DB vintage journey planner

[radamfi]

The original text based DB journey planner

Deutsche Bahn: bahn.de - TravelService - Query page

is still running after all these years. We used to use this before Railtrack's journey planner started.

Why do they keep it running? Are there any plans to shut it down?

 

[duesselmartin]

That is amazing.
I remember the planer with the semaphor signals on it.

 

[JonathanP]

It's just another front end to the same journey planning system used by the main website, mobile apps etc. The extra work to keep it working is probably tiny. It could be that some automated systems were built to use it before a real interface for other applications(API) was available and they still use it.

The journey planning capabilities of HAFAS I consider very impressive, but technologically it's an ancient mess(and I say that as someone who has had the misfortune to have to work with the input data). It started as someone's student project, and boy can you tell...

 

[Devonian]

The journey planning capabilities of HAFAS I consider very impressive, but technologically it's an ancient mess(and I say that as someone who has had the misfortune to have to work with the input data). It started as someone's student project, and boy can you tell...

Having worked with another (coincidentally German) reservation system that is at least 30 years old and still in daily use, I feel your pain. This spartan interface is a public glimpse into one of the dirty secrets of the computer age: that many of the slick websites and mobile apps that we use today are built on top of very old systems that are too complex to replace easily, or simply work well enough to continue to be used. It's easier to use modern coding to style a modern-looking input/output for a system, and perform additional calculations/validations in the app/browser before data is submitted to the back-end database or displayed to the user, than rebuild the system itself. For now, at least.

 

[Polrail]

I prefer a simple interface like this; you can navigate from the keyboard.

Many newer sites are a real pain to navigate, and impossible to use without a mouse.

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

This is better and simpler than the DB website I have been using, thats offers endless choices
In this one just enters B for Berlin and HH for Hamburg, it shows the next couple of connections immediately

A bit like Germany maybe, a bit old-fashioned but it works

 

[blackfive460]

Handy for use on a 'handy'!
I must keep a link to that on my mobile.

Seeing that reminded me that I used to get copies of the planner and Kursbuch on CD...



9,90€ apparently but I don't recall ever paying for one!

 

[Cloud Strife]

The journey planning capabilities of HAFAS I consider very impressive, but technologically it's an ancient mess(and I say that as someone who has had the misfortune to have to work with the input data). It started as someone's student project, and boy can you tell...

There are a lot of problems in Poland caused by this. The system is known as Kurs'90 here, and was originally bought from Germany before being expanded with local requirements. It's really not fit for use anymore, even to the point where people have been packed into one or two carriages recently because of the lack of seat selectors.

 

[30907]

This is better and simpler than the DB website I have been using, thats offers endless choices
In this one just enters B for Berlin and HH for Hamburg, it shows the next couple of connections immediately

As does the normal website - in fact it supposedly recognises all vehicle reg. locations (but has just failed the test on Main-Kinzig-Kreis!) and airport codes (except HAMburg for some reason).

 

[jumble]

The original text based DB journey planner

http://

is still running after all these years. We used to use this before Railtrack's journey planner started.

Why do they keep it running? Are there any plans to shut it down?

These foreign Journey planners can mislead one into taking more than 1 hour to get from Euston to Kings Cross via Willesden and West Hampstead instead of a 9 minute walk or 1 stop on the tube

 

[duesselmartin]

These foreign Journey planners can mislead one into taking more than 1 hour to get from Euston to Kings Cross via Willesden and West Hampstead instead of a 9 minute walk or 1 stop on the tube

Also Rosslare to Dublin via Fishguard and Holyhead.

 

[Bletchleyite]

It's just a skin on HAFAS (Hacon-FahrplanAuskunftsSystem), which DB have used for years and is still being developed. So unless there's a major restructure of HAFAS it'll probably stick around. Good for a screen reader too.

Having worked with another (coincidentally German) reservation system that is at least 30 years old and still in daily use, I feel your pain. This spartan interface is a public glimpse into one of the dirty secrets of the computer age: that many of the slick websites and mobile apps that we use today are built on top of very old systems that are too complex to replace easily, or simply work well enough to continue to be used.

Exhibit 1: SAP.