ALLRAIL, the Alliance of Passenger Rail New Entrants

📢 Press Release 📢 | We are thrilled to welcome John Thomas as ALLRAIL’s new Policy Director starting 8 Sept!

With 30+ years in rail policy across Europe, Asia and the Middle East, he brings global insight to our fight for liberalisation and fair competition.

#ALLRAIL #rail #transport

Commission reviews progress toward a Single European Railway Area The Commission published a report assessing the implementation of the Single European Railway Area Directive, taking an initial position on how its provisions have influenced the development of the Eu...

Brussels |The European Commission’s new evaluation of the Single European Railway Area Directive confirms what we have been saying all along: structural barriers still block fair access, especially to rolling stock.

📢 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗵𝘁 📢 | België: Voorgestelde hervorming van spoorweginfrastructuur dreigt eerlijke concurrentie en Europese connectiviteit te ondermijnen

📢 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗨𝗡𝗜𝗤𝗨𝗘 𝗗𝗘 𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗘 📢 | Belgique : La réforme proposée sur l’accès au réseau ferroviaire menace la concurrence loyale et la connectivité européenne

📢 𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗦 𝗥𝗘𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗘 📢 | Belgium: Proposed Railway Access Reform Risks Undermining Fair Competition and European Connectivity

Switzerland backs SBB Basel–Copenhagen night train with €48 million The Swiss federal government will fund a new SBB-run night train between Basel and Copenhagen with up to €48 million (CHF 47 million) by 2030. The night train…

We strongly support night trains, but public money should benefit all operators, not just one. A high subsidy for 10 km in Switzerland won't grow the market, fair TACs, open ticketing & equal access to rolling stock will.

#NightTrains #FairRail #OpenAccess #RailCompetition

Transport Experts Agree: Fair Tenders Will Lead to Cheaper Fares | RAILTARGET fair rail

Czech Republic | 5.8bn in contracts, and experts call for early, fair, transparent tenders.

No more protectionist loopholes or rigid rules blocking innovation. Let’s make competitive procurement the norm across Europe.

#FairTenders #EUrail

𝗜𝘁𝗮𝗹𝘆 |Since Jan 25, our member Arenaways has been operating the Cuneo-Saluzzo-Savigliano rail service. General manager Matteo Arena shares his views on the benefits of competition in passenger rail, focusing on service quality, insisted on the need of having a level playing field for all operators.

Today, we were delighted to welcome Marco Andersson - from our member night #train operator #Snälltåget - to our Brussels office.

We had a great exchange on the latest developments in passenger #rail in both Scandinavia and at EU level 🤝

#transport #crossborder #travel #eu #europe #NightTrains

France: Launch of 1st Competitively Tendered Regional PSO Rail Concession Operated by an Independent Operator | ALLRAIL - The Future of Passenger Railways Marseille, 1 July 2025 ▶ We warmly congratulate the independent operator Transdev and the French Région Sud (South Region) on the official launch of the Marseille-Toulon-Nice passenger rail service on...

📢 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 📢 | #France: Launch of 1st Competitively Tendered Regional PSO #Rail Concession Operated by an Independent Operator

Congrats to independent operator #Transdev & to the French Région Sud on the official launch of the Marseille-Toulon-Nice rail service!

www.allrail.eu/mediaposts/f...

Benelux | At a cross-border rail workshop in Brussels, our colleague Arthur Kamminga made the case for fair regulation and lower track access charges. He highlighted how open markets and smart infrastructure investment can boost international rail, without relying on costly PSOs.

Trainline sues Transport Secretary over ‘secret’ deal for state-owned rail operator Ticket app claims it wasn’t offered a chance to bid for LNER’s £32m contract

United Kingdom | Political ideology trumps innovation?

Trainline sues Transport Secretary over ‘secret’ deal for state-owned LNER.

Transport Minister: Competition in Rail Transport Will Improve Service Quality Introducing competition in passenger rail transport will lead to better service quality, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Communications Grozdan Karadjov said Tuesday, during a publ...

Bulgaria | The transport minister rightly says rail competition will improve service. He notes liberalisation exists on paper, but not in practice, no new operators have started despite being licensed. Is regulation too weak to make market entry viable?

Rechnungshof schlägt Alarm bei Bahn-Generalsanierung Das Schienennetz bekommt derzeit eine Intensiv-Kur. Die Milliardensummen rufen den Rechnungshof auf den Plan. Das Verkehrsministerium habe nicht bedacht, dass die massive Ausweitung der Bauleistung di...

Germany | The Federal Audit Office criticises DB’s overhaul strategy as poorly planned, costly, and unproven. It also rebukes the Transport Ministry for failing to demand a success review after the Riedbahn project. Is the upcoming €500bn investment at risk of vanishing into a black hole?

Belgium | Serious foot-dragging on rail liberalisation: despite a 2019 report urging action, no real progress was made under the last government. An entire legislative term was lost, seemingly to protect SNCB/NMBS, which uses taxpayer money to lobby against opening the market.

DB’s ‘problematic’ dual role needs urgent reform, says German monopolies commission The double role of Deutsche Bahn (DB) as both an infrastructure manager and as a passenger and freight operator is ‘problematic’, says the German Monopolies Commission, an advisory…

👇 Very interesting article

Germany | The 10th Rail Sector Report by the German Monopolies Commission warns against wasting a historic chance. The planned rail infrastructure fund must drive real structural reform, not be lost in outdated, opaque systems. “Money alone is not enough,” says Commission Chair Prof. Duso.

Brussels | The EU Commission has published its antitrust decision against ÖBB and ČD for colluding to block RegioJet’s market entry. The case reveals cartel-like behaviour and preferential pricing.

👉 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-conten...

New night train to connect 100 European cities by 2035 A new company is launching sleeper trains with entirely private rooms.

More on the EU cross-border night train startup Nox Mobility, on Euronews 👇

Belgium unprepared as EU rail competition clock ticks From 2033, Belgium must open its domestic passenger rail services to competitive tendering—marking the end of national operator NMBS/SNCB’s monopoly. The reform, mandated by the European Union, requir...

Belgium | From 2033, Belgium must open its domestic rail services to competitive tendering of PSOs, ending SNCB/NMBS’s monopoly. Yet progress on preparing for this major reform remains slow. Is the delay intentional, paving the way for another emergency direct award?

On top of tunnel project, Finnish entrepreneurs propose Stockholm–Oslo high-speed rail link A new private initiative is aiming to connect the Scandinavian capitals Stockholm and Oslo by high-speed rail in just 90 minutes — a journey that currently takes nearly…

Norway / Sweden: wishing the best of success to these Finnish entrepreneurs 👇

During the week of 2 June, ALLRAIL President Elmer van Buuren spoke at the Integrated Ticketing debate during the #IRS13 event in Vienna. The International Railway Summit brings together leading rail buyers and technical experts from around the world.👇

France | Félicitations à Laurent Mazille, Directeur des Affaires Publiques chez notre membre Transdev, qui a reçu les insignes de chevalier de l’Ordre national du Mérite au Sénat. Notre Secrétaire Général Nick Brooks était honoré d’assister à cette belle cérémonie à Paris.

Labour cannot promise cheaper rail fares under renationalisation Transport Secretary says she will "strain every sinew" so customers get value for money as SWR brought back into public hands.

United Kingdom | Now it seems clear that cheaper rail fares will not be possible under renationalisation.

So what will the tangible benefits be?
Will any other commitments be made? Such as:

- Reduction in taxpayer subsidy?
- Increase in the number of rail passengers?

Anything concrete at all?

‘Two different worlds’: RegioJet posts 20% revenue bump for 2024, no thanks to ‘private carrier disadvantage’ Private Czech rail operator RegioJet has posted strong financial and ridership gains for 2024, with a 20% revenue bump appearing to vindicate its ambitious investment and growth strategy.…

Interesting article about our member operator RegioJet a.s. 👇

Boom für Verbindung Stuttgart-Wien - Westbahn überrascht Seit Dezember 2024 bietet das österreichische Privatbahnunternehmen zwei tägliche Verbindungen zwischen Stuttgart und Wien an. Der Zustand der Infrastruktur bremst eine Ausweitung.

Cross-border Austria–Germany | Austrian operator WESTbahn is pleasantly surprised by the strong performance of its new Stuttgart–Vienna service.

Launched in December, the route sees WESTbahn’s double-decker trains run twice daily between Stuttgart and Vienna👇

We don’t need to nationalise our railways to fix them Open Access train services offer a cheaper and more reliable alternative to their state-run rivals

United Kingdom | New article by John Penrose :

"We don’t need to nationalise our railways to fix them. Open Access train services offer a cheaper and more reliable alternative to their state-run rivals" 👇

During the week of 26 May, ALLRAIL Secretary General Nick Brooks visited our member Trip.com Group at its HQ in Shanghai, 🇨🇳.

Among others, he met with Commercial Director for International Rail Alvaro Ungurean (also a member of ALLRAIL's board) to discuss the latest developments in rail policy.

China | During the week of 26 May, ALLRAIL Secretary General Nick Brooks joined other key European rail players, including Italo, SNCF Voyageurs, Deutsche Bahn, and LNER, at the #Envision2025 Global Conference in Shanghai.

We took part in the Train Ticketing workstream.

📢 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗥𝗔𝗜𝗟'𝘀 𝗕𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗗𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 📢 | ALLRAIL's General Assembly has elected yesterday to its Board of Directors:
- David Lissek (FlixTrain), replacing his colleague Michael Mittag (thank you!)
- Dominic Booth (Transport UK Group)
- Matthew Labuda (Angel Trains)
- David Statham (First Rail).