The France and Germany will offer 60,000 passes to young people aged 18 to 27 so that they can travel freely on the rail network of the neighboring country, with seven days of travel offered, over a period of one month. The platform for awarding these passes is due to open Monday morning at 10 am on the site passefranceallemagne.fr on the principle of "first come, first served", said Renaud Delpech, European advisor to the Minister Delegate for Transport Clément Beaune, during a presentation of the project to journalists.
Half of the 60,000 passes are for young French citizens and residents and the other half for young Germans. This pass "will allow travel from July 1 to December 31 for a Frenchman in Germany and a German in France and to have unlimited access to the rail network," said Renaud Delpech. This offer applies to all routes, both regional and high-speed, and is valid for one month from the first trip made. It then allows you to make seven days of unlimited travel.
60 years of the Élysée Treaty
On the French side, half of the 30,000 passes will be distributed in priority to "scholarship students, young apprentices or young people in integration (...) the idea is that young people further away from Germany have access to this free and unlimited pass," explained Renaud Delpech. On the apprentice side, "the objective is to organize the distribution of these tickets to deserving apprentices or who have won excellence competitions within their own organizations," explained Axel Cournede, training and apprenticeship advisor to Carole Grandjean, the minister in charge of Education and Vocational Training.
For example, about 100 tickets will be reserved for the winners of the best apprentice competition and several thousand are intended for the network of apprenticeship training centres (CFAs). This initiative, financed by the German government, the French State, Deutsche Bahn and SNCF, was decided at the Franco-German Council of Ministers last January to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Élysée Treaty. The operation "goes only by train, which makes it a very green initiative and in resonance with the demands of young people," said Renaud Delpech.