cheapest way from Bruxelles to Chamonix Mont-Blanc by train. You work in the cabinet of European Commissioner for Transport Tzitzikostas and want to depart from Brussels to go to your skiing holiday in Chamonix Mont-Blanc, France on February 27, 2027 (5 months from now).

So to travel with rights you have to wait till all the legs are available. The proposal tries to also ensure that all tickets will be available at least 5 months in advance, but even if (big if!) that works, in this (we think reasonable)scenario it wouldn't have been enough!

Challenge C: Find the cheapest way from Bruxelles to Chamonix Mont-Blanc by train. You work in the cabinet of European Commissioner for Transport Tzitzikostas and want to depart from Brussels to go to your skiing holiday in Chamonix Mont-Blanc, France on February 27, 2027 (5 months from now).

Ok. As many of you have by now realised, booking a ticket that far in advance is, well, not really possible. Different operators use different booking horizons, which means some legs might already be available and selling quickly while others don't even have their schedules confirmed…

Challenge C: Find the cheapest way from Bruxelles to Chamonix Mont-Blanc by train. You work in the cabinet of European Commissioner for Transport Tzitzikostas and want to depart from Brussels to go to your skiing holiday in Chamonix Mont-Blanc, France on February 27, 2027 (5 months from now).

You have no passes or reduction cards of any sort. And you do not like night trains. For the sake of this exercise only consider a single ticket to Chamonix. If your route takes you through Paris, please ignore the ticket costs for the transfer there, but minimum connection times must be respected.

Challenge B: Find a connection with the best passenger rights for this journey. You are a family of 2 adults (age 42, 38) and 2 children (age 7, 11) travelling from Żmigród, Poland to Brno, Czechia. You are not residents of either country. You have no reduction cards. bsky.app/profile/erpu...

🥇🏆️ This challenge is a bit more complicated to evaluate, but after consultation the judges are awarding it to Hatetsu (on Mastodon), who knew to pay close attention to which operators run each leg, where to go to purchase them all together, and the various rules for children's fairs.

Challenge B: Find a connection with the best passenger rights for this journey. You are a family of 2 adults (age 42, 38) and 2 children (age 7, 11) travelling from Żmigród, Poland to Brno, Czechia. You are not residents of either country. You have no reduction cards. bsky.app/profile/erpu...

You need to make the trip on Friday 9th October, so as to be at a family gathering in Brno on 10th. In the case where there is a tie on passenger rights, then the cheapest ticket price will win. If ticket price is tied, then fastest journey time wins. (Please price your calculation in Euro.)

Challenge A: Find the cheapest way to Alésia and back to Freiburg by train. You are a 28 year old PhD student at the University of Freiburg (Breisgau), Germany. You have a Deutschlandticket in your possession, but no other reduction cards or passes of any sort.

Once in France things to look for are: specially cheap TGV tickets, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté reduction card offering 60% reduction on the TERs on weekends, and remembering that ticket splits in France only allowed at stations and SNCF cannot sell tickets for connections with more than 2 changes.

Challenge A: Find the cheapest way to Alésia and back to Freiburg by train. You are a 28 year old PhD student at the University of Freiburg (Breisgau), Germany. You have a Deutschlandticket in your possession, but no other reduction cards or passes of any sort.

Reply with your answers! We will post the solution – and the next challenge – tomorrow, which means… …you have 24 hours. Your time starts now. (And all the information is on the task.)

Challenge A: Find the cheapest way to Alésia and back to Freiburg by train. You are a 28 year old PhD student at the University of Freiburg (Breisgau), Germany. You have a Deutschlandticket in your possession, but no other reduction cards or passes of any sort.

At any time throughout the month of October you need to go to the historical battlefield Alésia in France to collect a rare Astérix comic from a seller there, who will also host you for 1 night (so ignore accommodation costs).

Today begins Innotrans, the rail industry's trade fair in Berlin. But yesterday there was a specially organized train from Brussels with policy makers, journalists, and industry representatives … and we were on it!

As passengers, we know how wonderful it is to take the train … but we also have first-hand experience of the challenges, especially when travelling across borders. Over the coming weeks we’ll be sharing stories from some of our members that illustrate some of those problems. (And how to fix them!)

Needing to use multiple operators is common when travelling from one country to another, and our rights should come with us when we do so that people can have confidence they’ll be taken care of, and won’t be left out of pocket, if they’re affected by delays or cancellations.

As passengers, we know how wonderful it is to take the train … but we also have first-hand experience of the challenges, especially when travelling across borders. Over the coming weeks we’ll be sharing stories from some of our members that illustrate some of those problems. (And how to fix them!)

First up, a story from Quentin. Quentin was travelling from Paris (FR) to Lisbon (PT) in order to plan a move. Unfortunately, his train – operated by SNCF – from Paris to Barcelona was very delayed, meaning he missed his onward connection with Iryo from Barcelona to Madrid. What now?

Starting next week ERPU co-founder and board member @jonworth.eu is going for a new world record: the fastest time on the longest uninterrupted rail journey in Europe! 6281.6km of train travel from Kemijärvi, Finland to Lagos, Portugal.

You can now become an official member! erpu.eu/en/become-a-... For only €12 a year you will have a direct say in the future of ERPU. We will, of course, continue to work on behalf of all passengers but, we hope you will formally join us so that we can be an even stronger voice for passengers.

Registering as a non-profit was an important step for us in solidifying our legitimacy, sustainability, and transparency as an organisation. Part of that legal structure is having a membership base to which we are formally accountable.