The European Commission has been getting increasingly annoyed about this issue, and has been working on changing it. They will be proposing new legislation in Spring—provisionally titled the Single Digital Booking and Ticketing Regulation (#SDBTR)—which will commence the long, slow EU legislative process to set a framework for passenger rights.

And this is where @erpu come in. The European Rail Passengers Union is the brainchild of @jon, @redjives, @partim and @patrick, an association for campaigning for cross-border passengers rights. It's currently in its early days and being established, but this proposed legislation is very much going to be one of the cornerstones of the association. I have joined it as far as I am able to for the moment, and I want to actively participate in it.

The main thrust of the position here is that passenger rights should apply to all journeys, including ones involving multiple contracts of carriage.

#ERPU

“16 hours? That’s crazy!” Is something I’ve already heard about this trip before even starting. I do somewhat agree with the sentiment.

And, whilst I am (now) known for crazy long railway days, those are mostly for the pleasure of the trip, whereas this one is very much about getting from A to B, and so it does actually rankle somewhat.

It’s actually going to be the longest rail travel day I’ve had, if you don't include sleeper routes.

In fact, unless the Rail Gods look kindly upon me, this trip is actually 3 hours longer than it needs to be. I’ll be explaining why, and the various factors that have contributed to it as the day goes by.

Some of these issues are ones that the newly-forming @erpu - the European Rail Passengers Union - is hoping to effect meaningful change on, and I’ll be talking about some of that throughout the day, too.

#ERPU