Realtime Trains
| Available in | English |
|---|---|
| Area served | Great Britain |
| Founder(s) | Tom Cairns |
| URL | www |
| Advertising | Yes |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | No |
| Launched | October 2012 |
| Current status | Active |
Realtime Trains is a website that tracks trains on the British railway network.
History[edit]
Realtime Trains was launched in October 2012 by Tom Cairns, a student at the University of Southampton.[1][2]
In March 2020, Abellio ScotRail became the first operator to share additional rolling stock information with Realtime Trains.[3] The additional information was dubbed Know Your Train, and includes a visual overview of the type of rolling stock and number of carriages used by each service.[4] Operators which now offer this information include Northern Trains and TransPennine Express.[5] In May 2021, Realtime Trains stated that 45% of the distance travelled by trains on the British railway network was covered by Know Your Train.[6]
Another service called Track Your Train was added in September 2020, offering advanced notice of platform alterations and potential delays to a service. Initially, Track Your Train is only available on selected services starting at London Liverpool Street.[7]
Following a grant from the Culture Recovery Fund, in 2021 Realtime Trains installed live departure boards for Swanage Railway heritage services at Corfe Castle and Swanage stations.[8]
Data sources[edit]
The data presented on Realtime Trains is created using a variety of sources and human input.[9] In 2017, Realtime Trains installed GPS tracking devices in trains to allow services to be tracked during a diesel gala on the Swanage Railway.[1]
References[edit]
- ^ a b Lea, Martin (11 May 2017). "Realtime Trains website installed GPS units in carriages being hauled during Swanage Railway's diesel gala". Dorset Echo. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
- ^ Heaton, John (June 2014). "Real Time Trains". The Railway Magazine. Mortons Media Group. p. 16. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
- ^ Sapién, Josephine Cordero (10 March 2020). "ScotRail First TOC to Publish Real Time Train Data". Railway News. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
- ^ Cairns, Tom (11 March 2020). "Introducing Know Your Train". Realtime Trains. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
- ^ "New app to help Northern passengers find out 'realtime' train information". Rochdale Online. 5 November 2020. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
- ^ Holden, Michael (29 May 2021). "TransPennine Express joins Real Time Trains Know Your Train Scheme". Rail Advent. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
- ^ Cairns, Tom (14 September 2020). "Introducing Track Your Train". Realtime Trains. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
- ^ Lea, Martin (25 May 2021). "Swanage Railway's new innovative £223k system". Dorset Echo. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
- ^ Steadman, Ian (21 July 2014). "Public transport bodies: producing lots of data, not necessarily making the most of it". New Statesman. Retrieved 29 May 2021.