The 5th UIC CIT claims conference took place on 25 September in Vienna at ÖBB headquarters. The event was attended by 70 participants from sales, legal and customer experience departments of 20 railways. The UIC interpreting team did a fantastic job working simultaneously into French, English and German.
The UIC legal group, chaired by Mr Trapazzo from FS and Mrs Saintilan from SNCF, backed by CIT passenger experts Mrs Dopper and Mr Svensson, organised a very lively session with seven different presentations and two workshop sessions.
First, crystal-clear feedback was given by Mrs Saintilan on the ongoing revision of the European Union PRR (Passenger Rights and Regulation). Its three options depending on how the document is drafted by the Commission, the Parliament or the Presidency will impact in different ways the applicable scope (exemptions on urban trains,...) and detail data (amount of refund in case of delay, delay to request assistance for PRM passengers,...). A unique text should be available in 2021.
Throughout the day, the common subject was night trains. This definition is given to trains scheduled between 8pm and 8am and which run for more than eight hours.
Mrs Lancerotto from ÖBB, NightJet General Manager, presented Austria’s main night train operator in Europe and its achievements and challenges.
Presentations by Mr Hirshfield DB and Mr Vavra CD demonstrated the diversity of night train carrier codes and tariffs depending on the route and the complex transport contracts on the tickets.
Mr Stubitz from ÖBB presented how the customer experience department he manages deals with passenger damage claims and passenger rights claims (factual delays, non-applied regulation or poor quality production).
Mrs Gallopo from Thello gave the audience an insight into the international company.
Two workshops were proposed, based on an actual complicated night train delay case study. Dealing with re-accommodations of journeys to day trains of other companies, replacement buses or hotel nights, and the different points of view of the active participation of the sales, legal and customer experience departments highlighted the importance of CIT AIV and UIC standards and their improvements. The conference demonstrated how in some cases the legal compensation is not enough and should be completed with commercial vouchers. CIT and UIC will continue to investigate this issue to give international experts relevant guidelines.
The next UIC CIT claims conference will take place in Rome in September 2020.
