BRUSSELS — The European Commission is set to make cross-border rail travel easier, allowing passengers to book multiple legs of a journey across different rail operators in a single ticket, according to proposals included in a broader mobility package published Wednesday.

The proposals aim to simplify what the Commission has described as a fragmented and opaque ticketing system and improve competition in the sector. It will force dominant rail operators to open their online sales platforms to rivals and extend passenger rights across multi-operator journeys booked in a single transaction.

The package includes a new Rail Ticketing Regulation, which would require rail companies with a market share of 50 percent or more in national rail markets to host competitors’ tickets on their platforms.

A second proposal would significantly strengthen passenger rights for multi-operator rail journeys by introducing a new category of “single ticket,” covering journeys booked in one transaction even when they involve multiple operators and separate transport contracts.

Passengers who miss a connection because of delays or cancellations on earlier legs of the trip would have the right to be rerouted, and request reimbursement, assistance and compensation for the entire journey, even if later legs are with other operators.

To prevent circumvention of the rules, railway undertakings, ticket vendors and tour operators would be prohibited from artificially splitting journeys into separate bookings when they could technically be sold under a single ticket.

The Commission also wants rail tickets to go on sale earlier. Railway operators would be required to make tickets available at least five months before departure.

Alongside the rail-specific measures, the package includes a third, broader regulation on so-called multimodal booking, covering digital platforms across rail, air, bus and waterborne transport.

That proposal would impose “neutral display” obligations on major booking platforms, requiring them to rank transport options according to objective criteria such as price, travel time, or emissions, rather than commercial arrangements or sponsored placement.

Large multimodal booking platforms deemed to hold “significant market presence” would face additional obligations, including restrictions on exclusivity clauses that could prevent transport operators from selling tickets through rival platforms or their own websites, as well as requirements to share certain data with public authorities for mobility planning purposes.

Green MEP Kai Tegethoff welcomed the package as “a big step towards a truly European rail system.” The center-right European People’s Party’s Jens Gieseke also backed the package, arguing it could make cross-border rail travel “significantly more convenient” while opening national markets to greater competition.

The proposals will now be sent to the European Parliament and EU countries for negotiations under the bloc’s ordinary legislative procedure.