Originally Posted by
Im a new user
Train travel is regulated in Regulation 1371/2007. The regulation talks about a "transport contract" and you are only protected if everything is part of the same transport contract. If your tickets are split on multiple transport contracts, then you are not protected if something happens where you were to change from one contract to a different contract.
Not only EU regulations, but also simple contract law applies.
Previously the CIV rules used to contain (in the famous article 16) that in case of a delay you were entitled to transport on the next available train. This has been removed, and in the commentary on the latest changes to the COTIF convention it is mentioned that this article was deemed superfluous as normal contract law already requires the operators to bring you to your destination by whatever means necessary.
And here it becomes interesting. Suppose I have a contract with SBB and Trenitalia to bring me to Milano. One of the conditions of the contract is that I leave Zurich on the EC 329 service.
Now what happens if I fail to be on time for that train due to a fault of the SBB itself, one of the contracting parties...
I asked SBB and they did confirm that in this case they will rebook you. This matters, because I often do travel on a combination of tickets, as for example it is not possible to buy a through electronic ticket from Switzerland to points in France or Italy.