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11th Oct 2021

The EU plans to provide free rail travel passes to 60,000 young people

Fiona Frawley

Inter-railing next summer, anyone?

This is possibly the best news gen-Z could hope to hear as the world begins to reopen.

According to the Irish Times, The European Commission will provide free travel rail passes to 60,000 Europeans born between July 1st, 2001, and December 31st, 2003, as part of the EU initiative DiscoverEU. From tomorrow, people aged 18-20 will be able to apply for one of thousands of free European Union rail travel passes.

Since 2018, almost 60,000 young people have availed of the scheme. According to the Irish Times, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth Mariya Gabriel promises that the initiative will be “bigger than ever” this year.

This is great news for the thousands of young people who sacrificed so much during the pandemic. They’ll now have an opportunity to take a train and explore somewhere new, get to know new people, gain independence, basically do everything the past 18 months has denied them of.

According to the Irish Times, applications for the new round will open tomorrow (12th) and close on October 26th. Those aged between 19 and 20 may also apply this year, as their rounds were postponed due to the pandemic.

If you or anyone you know is lucky enough to fall within this age bracket, you can find out more about the scheme HERE.

Header image via Shutterstock 

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