France and Germany Give Out 60.000 Free Train Tickets for Young People This Summer

Gare du Nord train station in Paris, France. (Wikimedia Commons/Diff)

JAKARTA - If you want to travel between France and Germany this summer, you might be in luck.

A total of 60.000 free train tickets will be made available to young people later this year. The rail scheme was announced by the transport ministers of the two countries, Clément Beaune and Volker Wissing.

The aim of this initiative is to encourage travel and build cultural exchanges between France and Germany.

"To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Elysée Agreement, 60,000 tickets will be made available free of charge, subject to conditions to be determined soon," Minister Beaune and Minister Wissing said in a joint statement, quoted from Euronews 1 February.

Minister Beaune added that the initiative also aims to encourage more young people to take the train and is in line with France's climate ambitions.

However, this promotional ticket is available only for those under 27 years old.

"This initiative will be open to young people under the age of 27," Minister Wissing wrote on Twitter.

🚅 Diesen Sommer werden wir 60 000 kostenlose Jugendtickets zur Verfügung stellen, damit junge Menschen unter 27 Jahren mit dem Zug durch Deutschland und Frankreich fahren können! 🇩🇪 🇫🇷 🇪🇺

— Volker Wissing (@Wissing) January 22, 2023

Later, the national rail service Deutsche Bahn and France's SNCF will support the scheme financially.

Half of the tickets will be available in France and the other half in Germany. They will allow young people to take trains to other countries and then travel around while they are there, much like Interrail tickets.

Travelers hoping to take advantage of the scheme will likely have to enter a raffle to secure tickets, according to French media reports.

Further details on who is eligible and how to apply have yet to be released.

In addition, Minister Wissing and Minister Beaune also announced that the new TGV train route between Paris and Berlin will start running in 2024.

Currently, travel between the two capitals requires travelers to change at separate stations such as Cologne or Frankfurt.

The new high-speed travel link will allow passengers to travel in about seven hours.

If nothing changes, night trains connecting the cities will also be introduced later this year.

The transport ministers added that the new routes were just another step towards building a single rail network in both countries.

It is known that France is trying to take the climate crisis seriously, at least in terms of transportation. In December the government announced a ban on certain short-haul flights.

The country has also partnered with Ireland to launch a combined rail and ferry ticket to travel between the two countries without using a flight.