Find out how the best way to achieve modal shift to rail is faster market opening:

With elections for the European parliament taking place this weekend, ALLRAIL’s rail operators are big supporters of the EU single market. After all, evidence shows that wherever a fair and balanced market opening has occurred, the results have benefited passengers, the rail sector and (most importantly) the environment.

For example, as you can see in the chart above, in the limited number of places where intra-modal (train versus train) competition has already been allowed to happen, this has consistently led to:

•  Innovation and improved service
•  Lower fares
•  New jobs and
•  Modal shift to rail, away from less sustainable transport modes.

Real passenger rail growth clearly comes from new operators, at no cost to the taxpayer. Against this backdrop, it is inexcusable that some EU member states still plan to keep their home public service offering long distance markets closed for up to 14 more years (until 2033)!

ALLRAIL’s Secretary General Nick Brooks asks: “with activists such as Greta Thunberg calling for immediate action on the climate, what is Europe waiting for? How can there be a proper EU single market if it still allows for different speeds in the rail sector?”

Therefore, ALLRAIL's rail operator members call on EU and national politicians to make faster market opening a top priority between 2019 and 2024. Otherwise, we do not believe that Europe’s ambitious decarbonisation goals will be achieved – it will simply be too late.