Anyone travelling abroad by train today quickly encounters obstacles: tickets from different railway companies often have to be purchased separately. What used to be done at the ticket office now requires several booking platforms or intermediaries such as Trainline or Omio – with the disadvantage that passenger rights often do not apply in the event of missed connections.

Deutsche Bahn wants to change this and has announced that it will simplify ticket purchases for travel throughout Europe starting in autumn – initially with ÖBB and SBB for Austria and Switzerland. By the end of 2026, a nearly comprehensive offering is to be created that will enable a single ticket for the entire journey.

ÖBB is already a pioneer in this area and offers cross-border bookings in 17 countries, although currently only for standard tickets from its partners. The majority of bookings remain national – 95 per cent of tickets are for domestic connections. But even within Austria, there is no platform that also integrates private railways such as Westbahn. For example, anyone travelling from Vienna to Bad Ischl with Westbahn still needs two tickets.

The Austrian government wants to change this: One Mobility, the company founded for the Klimaticket, is to be expanded into a non-discriminatory, nationwide booking platform – with the first improvements coming in 2026. However, technical and legal questions regarding the integration of private providers are still unresolved.

Westbahn welcomes the plans and is pushing for rapid implementation: a provider-neutral ‘one-stop shop’ is crucial to making rail travel easier and more attractive. However, Westbahn is critical of Deutsche Bahn’s refusal to integrate it into the new international ticketing system – even though this would be technically possible. The reason given is that Westbahn is a competitor.

The EU Commission is also pushing for progress: it wants to present a regulation this year that prescribes a uniform digital booking and ticketing system for cross-border rail transport – so that international train journeys can be booked as easily as airline tickets in future. Technical details such as the standard for the systems are still being negotiated.

Source: Monika Graf, Salzburger Nachrichten, 22 July 2025