Direct services map

[Doctor Fegg]

I've not seen this mentioned here before, but it's very neat:

Direct train connections

direkt.bahn.guru - Find all direct train connections from your city

direkt.bahn.guru

Type a station name into the search box (top right) and it'll show you all the destinations on a direct train from that station. It works anywhere in Europe, not just the UK.

 

[A S Leib]

It doesn't always show all of them; no Edinburgh or Aberdeen services are shown for Watford Junction.

 

[Bantamzen]

It doesn't always show all of them; no Edinburgh or Aberdeen services are shown for Watford Junction.

There is a caveat at the bottom of the page stating that some trains may be missing as the site uses a (legacy) API by Deutsche Bahn, so its not going to be perfect, but there is a chat to update the devs on anything missing:

direkt.bahn.guru

direkt.bahn.guru. GitHub Gist: instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

gist.github.com

Why are some trains missing from the map?​

direkt.bahn.guru internally uses a (legacy) API by Deutsche Bahn to find all direct trains running via a given station within the next 1-2 weeks. This API includes most trains in central Europe, but data availability gets significantly lower the further away stations are from routes (co-)operated by DB. Furthermore, trains operated by smaller companies seem to be missing more often than those run by state-owned operators, probably due to a lack of data sharing agreements.

Why do we use this DB-specific API in the first place? Unfortunately, there still isn't any public dataset available which covers all public transport routes in Europe (or even the EU, at least). Some countries don‘t provide data at all, others only publish data per region and operator (e.g. France), which is very hard to combine into a single dataset. See also: https://eu.data.public-transport.earth

That being said, we‘ll try to use a more complete data source as soon as one becomes available.

Can I help to fix this?​

Yes, you could (e.g.):

• comment below if you found a train that should be on the map, but isn't (please mention the train number and operator, and destination, if possible) to help us understand these edge cases
• raise awareness for this issue (the lack of data) by contacting politicians in your country, complaining about it on Twitter, etc. (be creative )

 

[gabrielhj07]

It's pretty good although there are a few problems, such as it treating Waterloo & Waterloo East as one station, and the same for King's Cross/St Pancras. It also shows direct trains as running from Strawberry Hill around the Hounslow Loop, which to the best of my knowledge doesn't happen, at least not unless there's disruption.

 

[Craig1122]

It's pretty good although there are a few problems, such as it treating Waterloo & Waterloo East as one station, and the same for King's Cross/St Pancras. It also shows direct trains as running from Strawberry Hill around the Hounslow Loop, which to the best of my knowledge doesn't happen, at least not unless there's disruption.

I think there was a weird Sunday afternoon only working Kingston - Twickenham - Hounslow loop in the pre covid timetable which implies the data may be out of date?

I presume it may also pick up once a day workings which may not be that useful. Some places have odd positioning moves to get trains to/from depot early & late.

 

[Basil Jet]

It's pretty good although there are a few problems, such as it treating Waterloo & Waterloo East as one station,

Good

and the same for King's Cross/St Pancras.

Good. Conflation of Woolwich and Woolwich Arsenal is more questionable.

It also shows direct trains as running from Strawberry Hill around the Hounslow Loop, which to the best of my knowledge doesn't happen, at least not unless there's disruption.

Hourly on Sunday in the current timetable, and ran for some years before the pandemic.

 

[Craig1122]

Hourly on Sunday in the current timetable, and ran for some years before the pandemic.

Found it, a bit of a secret service. There's an oblique reference in the column notes on the Kingston pocket timetable and nothing at all on the Hounslow one! I guess it's really two services joined together for operating convenience and probably few people would use the through route.

In any case doesn't look too be running for the next few weeks due to engineering work various!

 

[gabrielhj07]

Hourly on Sunday in the current timetable, and ran for some years before the pandemic

Thanks, wasn’t aware of this

 

[greatkingrat]

It doesn't always show all of them; no Edinburgh or Aberdeen services are shown for Watford Junction.

I think the issue is it doesn't deal with splitting trains correctly. Similarly if you look at Shrewsbury, it shows direct trains to Aberystwyth but not to Pwllheli.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I think the issue is it doesn't deal with splitting trains correctly. Similarly if you look at Shrewsbury, it shows direct trains to Aberystwyth but not to Pwllheli.

Looks like the system thinks that all trains to/from Pwllheli start from or terminate at Machynlleth. (Most join with / split from a portion from Aberystwyth and then continue to / from Birmingham International).

 

[Lewlew]

This is just what I needed for my upcoming interrail trip. Thanks for sharing

 

[thenorthern]

Only issue I have is that Tamworth as a whole is listed as "Tamworth Low Level" even for the high level trains but that isn't something I can really complain about.

 

[Western Sunset]

Fascinating site. Didn't realise there were through trains to Paddington from Patchway though...

 

[pdeaves]

Fascinating site. Didn't realise there were through trains to Paddington from Patchway though...

This Sunday there are 15 (see https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/se...22-06-12/0000-2359?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt)! It's probably limited by the range in which it looks and isn't clever enough to distinguish 'normal' with 'engineering works alterations'.

 

[Western Sunset]

Wow!

 

[Envoy]

I tested it for Newport (South Wales) and it came up with direct services to York, Newcastle & Glasgow via Edinburgh. Wrong - except when Cross Country make diversions into Newport for the south-west to Scotland services via Newcastle.

 

[pdeaves]

I tested it for Newport (South Wales) and it came up with direct services to York, Newcastle & Glasgow via Edinburgh. Wrong - except when Cross Country make diversions into Newport for the south-west to Scotland services via Newcastle.

Again, for this Sunday it's correct: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/se...2/0000-2359?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt&toc=XC (except for the Glasgow bit).

 

[Purple Orange]

That is a cracking map. The colour coding showing the journey times is fascinating. Look at how neat the London termini look, compared to the mess at Manchester & Birmingham!

 

[BJames]

This really is an interesting site! It did seem to be unable to distinguish between Enfield Chase and Enfield Town - e.g. displays direct from Enfield Town to Royston, and from Enfield Chase to Stoke Newington.

That said though, it is really great - I enjoyed seeing the Nottingham connections and was reminded of the infrequent direct link to Reading and to Carlisle.

 

[BeccaOnATrain]

This is really neat! Thanks for sharing! Another one to add to my list to use when planning trips alongside OpenRailwayMap.

 

[WesternBiker]

Fascinating!

It shows direct trains service from Wimbledon to Weymouth (nearly all stations) and Portsmouth - neither of which I was aware of (the one to Weymouth runs at 05:43, and to Portsmouth at 05:22 and 05:35, which might explain it). Hours of potential fun...

 

[Basil Jet]

Fascinating!

It shows direct trains service from Wimbledon to Weymouth (nearly all stations) and Portsmouth - neither of which I was aware of (the one to Weymouth runs at 05:43, and to Portsmouth at 05:22 and 05:35, which might explain it). Hours of potential fun...

Don't a lot of extra trains from far-flung parishes stop at Wimbledon during the sportsball?

 

[A S Leib]

Don't a lot of extra trains from far-flung parishes stop at Wimbledon during the sportsball?

Three trains from Exeter, five from Weymouth and three from Portsmouth (two Harbour, one Southsea) on the morning of the 27th.

 

[WesternBiker]

Three trains from Exeter, five from Weymouth and three from Portsmouth (two Harbour, one Southsea) on the morning of the 27th.

In the past, they have also stopped the Alton and Basingstoke semi-fasts for the tennis.

The Alton and Basingstoke semi-fasts stop regularly at Wimbledon on Sundays, but the map doesn’t show the stops from Alton, only those from Basingstoke. So the issue around trains that join and divide mentioned higher up in the thread seems to apply here, too.

Also, the map isn’t showing Salisbury or Exeter, despite the stops you mention on 27th. The extra stops then are “to drop off passengers only”, so I wonder if that’s why?

 

[Surreytraveller]

This really is an interesting site! It did seem to be unable to distinguish between Enfield Chase and Enfield Town - e.g. displays direct from Enfield Town to Royston, and from Enfield Chase to Stoke Newington.

That said though, it is really great - I enjoyed seeing the Nottingham connections and was reminded of the infrequent direct link to Reading and to Carlisle.

It also seems unable to distinguish between Upper Warlingham and Whyteleafe

 

[humbersidejim]

I’m enjoying playing with this, especially some of the bigger stations on the European mainland.

Which station has the most far flung direct services into other countries?

 

[miklcct]

Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be useful for me. It doesn't show the frequency to distinguish between turn-up-and-go and a once-a-day services, as it's utterly useless to suggest there are direct trains from Wimbledon to Weymouth when a change at Woking is almost always required.

 

[A S Leib]

I’m enjoying playing with this, especially some of the bigger stations on the European mainland.

Which station has the most far flung direct services into other countries?

Paris-Est is 1,867 km from Bucharest Nord, so I think Wien Hbf's in the running for the largest total span.

 

[W-on-Sea]

It's a fascinating site, and great fun to play around with. A few flaws I've found: it appears to treat most or all of the termini in central Budapest as though they were one station. Apparent omissions include Northern Ireland Railways, Latvian railways, and some or all of the local "private" railway lines or networks in Italy (e.g. FUC at Udine, FSE at Lecce).

Not sure it distinguishes between trains and de facto permanent SNCF bustitutions in France, either. There are few other oddities too.

None the less, an interesting site and potentially a useful tool.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Cool tool. One issue I found on Chrome - you can double-click to zoom in, but I can't figure out any way to zoom back out again.

And does Euston really have direct trains to St. Albans Abbey? That doesn't seem right.