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Under Regulation 1371/2007/EC, if a train does not reach its destination as scheduled, passengers are entitled to be compensated with a percentage of the ticket price, variable depending on the duration of the delays. Depending on every situation, passengers whose schedule was not respected may be even entitled to free accommodation, meals and drinks from the rail company.
In Romania, there are 1.500 trains running daily and many of their passengers arrive at destinations later than scheduled, mainly due to poor infrastructure, which limits the rail stock performance. During the first nine months of this year alone, train delays amounted to 25.000 hours, which means that the application of 1371/2007/CE Regulation would require CFR Calatori to allocate many millions of Euros for compensations. To prevent such a situation, the new train timetable, valid from December 13th, took into account all speed restrictions.
Going back to the Regulation, Member States may grant temporary exemptions from the provisions for long-distance domestic rail services. Therefore, the Ministry of Transports and Infrastructure has prepared a government draft aimed to pinpoint the exemptions granted by the Romanian state. According to the draft legislation, ”it is imperative to grant such exemptions as it is very difficult to provide the level of regularity imposed by the provisions of Regulation 1371/2007/CE, damages and compensation for delays causing significant financial damage to railway operators, due to the poor condition of rail infrastructure for which the infrastructure manager has no legal liability“.
