One journey. One ticket. One booking. Sounds simple - but in today's EU, if you want to take the train from Vienna to Barcelona with connections, you will buy 4-5 different tickets, pass through that many platforms, and if one train is late, you will lose the connection with no right to compensation for the rest of the trip.

The European Commission is trying to change that. The new regulatory package, presented this week, commits to the principle of "one journey, one ticket": passengers will be able to book an entire route across multiple operators and countries with a single ticket. If they miss a connection due to one operator's delay, they get the right to assistance, rerouting or compensation - regardless of who actually missed the connection.

The Commissioner for sustainable transport, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, described the concept like this: "Europeans will be able to plan, compare and buy tickets for multiple modes of transport with a single click." It sounds like a slogan - because it is. But the concrete package also implies neutral sales platforms, an obligation for dominant rail operators to open their booking systems to competitors, and passenger protection across the whole route.

For Macedonia? This package does not apply directly - because Macedonia is not part of the EU single rail market. Macedonian railways operate in an entirely isolated world: trains leave when they leave, are as late as they are late, tickets are sold at a single counter, and connections to international operators are limited and ad hoc. Everyone who has ever tried to travel by train from Skopje to Vienna remembers the phrase "night train change in Belgrade and a long wait." That is the reality.

But EU regulations have a way of reaching the neighbourhood through indirect channels - interoperability standards, binding frameworks for market access, and pressure through the accession process. If Macedonia one day becomes part of the joint rail market, this regulation will be the foundation of how connections to Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia work. That is when it will become clear that the rail sector in Macedonia needs deep reform - not just new trains (much discussed), but new infrastructure, new booking systems, and a new discipline in timetables.

Meanwhile, a new European normal of travel is emerging: by train, one ticket, guaranteed compensation. And every day that Macedonia spends outside that circle is another day when a young person from Bitola or Shtip buys an airline ticket Vienna-Barcelona, instead of even thinking about the train. Because the train in this geography means trouble. It does not have to be that way - but it is.