European Sleeper: Rail competitor demands sale of its own tickets on DB Navigator

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Train from European Sleeper in Brussels

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IMAGO/JAMES ARTHUR GEKIERE / IMAGO/Belga

Deutsche Bahn's Navigator app also shows connections from competitors, but there is no price information or even a purchase option. The start-up European Sleeper (ES), which has been offering a night train connection between Berlin and Brussels for almost a year, wants to involve the Federal Cartel Office. The authority should check whether the railway does not have to give up its position. European Sleeper is bothered by the fact that the app does not serve customers who want to travel with another provider or are looking for trips abroad.

“It wouldn’t require any technical effort at all to offer our trips on the railway’s digital platforms,” said co-founder Elmer van Buuren. The federal government, as the owner of Deutsche Bahn, must be keen to advance rail transport in Germany as a whole and not just the offers of its own company. "If the federal government owns a railway with a sales platform that is as well-known as the DB Navigator, then it is very suitable for helping to shape this change towards trains."

In Belgium and the Czech Republic, his company's tickets can already be purchased on the platforms of the dominant rail providers. But despite years of discussions, the railway continues to refuse to sell competing tickets.

“The fact that the railway refuses to sell our tickets threatens our existence in the long term,” said van Buuren. »We are a young company. We need every ticket sale to continue.” ES is dependent on the railway’s sales platform. Next week the company will expand its connections from Berlin towards Prague.

Information is mandatory, sales are not

Deutsche Bahn is legally obliged to provide non-discriminatory information about connections from other companies. This is not the case when booking tickets. The group decides “on the basis of business decisions who it cooperates with,” said a spokeswoman. »In the case of the European Sleeper, the connections are of course displayed. There are currently no plans for a sales cooperation.«

The Flix travel platform has been competing with the railways in long-distance transport for years. The tickets for the green trains cannot yet be purchased via the Navigator. »DB's sales channels have a dominant market position. There is no alternative for trains in Germany,” the company said. »Therefore, all providers must be displayed equally and be bookable. This is currently not the case in long-distance transport. There is a corresponding need for action.«

The Pro Bahn passenger association also sees it that way. "We are of the opinion that the sale of train journeys, regardless of which railway company, is offered on a central platform," said chairman Detlef Neuß. »That can be the DB Navigator.«

The train is particularly concerned with journeys to other European countries. If you want to travel from Aachen to a conference in Barcelona, ​​for example, you have to buy a separate ticket from the relevant provider for each leg of the journey in the respective country. "If any provider along this travel chain doesn't travel or is delayed, then you'll look stupid and have to buy a new ticket," said Neuß.

hey/dpa