What are you owed when a train, coach or ferry in the EU is late?

What are your rights when a train is late or cancelled?

EU rail passenger rights generally apply to rail journeys within the EU. EU countries may exempt some services, such as urban, suburban, regional and long-distance domestic trains, but they cannot exempt cross-border international journeys between EU countries, so check before you book.¹

For the exact share for each length of delay, see Your Europe's rail passenger rights page.

If the railway company does not tell you your re-routing options within 100 minutes of the scheduled departure, you may make your own arrangements on other public transport (rail, coach or bus) without its agreement, and it must reimburse the necessary, appropriate and reasonable costs.¹

Compensation must be paid within 1 month of your request. It is not due if you were told of the delay before buying your ticket, if you took a refund, or if the delay was caused by extraordinary circumstances such as extreme weather, major natural disasters, people on the tracks or cable theft. Strikes by rail company staff do not count as extraordinary circumstances.¹

Rights for a missed connection apply only if you hold a through-ticket, and the seller must tell you before you buy whether your ticket is one. You can claim with the railway's own form or with the EU-wide form, sent to any railway company in the EU.¹

What are your rights when a long-distance coach is late?

The EU rules mainly cover regular bus and coach services whose journey starts or finishes in an EU country and whose scheduled route is 250 km or more; it is the length of the service that counts, not your own trip.²

• The company or terminal must tell you about a cancellation or delay as soon as possible, and no later than 30 minutes after the scheduled departure time.²
• If the service is cancelled because of overbooking, an early departure or operational reasons, you must be offered a choice between a refund and re-routing to your destination at no extra cost.²
• If the service is delayed at departure by more than 2 hours, you must be offered the same choice. If the carrier does not offer it when the delay occurs, you can complain later and claim a refund plus compensation worth part of the ticket price, which must be paid within 1 month of your request.² Your Europe's bus and coach passenger rights page gives the exact share.
• On a journey scheduled to last more than 3 hours, a cancellation or a departure delay of more than 90 minutes also gives you snacks, meals or refreshments, provided they are available or can reasonably be supplied, and if needed accommodation for up to 2 nights, up to a nightly cap set by the EU rules, with transport to it.² Your Europe's bus and coach passenger rights page gives the cap.
• Accommodation is not owed when severe weather or a natural disaster caused the problem.²
• A coach that leaves before its scheduled departure time counts as cancelled.²

What are your rights when a ferry is late or cancelled?

The rules usually apply when you sail from an EU port, or to an EU port from outside the EU on a service run by an EU company. They do not cover ships carrying up to 12 passengers, ships with no more than 3 crew, crossings of less than 500 metres one way, most historical ships, or sightseeing ships without accommodation.³

• If a crossing is cancelled or delayed at departure by more than 90 minutes, you are offered a refund within 7 days (with a free return journey where needed) or re-routing at no extra cost. This choice does not apply to cruises.³
• While you wait, you are entitled to snacks, meals or refreshments, provided they are available or can reasonably be supplied, and to accommodation if you must stay overnight; the carrier may limit the cost of accommodation ashore to a nightly cap set by the EU rules, for up to 3 nights.³ Your Europe's ship passenger rights page gives the cap.
• No accommodation is owed if the cancellation or delay was caused by severe weather.³

If you arrive late, you may be entitled to compensation of between 25% and 50% of the ticket price; the share depends on the length of the delay and of the scheduled journey.³ Your Europe's ship passenger rights page sets out the thresholds.

Compensation must be paid within 1 month of your request. It is not due if the delay was caused by severe weather or by extraordinary circumstances such as natural disasters or security threats, and it does not apply to passengers on a cruise.³

How do you claim?

For trains, if you get no reply from the railway company, or are not satisfied with its reply, you can complain to the relevant national authority.¹ For coaches and ferries, Your Europe says you can complain to the relevant national authority if you are not satisfied with the reply.²³

In each case the national authority should give you a non-binding legal opinion on how to proceed with your claim. Alternative dispute resolution is open only to EU residents, and the European Small Claims procedure and national courts are also options. Your local European Consumer Centre can help and advise.¹²³

This is not legal advice. For your own case, check with the operator, the national authority or your European Consumer Centre.

What this page cannot tell you

• This is not legal advice. We summarise the Commission's plain-language pages and link them so you can check them yourself; Your Europe describes the national authority's opinion as non-binding.
• No exact shares or caps. We give the range of compensation and describe the hotel cap for coaches and ferries without its amount; Your Europe's rail, bus and coach, and ship pages give the exact share and cap for each situation.
• National exemptions. EU countries can exempt some domestic rail services, and national rules or a company's own terms may be more generous. We do not list country-by-country exemptions.
• Luggage, injury and accessibility rights also exist under these rules but are not covered on this page.
• Primary texts not read. The official legal database refused automated access when we checked, so we relied on Your Europe rather than the regulations themselves.

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