Most recent IFTTA news posts

• ECJ Advocate General delivers opinion on rail passenger rights; 
• USA: Transportation Secretary queried on EU Emissions Trading System; 
• Civil Juries to Receive Guidance on Damages in Scotland; 
• Austria: Appelate court reverses judgement in missed connecting flight case; 
• Swedish Court asks ECJ for peliminary ruling regarding Montreal Convention and Reg. 261/2004; 
• ECJ Advocate General: distance contract not preconditional for consumer forum; 
• European Commission launches new European Consumer Agenda; 
• Austria: new legislation related to travel and tourism; 
• ECJ Advocate General proposes the Court to confirm its "Sturgeon"-Judgement; 
• EU Commission to hold another stakeholders' conference on the PTD revision; 
• Germany: Supreme Court to hear cases on airline personnel strikes as "extraordinary circumstances"; 
• Germany: Fiscal Court decides over VAT on hotel vouchers; 
• UK: Hotel owner fined in fire safety trial; 
• IHRB roundtable on Tourism Industry and Human Rights in London; 
• USA: DOT issues guidance on aviation consumer information-related requirements; 
• UK: OFT fines British Airways in fuel surcharges price-fixing case; 
• Canada: Supreme Court decides on jurisdiciton over foreign companies; 
• New proposals to address crimes at sea; 
• EU: Open Consultation on the European Tourism Label for Quality Systems Initiative; 
• EU: Public consultation on a review of EU passenger ship safety legislation; 
• EU Parliament gives green light to air passenger data deal with the US; 
• ECJ Advocate General Bot: compensation for denied boarding not limited to overbooking; 
• German Supreme Court decides on organizer's liability for changing flight departure time; 

  
   

USA: railroad passengers allowed to transport guns in checked bags

The Senate voted Wednesday to permit passengers on the Amtrak passenger railroad to transport handguns in their checked baggage. The proposal, approved by a 68-30 vote, seeks to give Amtrak riders rights comparable to those enjoyed by airline passengers, who are permitted to transport firearms provided that they declare they are doing so and that the arms are unloaded and in a securely locked container.

Source: USA Today; find article here>>.

Italy: significant decrease in night train travelers

As reservations for sleeping cars went down more than 45 percent from 2001 to 2007, Italian railway company "Trenitalia" announced to cease overnight railway services on the lines from Rome and Venice to Nice. However, consumer associations claim the enormous decrease at some extent was caused by bad quality of service: sleeping cars were often uncomfortable and sometimes even dangerous. The railway company by contrast blames low cost carriers for the trend.

Source: "Il Giornale"

China: Passenger train collision kills 70

A high-speed passenger train jumped its tracks and slammed into another train in eastern China on Monday, killing at least 70 people and injuring more than 400 in China's worst train accident in a decade. Authorities were quoted as saying that human error was to blame.

The death toll could rise, with 70 people hospitalized in critical condition after the pre-dawn crash in a rural part of Shandong province, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
It said a total of 420 people had been hurt. No foreigners were among the dead. Injured survivors included four French nationals, a Chinese national sailing coach and a 3-year-old boy.

Source: Yahoo News. Full article here>>.

New standard signalling for trains

The Commission has adopted Technical Specifications for Interoperability for control/command and signalling on the conventional trans-European railway network. At the moment, more than twenty different signalling and speed control systems are used in Europe, which means that most international passenger and goods trains still have to stop at the border station to change locomotive. The adopted Decision will allow these incompatible systems to be gradually replaced by a single system known by its abbreviation ERTMS (press release IP/06/404 of European Comission, see here.

(Originally posted by Michael Wukoschitz)

Railway Compensation Scheme

Austrian Federal Railways have introduced a new compensation scheme for railway delays. According to this scheme any delay exceeding 1 hour will entitle passengers to a refund of 20% of the payed fare. If the delay should lead into arrival after midnight, passengers can also claim for refund of taxi or accomodation fees up to EUR 80. However, this scheme falls behind expectations as EU commission had demanded a refund of 50% for delays exceeding 1 hour or even 100% for delays exceeding 2 hours.

(Originally posted by Michael Wukoschitz)

Train Bomb

13 people were killed and nearly 50 injured after a bomb exploded on the Pooja Express which had left Jammu, Kashmir's winter capital, bound for Delhi. the train was carrying Hindu pilgrims who had been visiting the Vaishno Devi Temple near Jammu. Indian police officials were also on board.

(Originally posted John Downes)

Railway Services

The Commission has set out proposals "to save Europe's railways from extinction". Included are proposals to liberalise the freight market. The White Paper proposes to speed up modification of the existing legislation (Directive 91/440/EC) so as to extend the rights to railway infrastructure for freight and for international passenger services. Existing legislation will be modified to require the separation of infrastructure management and transport operations into distinct business units, with separate management and balance sheets. Further study will be made of the principles for infrastructure charging and capacity allocation prior to making fresh proposals. They have also recommended the establishment of a European Railway Authority. (NB European Commission White Paper 'A Strategy for Revitalising the Community's Railways - COM (96) 421 final)

(Originally posted by John Downes)

Railway Services

Tourism and Employment: The High Level Group on Tourism and Employment have stated that the tourism sector is expected to grow faster than the economy as a whole, increasing turnover by 2.5-4% per annum and creating 2.2-3m jobs in the EU by 2010.
http://europa.eu.int/en/comm/dg23/whatsnew.htm.

(Originally posted by John Downes)