CIV or International Convention for the transportation of Passengers (French : Convention Internationale pour le transport des Voyageurs) in rail transport refers to a set of uniform rules shared by European railway operators, to cover international journeys.
Established by the Convention concerning International Carriage by Rail (COTIF), article 3. The full current title is the Uniform Rules concerning the Contract of International Carriage of Passengers by Rail (CGT-CIV, French : Conditions générales de transport pour le transport international ferroviaire des voyageurs), formerly the Uniform Rules concerning the Contract for International Carriage of Passengers and Luggage by Rail. Mention of luggage was removed from the title of the CIV Uniform Rules in the 2000 version. [1] It provides equivalent protection to the Warsaw Convention (now Montreal Convention) for international travel by air, and the Athens Convention covering international travel by sea.
The acronym "CIV" is printed on the corner of tickets issued to show that they are covered under the terms of the contract—primarily providing compensation for lost baggage and a guarantee of onward transport, in the event of cancelled or missed connections.
The contract covers the passengers, along with any accompanying articles (hand luggage, registered baggage, vehicles and trailers) and live animals. The traveller is responsible for full supervision of animals and their hand luggage.
The conditions cover the rail journey itself, along with any intermediate inland waterway, international ferry or coach transport. The transport carriers are required to deliver the passenger and their luggage to their destination, as shown on their ticket. Alternatives must be provided by the carrier to cover missed or cancelled connections.
Compensation is available in certain circumstances, particularly relating to death, personal injury or lost luggage.
Some accompanied goods may be required to be comply further with the Regulation concerning the Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Rail (RID).
Passengers travelling via London to connect with an onward international train, or rail inclusive ferry journey (Rosslare, Dublin, Hook of Holland, or Eurostar to France/Belgium) are able to buy UK domestic segment tickets to the virtual destination London International (CIV), whose station code is LNE. Such London International (CIV) tickets, in principle, are only issued upon presentation of the existing international "CIV"-denoted ticket, but provide additional benefits such as unrestricted peak-time travel and apply the benefits of guaranteed onward connections.
Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service in Western Europe, connecting Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
The Convention for the Unification of certain rules relating to international carriage by air, commonly known as the Warsaw Convention, is an international convention which regulates liability for international carriage of persons, luggage, or goods performed by aircraft for reward.
A coach is a type of bus built for longer-distance service, in contrast to transit buses that are typically used within a single metropolitan region. Often used for touring, intercity, and international bus service, coaches are also used for private charter for various purposes. Coaches are also related and fall under a specific category/type of RVs.
Checked baggage is luggage delivered to an airline or train for transportation in the hold of an aircraft, storage on a coach bus or baggage car of a passenger train. Checked baggage is inaccessible to the passenger during the flight or ride, as opposed to carry-on baggage.
The Montreal Convention is a multilateral treaty adopted by a diplomatic meeting of ICAO member states in 1999. It amended important provisions of the Warsaw Convention's regime concerning compensation for the victims of air disasters. The Convention attempts to re-establish uniformity and predictability of rules relating to the international carriage of passengers, baggage and cargo. Whilst maintaining the core provisions which have served the international air transport community for several decades, the treaty achieves modernization in a number of key areas. It protects passengers by introducing a two-tier liability system that eliminates the previous requirement of proving willful neglect by the air carrier to obtain more than US$75,000 in damages, which should eliminate or reduce protracted litigation.
Lost luggage is luggage conveyed by a public carrier such as an airline, seafaring cruise ship, shipping company, or railway which fails to arrive at the correct destination with the passenger. In the United States, an average of 1 in 150 people have their checked baggage misdirected or left behind each year.
The Airport Express is one of the ten rail lines of the Hong Kong MTR system. It links the urban area with Hong Kong International Airport and the AsiaWorld–Expo exhibition and convention centre.
Bag tags, also known as baggage tags, baggage checks or luggage tickets, have traditionally been used by bus, train, and airline carriers to route checked luggage to its final destination. The passenger stub is typically handed to the passenger or attached to the ticket envelope:
Airline booking ploys are used by travelers in commercial aviation to lower the price of flying by circumventing airlines' rules about how tickets may be used. They are generally a breach of the contract of carriage between the passenger and the airline, which airlines may try to enforce in various ways.
The Air Passengers Rights Regulation 2004 is a regulation in EU law establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding, flight cancellations, or long delays of flights. It requires compensation of €250 to €600 depending on the flight distance for delays over of at least three hours, cancellations, or being denied boarding from overbooking. Delays shorter than three hours means no entitlement to any compensation of any kind even if the delay was classified as non-extraordinary. Airlines must provide refreshments and accommodation where appropriate. The Court of Justice of the European Union has interpreted passenger rights strictly, so that there are virtually no exceptions for airlines to evade their obligations for breach of contract.
An airline ticket is a document or electronic record, issued by an airline or a travel agency, that confirms that an individual is entitled to a seat on a flight on an aircraft. The airline ticket may be one of two types: a paper ticket, which comprises coupons or vouchers; and an electronic ticket.
Railteam B.V. is a closed company with limited liability (B.V.) based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. It operates as an alliance of European railway companies in the field of international high-speed rail in Europe, modelled on the airline alliances and was founded in Brussels on 2 July 2007.
In rail transport, the paid area is a dedicated "inner" zone in a railway station or metro station, accessible via turnstiles or other barriers, to get into which, visitors or passengers require a valid ticket, checked smartcard or a pass. A system using paid areas is often called fare control. Passengers are allowed to enter or exit only through a faregate. A paid area usually exists in rapid transit railway stations for separating the train platform from the station exit, ensuring a passenger has paid or prepaid before reaching the railway platform and using any transport service. Such design requires a well-organized railway station layout. In some systems, paid areas are named differently - for example, on railways in the United Kingdom they are called compulsory ticket areas.
A train ticket is a transit pass ticket issued by a railwayoperator that enables the bearer to travel on the operator's network or a partner's network. Tickets can authorize the bearer to travel a set itinerary at a specific time, a set itinerary at any time, a set itinerary at multiple times, or an arbitrary itinerary at specific times. The last two categories are often called passes: the former is often sold as a discounted block of trips for commuters; the latter is often sold to vacationers, such as European Eurail passes.
The Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail, is an intergovernmental organisation that governs international rail transport. As of 2019, 51 European, African, and Near Eastern states are members of OTIF. M. Wolfgang Küpper has been the Secretary general since April 2019.
There are four main types of airline-railway business alliance or codeshare agreements: dedicated services, entire network access, Night&Fly, and re-protection agreements. The currently active air-rail alliances are listed in the tables below.
Juxtaposed controls are a reciprocal arrangement between Belgium, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom whereby border controls on certain cross-Channel routes take place before boarding the train or ferry, rather than upon arrival after disembarkation. With the exception of the Eurotunnel Shuttle route, customs checks remain unaffected by juxtaposed immigration controls and continue to take place upon arrival after disembarkation. Belgium, France and the Netherlands are all member states of the European Union and part of the border-free Schengen Area. The United Kingdom, on the other hand, has never participated in the Schengen Area, even when it was a member state of the European Union. As a result, juxtaposed controls aim to increase the convenience and efficiency of border checks when travelling by train or ferry between the Schengen Area and the UK by removing the need for immigration checks on arrival and by streamlining checks on departure. At the same time, juxtaposed controls are intended to detect and prevent illegal immigration. In 2016, there were over 56,000 instances when people were refused entry to the UK at the juxtaposed controls.
Izy was a low-cost train service between Brussels and Paris. Services started on 3 April 2016, and ended on 10 July 2022.
The Rail Passenger Rights Regulation 2021 (EU) 2021/782 gives railway passengers basic rights in EU law to refunds and minimum levels of service. As a regulation, it has mandatory application without the need for implementing legislation. Before this many countries, such as the United Kingdom, had no rights set in law for rail passengers. The Regulation creates minimum rights which every member state law, and every rail undertaking, may improve upon.
The Agreement on Journey Continuation (AJC) is a commercial agreement between 17 major European rail operators, to allow international train passengers on the next possible train without additional costs, in case of a missed train connection.