Realtime Trains

Last updated
Realtime Trains
Available inEnglish
Area servedGreat Britain
Founder(s) Tom Cairns
URL www.realtimetrains.co.uk OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Advertising Yes
CommercialYes
RegistrationNo
LaunchedOctober 2012;11 years ago (2012-10)
Current statusActive

Realtime Trains is a website that tracks trains on the British railway network.

Contents

History

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

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]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siemens Desiro</span> Family of diesel and electric multiple units from Siemens

The Siemens Desiro is a family of diesel or electric multiple unit passenger trains developed by Siemens Mobility, a division of the German Siemens AG conglomerate. The main variants are the Desiro Classic, Desiro ML, Desiro UK and the later Desiro City, Desiro HC and Desiro RUS. The trains are mostly used for commuter and regional services, and their rapid acceleration makes them suitable for services with short distances between stations. The design is flexible, and has become common in many European countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Rail Class 156</span> Diesel multiple unit train

The British Rail Class 156 Super Sprinter is a diesel multiple unit passenger train. A total of 114 sets were built between 1987 and 1989 for British Rail by Metro-Cammell's Washwood Heath works. They were built to replace elderly first-generation DMUs and locomotive-hauled passenger trains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Rail Class 170</span> British diesel multiple-unit train by Bombardier

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Rail Class 158</span> British diesel multiple unit train

The British Rail Class 158Express Sprinter is a diesel multiple unit (DMU) passenger train. It is a member of the Sprinter series of regional trains, produced as a replacement for British Rail's first generation of DMUs; of the other members, the Class 159 is almost identical to the Class 158, having been converted from Class 158 to Class 159 in two batches to operate express services from London Waterloo to the West of England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Rail Class 185</span> British diesel passenger train

The British Rail Class 185 Desiro is a class of diesel-hydraulic multiple-unit (DHMU) passenger trains built by Siemens Transportation Systems in Germany for the train operating company First TransPennine Express. They are currently operated by TransPennine Express.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swanage Railway</span> Heritage railway in Dorset, England

The Swanage Railway is a railway branch line from near Wareham, Dorset to Swanage, Dorset, England, opened in 1885 and now operated as a heritage railway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Rail Mark 3</span> Single-level rail passenger carriage

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern Rail</span> Former British train operating company

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cleethorpes railway station</span> Railway station in Lincolnshire, England

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carstairs railway station</span> Railway station in South Lanarkshire, Scotland

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wareham railway station</span> Railway station in Dorset, England

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swanage railway station</span> Heritage railway station in England

Swanage railway station is a railway station located in Swanage, on the Isle of Purbeck in the English county of Dorset. Originally the terminus of a London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) branch line from Wareham, the line and station were closed by British Rail in 1972. It has since reopened as a station on the Swanage Railway, a heritage railway that currently runs from Norden station just north of Corfe Castle to Swanage station. It now also runs to Wareham on certain services, but not on regular services due to signalling problems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herston Halt railway station</span>

Herston Halt railway station is a railway station located at Herston near Swanage, on the Isle of Purbeck in the English county of Dorset. It is an intermediate station on the Swanage Railway, a heritage railway that currently operates from Swanage to Norden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norden railway station (England)</span> Railway station in Dorset, England

Norden railway station is a railway station located one mile to the north of the village of Corfe Castle, on the Isle of Purbeck in the English county of Dorset. It is situated on the Swanage Railway, a heritage railway that operates over the former London and South Western Railway line from Wareham to Swanage. Norden is the northern terminus of the railway's steam service from Swanage, and an intermediate stop on the railway's diesel hauled service that connects Swanage with the national rail network at Wareham station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Dorset Railway</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reston railway station</span> Railway station in the Scottish Borders council area

Reston is a railway station in the small village of Reston that serves the wider rural parish of Coldingham and nearby small town of Eyemouth in the eastern Scottish Borders council area. The station is a minor stop on the East Coast Main Line and opened on 23 May 2022 after a £20 million investment. The station is owned by Network Rail and managed by ScotRail, although the latter company does not provide any services to or from the station. It is the second railway station to have been located in the village, having replaced an earlier station that closed in 1964.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Rail Class 68</span> British diesel-electric locomotive

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Rail Class 800</span> Bi-mode multiple unit train

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">SX carriages</span>

The SX carriages were a type of passenger carriages constructed by Commonwealth Engineering for the Queensland Railways in 1961–1962.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Rail Class 802</span> British bi-mode multiple unit

The British Rail Class 802 is a type of high-speed bi-mode multiple-unit passenger train designed and produced by the Japanese manufacturer Hitachi Rail. It has been operated by Great Western Railway, TransPennine Express, and Hull Trains; each of these train operating companies has given its own units a unique brand: Great Western Railway's units are branded Intercity Express Trains (IETs), TransPennine Express units are branded Nova 1s and Hull Trains' units are branded Paragons.

References

  1. 1 2 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.
  2. Heaton, John (June 2014). "Real Time Trains". The Railway Magazine . Mortons Media Group. p. 16. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  3. Sapién, Josephine Cordero (10 March 2020). "ScotRail First TOC to Publish Real Time Train Data". Railway News. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  4. Cairns, Tom (11 March 2020). "Introducing Know Your Train". Realtime Trains. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  5. "New app to help Northern passengers find out 'realtime' train information". Rochdale Online. 5 November 2020. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  6. Holden, Michael (29 May 2021). "TransPennine Express joins Real Time Trains Know Your Train Scheme". Rail Advent. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  7. Cairns, Tom (14 September 2020). "Introducing Track Your Train". Realtime Trains. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  8. Lea, Martin (25 May 2021). "Swanage Railway's new innovative £223k system". Dorset Echo . Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  9. 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.