Unlocking seamless multimodality in Europe: Enabling passenger-centric air-rail integration through policy, data and collaboration
Moderated by Vanessa Pérez, Senior Advisor at UIC, the session was designed as a roundtable discussion for a limited number of registered participants. It brought together key representatives from the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), Benerail, the Spanish National Railway Network (RENFE), UIC, and Nommon, with Bertrand Minary, UIC Director of the Passenger and Freight Departments also participating.
Pérez introduced the topic by highlighting UIC’s collaboration with Nommon within the SESAR EU-funded Integrated Passenger-Centric Planning of Multimodal Transport Networks (MultiModX) project, which aims to develop data-driven tools and harmonised methodologies to support seamless multimodal travel chains. She explained that MultiModX focuses on improving the integration of transport modes through enhanced data interoperability, advanced mobility analytics, and user-oriented multimodal journey planning — components that framed the challenges discussed in the session.
The discussion underscored that multimodality challenges arise not from a single factor but from a complex interplay of operational, regulatory, and technological gaps between modes of transport. Nevertheless, despite this complexity, a high level of commitment was displayed across the sector to move forward collectively.
Booking horizons: A structural misalignment
A key issue highlighted by Benerail was the misalignment between air and rail booking horizons. Airlines often open sales more than a year ahead, while rail operators typically offer much shorter windows. SBB, one of the leaders in this domain, offers up to eleven months depending on the season, yet this remains insufficient for fully coordinated long-haul multimodal planning. (....)