NIGHT TRAINS 
We are working with “Back-on-Track” on their successful campaign to bring back some of the “Night trains” which have been withdrawn from service during the past 20-30 years. Night trains could and should provide useful onward connections with Eurostar services from the UK.

A decade ago, night trains  seemed to be a declining sector to he European market – partly because  the opening of new high speed lines and therefore faster day trains were providing an alternative on some routes. However, growing awareness of the demand for overnight travel as a climate-friendly  alternative to short- and medium-haul flights have helped create a night train renaissance

Political pressure has paid off at EU level as they published their proposals for developing the Night Train Network in autumn 2021.

Through its close working relationship with Back-on-Track and the European Passengers’ Federation, ERC(UK) promotes  initiatives such as the new Stockholm – Berlin, Paris – Nice , Brussels – Vienna night trains and further proposed overnight services elsewhere.

CROSS BORDER LINKS
We are supporting the European Passenger Federation in their campaign to restore many of the short links between EU member states which have either no service or a very limited service. These links often improve connections to popular tourist attractions in adjacent regions and countries.

REGULAR INTERVAL LONG DISTANCE DAY SERVICES
We see a need for an easy to recognise brand for good quality fast and high speed trains linking the major towns and cities across Europe. These services should run at regular clockface intervals. We support the Trans Europe Express 2.0 concept which plans to develop 8 key long distance day services across Europe.

SIMPLER TICKETING
For a through journey from London to Munich, Warsaw or Rome it is not always possible to buy a ticket from one train company. Potential rail business is often lost due to need to shop around and visit different websites. We have been lobbying the train companies to improve their booking systems so that passengers can easily book such journeys.

RAIL TO COP 26
From 1st to 12th November 2021 the United Nations Climate Change Conference(postponed from 2020) was held in Glasgow. We joined up with other organisations to campaign for Europeans attending the event to seriously consider the rail options. We were glad to see a marketing campaign by the train companies for this event who laid on special charter trains. We supported Rail to the Cop activists who passed through London on 30th October 2021 from a special Eurostar service onto an Avanti West Coast service from Euston onto Glasgow.