In 2015, we started advocating for our vision of free Interrail passes for all 18-year-old Europeans. Seven years later, that idea has become an official EU program called #DiscoverEU. It provides round about 70,000 tickets to young Europeans every year, enabling them to explore their continent for themselves and build their European identity. To this day, we are immensely grateful to all those, who helped this idea along the way and proved that citizens’ initiative matters: the European Parliament, the European Commission, national governments, and politicians and stakeholders form across the political and ideological spectrum. Despite this success, we are not done with our work yet. Much more is to be done to make this continent even more green, interconnected, and united.
Last week of July, we travelled to Utrecht, Netherlands, to build on our achievements so far and continue our mission towards a united and accessible Europe. Starting this month, we will advise and consult the team at Eurail, the company that has provided Interrail and Eurail Passes to generations of travelers in Europe, and is now, again through its #Interrail passes, crucial in the success of the EU’s DiscoverEU program. In this capacity as external consultants and advisers, we will bring in our experience to help advance the DiscoverEU experience, provide critical feedback on the company’s communication and strategy, and provide assessment for future developments and initiatives. As activists and policy advocates, we have seen the power of a train ticket to activate Europe’s young generation; as passionate train travelers, who have visited most EU countries by train, we have many ideas on how that experience could be even more seamless, comfortable, and meaningful. Train travel is the future: it connects people and ideas across the continent, and it is key to achieving climate neutrality in Europe.
Our HERR & SPEER has always has been purpose-driven and this new mandate allows for the honesty, critique, and independence that are non-negotiable for our modus operandi. We are looking forward to the ideas and their implementation that, together with Eurail and partners across Europe, we’ll be able to set in motion.
