This Regulation establishes rules as regards the following:

1. (a)

   the information to be provided by railway undertakings, the conclusion of transport contracts, the issuing of tickets and the implementation of a Computerised Information and Reservation System for Rail Transport,

2. (b)

   the liability of railway undertakings and their insurance obligations for passengers and their luggage,

3. (c)

   the obligations of railway undertakings to passengers in cases of delay,

4. (d)

   the protection of, and assistance to, disabled persons and persons with reduced mobility travelling by rail,

5. (e)

   the definition and monitoring of service quality standards, the management of risks to the personal security of passengers and the handling of complaints, and

6. (f)

   general rules on enforcement.

For the purposes of this Regulation the following definitions shall apply:

1. 1.

   ‘railway undertaking’ means a railway undertaking as defined in Article 2 of Directive 2001/14/EC10, and any other public or private undertaking the activity of which is to provide transport of goods and/or passengers by rail on the basis that the undertaking must ensure traction; this also includes undertakings which provide traction only;

2. 2.

   ‘carrier’ means the contractual railway undertaking with whom the passenger has concluded the transport contract or a series of successive railway undertakings which are liable on the basis of this contract;

3. 3.

   ‘substitute carrier’ means a railway undertaking, which has not concluded a transport contract with the passenger, but to whom the railway undertaking party to the contract has entrusted, in whole or in part, the performance of the transport by rail;

4. 4.

   ‘infrastructure manager’ means any body or undertaking that is responsible in particular for establishing and maintaining railway infrastructure, or a part thereof, as defined in Article 3 of Directive 91/440/EEC, which may also include the management of infrastructure control and safety systems; the functions of the infrastructure manager on a network or part of a network may be allocated to different bodies or undertakings;

5. 5.

   ‘station manager’ means an organisational entity in a Member State, which has been made responsible for the management of a railway station and which may be the infrastructure manager;

6. 6.

   ‘tour operator’ means an organiser or retailer, other than a railway undertaking, within the meaning of Article 2, points (2) and (3) of Directive 90/314/EEC11;

7. 7.

   ‘ticket vendor’ means any retailer of rail transport services concluding transport contracts and selling tickets on behalf of a railway undertaking or for its own account;

8. 8.

   ‘transport contract’ means a contract of carriage for reward or free of charge between a railway undertaking or a ticket vendor and the passenger for the provision of one or more transport services;

9. 9.

   ‘reservation’ means an authorisation, on paper or in electronic form, giving entitlement to transportation subject to previously confirmed personalised transport arrangements;

10. 10.

    ‘through ticket’ means a ticket or tickets representing a transport contract for successive railway services operated by one or several railway undertakings;

11. 11.

    ‘domestic rail passenger service’ means a rail passenger service which does not cross a border of a Member State;

12. 12.

    ‘delay’ means the time difference between the time the passenger was scheduled to arrive in accordance with the published timetable and the time of his or her actual or expected arrival;

13. 13.

    ‘travel pass’ or ‘season ticket’ means a ticket for an unlimited number of journeys which provides the authorised holder with rail travel on a particular route or network during a specified period;

14. 14.

    ‘Computerised Information and Reservation System for Rail Transport (CIRSRT)’ means a computerised system containing information about rail services offered by railway undertakings; the information stored in the CIRSRT on passenger services shall include information on:

    1. (a)

       schedules and timetables of passenger services;

    2. (b)

       availability of seats on passenger services;

    3. (c)

       fares and special conditions;

    4. (d)

       accessibility of trains for disabled persons and persons with reduced mobility;

    5. (e)

       facilities through which reservations may be made or tickets or through tickets may be issued to the extent that some or all of these facilities are made available to users;

15. 15.

    ‘disabled person’ or ‘person with reduced mobility’ means any person whose mobility when using transport is reduced due to any physical disability (sensory or locomotory, permanent or temporary), intellectual disability or impairment, or any other cause of disability, or as a result of age, and whose situation needs appropriate attention and adaptation to his or her particular needs of the service made available to all passengers;

16. 16.

    ‘General Conditions of Carriage’ means the conditions of the carrier in the form of general conditions or tariffs legally in force in each Member State and which have become, by the conclusion of the contract of carriage, an integral part of it;

17. 17.

    ‘vehicle’ means a motor vehicle or a trailer carried on the occasion of the carriage of passengers.