Germany and France offer free cross-border rail passes for young people
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Germany and France have announced they will give away 60,000 train tickets — half in each country — beginning Monday as a way to foster relations between the two countries.
“Friendship Passes” will be given to 60,000 residents of France and Germany aged 17-27 to mark the 60th anniversary of the Elysee Treaty.
The transport ministers of Germany and France, Volker Wissman and Clement Beaune, said their project aimed both to further Franco-German cooperation and friendship, as well as to promote environmental consciousness among young adults traveling.
The new program will see 60,000 one-month passes handed out to young residents of France and Germany between the ages of 17 and 27 on a first-come, first-served basis, according the government website on the promotion
In Germany, distribution will start on Monday, June 12, and continue as long as supplies last.
The tickets are valid for one month and can be used for several journeys — but one travel day must be used crossing the Franco-German border and another returning. The goal here is to prevent people hoping to use the tickets to save some money on their regular commute domestically.
The one-month tickets can be used for long-distance and local train travel on seven days of a user’s choice on either side of the border and will be valid for use between July 1 and December 31, 2023.
However, the tickets will not be totally free. The free pass will not include the small fee for reserving a seat on a high-speed cross-border train, which is required in France. Consumers will have to pay that themselves.
The scheme was conceived to mark the the 60th anniversary of the Elysee Treaty — a treaty of friendship between the long belligerent neighbors signed in the aftermath of the first and second World Wars. Signed by German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and French President Charles DeGaulle on January 22, 1963, the treaty went into effect on July 2, 1963.
