60,000 Free Train Tickets Up For Grabs In France And Germany

To promote eco-friendly train travel, France and Germany are giving away tickets to young French and German nationals.

French and German transport ministers, Clément Beaune and Volker Wissing, jointly announced in a press release that 60,000 free train tickets would be made available to young people to help facilitate exchange between the two countries this summer.

The aim is to encourage travel and build a cultural exchange between France and Germany. The project is also designed to fight against climate change by favoring rail over other modes of transport.

“To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty, 60,000 tickets will be made available free of charge, according to terms that will be specified shortly,” Beaune and Wissing said in a joint statement.

The free tickets are available to those aged under 27. And the national rail services Deutsche Bahn and SNCF will financially support the scheme.

#traitedelElysee | Les voyages, les échanges sont au coeur de la réconciliation et de l'amitié franco-allemandes !

Je suis ravi d’annoncer, avec mon homologue @Wissing, 3 initiatives essentielles et concrètes entre la France et l'Allemagne 🇫🇷🇩🇪🇪🇺 pic.twitter.com/JB3kvpG8Et
— Clément Beaune (@CBeaune) January 22, 2023

Split Equally

Prospective participants will likely have to enter a lottery to be in with a chance of nabbing a free train pass, according to French media reports.

Half of the tickets will be available in France and the other half in Germany. They will allow young people to take the train to the other country and then travel around while they are there.

Further details of who will be eligible and how to apply have not yet been released.

Wissing and Beaune also announced that there were plans for the launch of a Paris-Berlin night train at the end of 2023, and the opening of a direct Paris-Berlin high-speed rail link in 2024.

The new high-speed link would allow passengers to make the journey in around seven hours.

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