Short answer: in 2026, every rail passenger in the European Union is covered by Regulation (EU) 2021/782, in force since 7 June 2023. It guarantees 25% of the ticket price refunded from 60 minutes of delay, and 50% from 120 minutes, on international journeys and most long-distance trains. Beyond 60 minutes, you can also choose a full refund instead of travelling, or demand re-routing under comparable conditions — including with another operator, at the carrier's expense. Be aware: several companies do better than the legal minimum (SNCF, Trenitalia, Renfe, Italo), some member states have obtained exemptions for their regional trains, and the sticking point remains the same as ever — tickets bought separately create no right to a connection.
There is an injustice well known to regular European rail travellers: a cancelled Paris–Vienna flight almost automatically triggers €400 in compensation under Regulation 261/2004, while a Nightjet arriving three hours late yields, at best, half the ticket price. Rail is legally less well protected than air travel — that is a fact. But the rights exist, they are real, they are enforceable, and a majority of travellers simply never claim them. The European Commission estimates that the vast majority of eligible rail passengers file no claim at all. Here is how to stop being part of that group.
1. The common baseline: what Regulation (EU) 2021/782 guarantees
The reference text is Regulation (EU) 2021/782 on rail passengers' rights and obligations. It replaced Regulation 1371/2007 and has applied since 7 June 2023 in all 27 member states, as well as in Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein through the European Economic Area. Switzerland and the United Kingdom operate their own regimes, which we come back to below.
The three thresholds to know
| Delay on arrival | Your minimum entitlement |
|---|---|
| 60 to 119 minutes | 25% of the price of the ticket concerned |
| 120 minutes or more | 50% of the price of the ticket concerned |
| 60 minutes or more (before departure or en route) | Choice between full refund, re-routing at the earliest opportunity or re-routing at a later date of your choosing |
Three clarifications that change everything in practice:
- The delay is measured on arrival at the final destination, not at departure. A train that leaves 40 minutes late but arrives on time gives no entitlement at all.
- Compensation applies to the price of the ticket concerned, not the full return journey. On a €180 return ticket, an inbound leg delayed by two hours entitles you to 50% of the return portion, i.e. around €45.
- The regulation sets a floor of €4: below that, the operator may refuse to pay. In other words, on a €19 Ouigo ticket, an hour's delay yields €4.75 — you are entitled to it, but it is rarely worth the time spent.
Assistance, the right people forget to claim
Beyond money, the regulation imposes a duty of assistance from 60 minutes of delay onwards: meals and refreshments "in reasonable relation to the waiting time", and hotel accommodation with transport to it where a stay of one or more nights becomes necessary. This obligation applies even in extraordinary circumstances. In other words: even when the operator is exempt from paying compensation, it still has to put you up. This is the most frequently flouted point in stations, and the easiest to enforce: keep the hotel bill and meal receipts, they are reimbursable on presentation of proof.
The big change in 2023: the force majeure clause
Regulation 2021/782 introduced an exemption from compensation that the old text did not provide for. The carrier no longer has to pay compensation when the delay results from:
- extreme weather conditions or major natural disasters jeopardising the safe operation of the service;
- a public health crisis;
- the behaviour of a third party — a person on the tracks, trespassing, cable theft, acts of sabotage.
By contrast, a strike by the carrier's own staff does not constitute an extraordinary circumstance: the right to compensation remains. This is an essential distinction, because operators sometimes invoke "force majeure" improperly. Cable thefts in Germany and trespassing incidents in France have risen sharply in recent years, and their legal classification has become the main battleground for disputes.
2. Every operator plays by its own rules
The regulation sets a floor. Several companies deliberately go beyond it, for commercial reasons. Knowing where they over-deliver can sometimes double your compensation.
France — SNCF Voyageurs
SNCF Voyageurs' Garantie Ponctualité applies to TGV Inoui and Intercités services with compulsory reservation. The long-standing scale is more generous than the European minimum on long delays:
- 30 minutes to 2 hours: 25% of the ticket price (versus 0% under the regulation below 60 min);
- 2 to 3 hours: 50%;
- more than 3 hours: 75%.
Compensation is paid by default as a travel voucher, but you can demand a bank transfer — that is a right, not a favour, and it must be requested explicitly on the form. On Ouigo, the regime is aligned with the regulatory minimum, with a markedly more restrictive approach to goodwill gestures.
Germany — Deutsche Bahn
DB applies the Fahrgastrechte: 25% from 60 minutes, 50% from 120 minutes, with a minimum payout threshold of €4. One useful quirk: where a delay of 20 minutes or more is expected on a long-distance train with reservation, DB lifts the train-binding rule (Zugbindung aufgehoben) — you may take any other train, including a more expensive ICE, at no extra cost. This right, often overlooked, is sometimes worth more than the compensation itself.
Austria — ÖBB and the Nightjet
ÖBB applies the European scale, with one subtlety for night trains: the delay is measured on final arrival, and losing a reserved couchette when transferred to a daytime train entitles you to a refund of the supplement. On the Nightjet network, now one of the densest in Europe with several dozen routes, the question of the feeder connection is crucial: a Nightjet missed because of a delayed TGV is only compensable if both legs appear on a single transport contract.
Italy — Trenitalia and Italo
Trenitalia goes beyond the minimum on its Frecce services: compensation from 30 minutes of delay in the form of a bonus (5%), then 25% from 60 minutes and 50% beyond 120 minutes. Italo operates a comparable scale using discount vouchers. Both operators pay out quickly, generally within 30 days.
Spain — Renfe
Renfe has historically applied one of the most generous policies in Europe on the AVE: a full refund of the ticket beyond a certain delay threshold on high-speed lines, a threshold that has shifted with successive fare revisions. On Avlo and regional services, the regime is more restrictive. Always check the conditions attached to your fare at the time of purchase.
Outside the EU: Switzerland and the United Kingdom
- Switzerland (CFF/SBB): the country does not apply the European regulation. SBB makes goodwill gestures on a case-by-case basis, with no automatic, enforceable scale. It is the weak point of Europe's best network.
- United Kingdom: the Delay Repay scheme is in practice more favourable than the EU with most operators — 25% from just 15 minutes of delay on many franchises, 50% at 30 minutes, 100% at 60 minutes. Eurostar applies its own scale, with travel vouchers from 60 minutes.
3. The big trap: separate tickets and missed connections
This is the number one source of cross-border rail disputes, and it deserves to be fully understood before you book.
The single transport contract rule
Regulation 2021/782 distinguishes three situations:
- Through ticket / single transport contract — all segments are sold together by the same carrier or under an agreement between carriers. If you miss a connection, the carrier must re-route you free of charge and compensation is calculated on the delay at the final destination. This is maximum protection.
- Combined ticket — a concept introduced in 2021: several tickets bought in a single commercial transaction from the same distributor. The seller must clearly inform you that this is not a single contract. If it fails to do so, it is liable and you must be reimbursed in full.
- Separate tickets — two distinct purchases, two contracts. No right to the connection. If the first train is late, the second is lost, full stop.
In practice: on a Paris–Milan journey via Lyon bought as two tickets, a TGV delayed by 50 minutes gives you nothing (under 60 min) and your Frecciarossa is lost. The same journey sold on a through ticket guarantees you free re-routing and compensation calculated on the actual arrival time in Milan.
How to protect yourself in practice
- Favour cross-border through tickets whenever the fare is close: the price difference is often less than the cost of a missed connection.
- When you have to buy in separate segments — often unavoidable to capture low-cost fares — allow at least 60 minutes of buffer, and 90 minutes if either train crosses a border or uses a stretch of line known for disruption.
- On tight connections to a night train, plan for the worst: a compact travel toiletry kit with the essentials for an unplanned night in a station or hotel saves you from having to open your checked bag in the middle of the concourse.
- Always photograph the departure board showing the delay and your ticket. In a dispute, time-stamped visual evidence carries real weight.
4. Claiming: the procedure that works
The deadlines
The regulation requires the carrier to respond within one month, with an absolute maximum of three months for complex cases. Payment must follow within a month of the claim being accepted. On the passenger's side, filing deadlines vary: generally reckon on between 3 months and 1 year after the journey depending on the operator — SNCF accepts claims for up to 60 days, DB for up to a year. Don't drag your feet.
The standard claim file
A claim accepted first time contains:
- the booking reference and the ticket (PDF or photo);
- proof of payment;
- the train number and date;
- the actual arrival time at the final destination;
- receipts for costs incurred (hotel, meals, substitute taxi);
- your IBAN, if you are refusing the travel voucher.
A tip from the field: a compact travel notebook in which you immediately jot down the train number, scheduled time and actual time beats memory three weeks later, when you finally get round to filling in the form.
If the operator refuses
Each member state has designated a national enforcement body (NEB) responsible for enforcing the regulation. In France, this is the Autorité de régulation des transports (ART), and the Médiateur du Tourisme et du Voyage can be approached free of charge after a written refusal. At European level, the European Consumer Centres Network (ECC-Net) provides free support with cross-border disputes — a public service that is widely under-used and formidably effective against foreign operators.
5. National exemptions: the black hole of regional trains
This is the main weakness of Regulation 2021/782: it allows member states to exempt domestic urban, suburban and regional services from certain provisions, as well as, under conditions, domestic long-distance services — in some categories until 2030.
The practical consequence: a TER in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, a Regionale in Tuscany or a Regionalbahn in Bavaria does not necessarily fall under the same regime as a long-distance train. French regions apply their own punctuality charters, which vary widely from one territory to another. Always check the regional policy rather than assuming European law applies.
Another point to watch: the regulation provides that passengers must be informed of delays as soon as the information is available. In reality, station displays often lag behind the operators' apps. A high-capacity power bank is not a comfort accessory but a legal tool: no phone means no real-time information, no screenshots, no evidence.
6. What changes in 2026 and what's coming
Two developments deserve travellers' attention in the months ahead.
The European through ticket. In 2026 the European Commission presented an initiative aimed at making it easier to buy a single travel document covering several operators and several countries in one transaction — with, crucially, extended connection protection. That is precisely the weak point identified above. If the text is adopted, the gap between through tickets and separate tickets will close, which would be the biggest step forward for passenger rights since 2021.
A denser night train network. With several dozen overnight services running in Europe in 2026 and new entrants alongside ÖBB, multi-operator journeys are multiplying — and with them the contractual grey areas. On these long journeys, kit makes the difference: a travel sleep mask and foam earplugs transform a night in a shared couchette, and make an unexpected three-hour wait on an Austrian platform far more bearable.
The key takeaways
- 60 minutes = 25%, 120 minutes = 50% of the price of the ticket concerned, anywhere in the EU.
- The delay is measured on final arrival, never at departure.
- Assistance (meals, hotel) is owed even in cases of force majeure.
- A staff strike does not exempt the operator: you are entitled to compensation.
- Separate tickets = zero protection on connections. This is risk number one.
- SNCF, Trenitalia, Renfe and UK operators do better than the legal minimum: read their terms.
- If you are refused, the ART and the ECC network are free and effective.
European rail law is not perfect — it still lags behind air travel, and regional exemptions make it hard to read. But it is solid on long international journeys, precisely those where a delay costs the most. Claiming takes ten minutes. The only real reason not to do it is not knowing you are entitled.
