European environment
DB Group
The European Greening Transport Package
By 2050, greenhouse gas emissions from transport are to be reduced by 90 % compared with 1990. To this end, the European Commission presented a comprehensive package of measures on July 11, 2023. The following proposals are directly relevant for rail transport:
- more efficient capacity management in cross-border rail transport,
- the revision of the directive on maximum permitted dimensions and weights in road freight transport, and
- a proposal for the standardized calculation of transport-related greenhouse gas emissions.
The European Commission’s legislative proposals are still being discussed further by the Council and the European Parliament. At the meeting of the Transport Council on December 5, 2025, the transport ministers adopted a general approach on the revision of the directive on maximum permitted weights and dimensions. The Council and the European Parliament have reached a provisional agreement on the capacity regulation.
European Commission publishes proposals for the next Multi-Year Financial Framework
On July 16, 2025 and September 3, 2025, the European Commission presented its proposals for the next long-term EU financial framework for 2028 to 2034. The total EU budget is expected to be just under € 2 trillion. The number of funding programs is to be reduced and EU funds are to be used more flexibly. The most relevant funding program for DB Group, the Connecting Europe Facility, is to be retained as an independent program and, with a planned volume of € 51.5 billion, is expected to almost double in comparison to the current multi-year EU financial framework. The Connecting Europe Facility is primarily intended to fund infrastructure projects to expand cross-border connections and improve civil and military mobility. The proposals will be negotiated with the Council and the European Parliament in a next step. On December 15, 2025, the Council adopted its negotiating position on the Connecting Europe Facility. The member states in the Council must unanimously approve the proposal.
Reform of EU public procurement law
The European Commission is planning a comprehensive reform of the EU public procurement law. The proposals are to be presented at the end of the second quarter of 2026. Specifically, this concerns the directives on the award of concessions (2014 / 23 / EU), on public procurement (2014 / 24 / EU) and on the award of contracts by client bodies in the water, energy, transport supply and postal services sectors (2014 / 25 / EU). In addition to reducing bureaucracy and simplifying regulations, the European Commission’s main objectives for the revision are to increase the efficiency of public investments and expenditures, continue to prevent corruption and develop instruments to strengthen economic security and sovereignty. In addition, the procurement policy is to be brought into line with the strategic political objectives of the EU and social, ecological and innovation-promoting criteria are to be taken into account in public procurement. The suitability of EU preference rules in the form of the exclusion of bidders from third countries and so-called local content requirements (regulations in favor of goods from the EU in which the share of a product originating from third countries is restricted) is also to be examined. In preparation for the revision, the European Commission initiated a consultation process at the beginning of 2025. A further consultation was opened on November 3, 2025, which ran until January 26, 2026. On September 9, 2025, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the award of public contracts in light of the upcoming reform. For the European Parliament, it is a priority to simplify procedures, take greater account of quality rather than the lowest price, better involve small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and strengthen sustainability, transparency and digitalization.
Draft regulation on military mobility
On November 19, 2025, the European Commission presented a draft regulation to speed up cross-border military transport by rail and road. This contains measures to remove regulatory obstacles and to establish an emergency framework, which, among other things, provides for priority access to rail infrastructure and the use of rolling stock from a so-called solidarity pool. The next step is for the Council and the European Parliament to adopt the draft regulation.
Passenger transport
Legislative proposal for Single Digital Booking and Ticketing Regulation
The European Commission is preparing the presentation of a draft Single Digital Booking and Ticketing Regulation for mid-2026. The key aim is to make all cross-border train connections bookable on one or more platforms. The European Commission has also held out the prospect of a second regulation on multimodality and a possible revision of passenger rights. The European Commission is currently examining various legislative options. The most far-reaching option provides for the mandatory sale of tickets from competitor railways independently of commercial contracts.
Consideration of the Open Sales and Distribution Model sector standard in the TSI TA
The European Commission is currently revising the Technical Specifications for Interoperability of Telematics Applications (TSI TA) together with the European Railway Agency (ERA). This will also set the course for ticketing, such as the definition of the fare data structure and the interface for booking and paying for international / national tickets, for which the sector has already developed a solution with the Open Sales and Distribution Model (OSDM) interface. In November 2025, the responsible member state committee RISC adopted a TSI TA version that explicitly anchors OSDM in the text.
Proposals to strengthen passenger rights
On November 29, 2023, the European Commission introduced the Passenger Mobility Package. Among other things, it contains proposals for amending the existing regulations on passenger rights and a proposal for a new regulation on passenger rights in the case of multimodal journeys, that is where passengers combine several modes of transport. On December 5, 2024, the Council adopted a general approach to the proposals and weakened the key points of the European Commission’s proposals. On June 24, 2025, the EU Parliament’s Transport Committee voted on amendments to the Passenger Mobility Package. While the European Commission primarily wants to improve the enforcement of passenger rights in the existing passenger rights regulations and tighten the reporting obligations of the member states, the EU Parliament’s amendments are aimed at strengthening and expanding the content of passenger rights, especially in air transport. Improvements are also being demanded for rail passengers with regard to reimbursement procedures and the obligation to provide proof of force majeure. The proposed amendments for multimodal journeys are mainly aimed at providing better protection for passengers through provisions on the liability of the individual carriers and intermediaries involved in a journey. Carriers and intermediaries should also pay additional compensation if they fail to adequately inform passengers of their rights prior to purchase. The ongoing compromise negotiations between the European Parliament and the Council, together with the European Commission, should be concluded in the first half of 2026, with priority given to the passenger rights regulations.