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The EU’s Shift2Rail (S2R) Joint Undertaking is an ambitious public-private partnership between Europe’s rail industry and the EU that aims to radically transform rail transport in Europe, making it both more efficient and more attractive to users.
One of the S2R objectives is to build a Single European Railway Area (SERA) within the next 30 years, enhancing the attractiveness of rail travel for all citizens by making journeys smoother, more comfortable and more environmentally friendly. Key to this is doubling capacity and increasing both reliability and service quality by 50 %.
Within this wider initiative, the EU-funded Co-Active project is focusing on booking and ticketing. The ambition is to create a ‘one-stop-shop’ for multimodal travel services – including cross-border, urban and metro trains and other transport modes and related services – so that customers are able to make one purchase for a single ticket that covers the entire door-to-door journey.
Automation and communication options will also be assessed, the goal being the smooth processing of cancellations, ticket exchanges and refunds in compliance with business rules and management policies.
Passengers would receive automatic notifications of any potential disruptions to their journey and will receive suggestions for alternative routes based on their preferences. The project will also investigate and identify potential options for dealing with exchanges or refunds for parts of the journey, helping passengers to make timely decisions when confronted with travel changes, and recommending optimal alternative itineraries accordingly.
Co-Active is one of several complementary projects under Shift2Rail’s Innovation Programme 4 working to ensure more seamless journeys for EU passengers.