Question by MEP Jiří Pospíšil (EPP)

On 27 September 2017, the Commission presented a legislative proposal to amend the current regulation. The amendment would include an expansion of the rights of rail passengers. One of the areas to be amended is the rights of persons with disabilities. The proposal confers the right to assistance on all rail routes to persons with disabilities or reduced mobility. If their medical devices are damaged or lost, will they be entitled to appropriate compensation?

1. How, in the Commission’s view, will this assistance be provided during the course of normal rail transport operations?
2. Has the Commission carried out an analysis to quantify the costs that would be incurred in the internal market on an annual basis?
3. Who will be responsible for the costs incurred and to what extent?

Answer given by Ms Bulc on behalf of the Commission (6 April)

1. The proposal for a regulation on rail passengers’ rights and obligations (recast) clarifies in its Article 22(4) that assistance to persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility should be available during all times when rail services operate. It does not seek to impose a mandatory manning of unstaffed stations, but aims to ensure that persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility can be provided with such an assistance on the condition that the railway undertaking, the station manager, the ticket vendor or the tour operator is notified thereof at least 48 hours in advance.
2. The Commission recalls that the obligation to provide assistance is already inscribed in Articles 22 to 24 of Regulation (EU) No 1371/2007 on rail passengers’ rights and obligations and therefore does not constitute a new requirement. The only new element proposed is not to exempt any more urban, suburban and regional services from the obligations regarding persons with reduced mobility. Therefore, only the cost for this suppression has been addressed in the impact assessment accompanying the Commission’s proposal.
3. The cost of assisting persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility has to be borne by the railway undertakings and the station managers since the regulation stipulates in Articles 22 and 23 that these entities have to provide their assistance free of charge. As regards the Honourable Member's first question on mobility equipment, the proposal clarifies in its Article 25 that the railway undertakings and the station managers who cause loss or damage to the mobility equipment or assistive devices, should be liable for and compensate that loss or damage.