New National Rail website

[Robski_]

Thanks, Hmm, wonder where I can get an updated list from?

The data is available in XML format, more details: Darwin reference data. You can then import the data into Excel and save it as a CSV, or write a small program to do the same thing. It involves a lot more work than the previous CSV file.

Timetable and Reference data can be obtained via an Amazon S3 Bucket. You will be required to connect and authenticate to S3 via the details given in Darwin File Information on your My Feeds page.

The reference data filenames are in the format "yyyymmddnnnnnn_ref_v3.xml.gz" (e.g. "PPTimetable/20230201021854_ref_v3.xml.gz"). There's usually several days of historical reference data, and different versions, so make sure you select the latest one for the right version (v3 is the correct reference data version for v16).

 

[The exile]

BTW the format of that data is appalling, whoever did that just doesn't understand what CSV is meant to be used for, why oh why does it have the data arranged in 4 2-column pairs for A-F, G-M, N-R and S-Y? Someone clearly knows nothing about importing and consuming data, why not just put it in a single 2-column pair, good grief...


Thanks, Hmm, wonder where I can get an updated list from?

The station usage stats? Ok - that’s going to miss very recent ones, but it’ll go to 2022.

 

[TheLunaPark]

The National Rail site now has a page linked from the homepage claiming the final stages of the new website will be introduced in Autumn 2023 so presumably anytime from now. The final stage seems to be centred around the Journey Planner. I'd imagine at that point, the 'beta' label will be removed and that will be that. Hopefully development doesn't just stop because as stated throughout this thread, the website on the whole is simply unfinished and in some places inadequate compared to the previous design.

Welcome to the New National Rail Website

The final part of the upgrade is coming in autumn 2023, with the launch of the improved Journey Planner. It will provide detailed, up-to-the-minute information about train services, fares and more, and you will be able to plan journeys up to 12 weeks in the future. Keep an eye out for the launch.

 

[josh-j]

I wonder if the journey planner will start working again for me at that point...

 

[SECR263]

Does not seem to allow you to book Boundary of Zone 6 to say Brighton? Also why does it list rail companies to book a ticket for a journey when you may not know what companies serve station? Thanks

 

[py_megapixel]

Does anyone else keep confusing the journey planner and live departures now that they've made the text boxes look identical and moved the headings further away from what they correspond to?

 

[duffield]

The new "3D" station layout maps are infuriatingly bad. I think in many cases the 3D effect makes them less, not more understandable, but the worst thing is the appallingly bad resolution. Take a look at this one for Darlington, and tell me if you can read the labels for P2/P3 (rather than work them out from the barely-readable PL1/PL4 labels).

It's not an issue with my device/browser/setup, I know some mobile browsers may degrade image resolution to save data, but this applies on my large-screen devices with multiple different browsers as well.

There are other aspects of these new maps that are very poorly done but I'll leave it at that.

The old 2D maps were generally fine and clear. Sigh. I expect they're probably still available via the usual web archive sites.

 

[MikeWM]

The National Rail site now has a page linked from the homepage claiming the final stages of the new website will be introduced in Autumn 2023 so presumably anytime from now. The final stage seems to be centred around the Journey Planner. I'd imagine at that point, the 'beta' label will be removed and that will be that.

The journey planner still doesn't work at all on either of my iPads, on any browser. That's over three months now.

And I know that I'm repeating my self from earlier in the thread, but the fact that this very important website has been in 'beta' for over three months - without maintaining access to the old one that actually worked while the new one was still in 'beta' - is incredibly unprofessional and simply isn't the way you're supposed to do things.

 

[Watershed]

The journey planner still doesn't work at all on either of my iPads, on any browser. That's over three months now.

And I know that I'm repeating my self from earlier in the thread, but the fact that this very important website has been in 'beta' for over three months - without maintaining access to the old one that actually worked while the new one was still in 'beta' - is incredibly unprofessional and simply isn't the way you're supposed to do things.

It just about sums up the RDG, to be honest.

 

[MikeWM]

How tedious it is to have to wait for the dropdown to load when entering the TLA for a station when using the journey planner (on the devices on which it actually works) or the live departures/arrivals. I've got so used to just entering eg. ELY, without having to wait to confirm that yes, I mean Ely. But if you hit return before the dropdown has loaded, you get a 404 page.

Genius UI design - there's no reason this shouldn't work. The dropdown should be a help but it shouldn't be compulsory. Especially for stations with only 3 letters in their name...

(and I'm a broken record and I know it is 'only' two weeks since I last mentioned it, but the journey planner *still* doesn't work on my iPads. This should have been fixed immediately, but apparently they just don't care).

 

[josh-j]

I have recently found on my phone that if I turn it around into landscape orientation, pressing the "Get times & prices" button actually opens the journey planner properly.

Goodness knows why it doesn't work in portrait mode, and having it not work there basically means it is unusable.

 

[MikeWM]

Live departures has also now stopped working on my iPad - for the last week I just get 500 server errors after entering a station - then waiting for the dropdown, yawn, and selecting the right one - and hitting 'show live trains'.

So the *two* most important functions of the site now don't work. Brilliant.

 

[Cletus]

Is there still a page for seasonal timetable changes as I'm looking for an idea of Christmas engineering works?

 

[bearhugger]

I've just had an email today announcing the phasing out of user accounts. Quote below copied from email.

As a registered National Rail Enquiries user, we want to inform you of upcoming changes to your account.


What’s happening

We are upgrading our website! You may have already noticed some changes to the National Rail website as we continue to improve its accessibility, functionality and features. We'll also be adding a new and improved Journey Planner.




As part of these ongoing improvements, we will be phasing out the National Rail Enquiries account feature for all users between 11 October and 15 November 2023. After this time, users will no longer be able to access existing accounts or register new ones on the National Rail website.


Why we’re taking this step

The National Rail website is evolving to better meet the requirements of users and passengers, rendering the specific accounts function obsolete. However, you can still receive regular updates via the National Rail website and the National Rail app.


What this means for you

You do not need to take any action.

To minimise the impact of any changes, the upgrade is being released in phases, with some account holders already experiencing a stop of this service. If you still have an accessible account, any existing alerts will continue until they naturally expire.

If you are opted-in to receive updates or marketing communications you will still receive these, however you can unsubscribe at any time by updating your communication preferences here.

Rest assured, any user data will be securely deleted in accordance with our data retention policies. You can review our privacy notice here.

As per our notice, we will keep your data for 2 years. You can request a copy of the data we hold about you by filling out this form.

If you have any concerns regarding any of these steps, you can contact us at the following address: [email protected]


Thank you for being a valued National Rail user.

Warm regards,

National Rail

 

[MikeWM]

Are the live departures/arrivals working *for anyone*? I noticed yesterday that it still wasn't working on my iPad, then that it wasn't working on my phone either, and now it isn't working on my desktop - just giving a 500 server error page.

The journey planner seems to have switched to the new one (with, inevitably, much worse use of screen real estate than before). That still does work on my desktop and phone, though still not on my iPad, which I'm increasingly thinking is a lost cause to ever be changed.

I did get a 'fill in this survey to give us feedback' yesterday after it failed to work on my phone too. I'm not sorry to say that I was quite vicious about what a mess the whole thing is, for all the use it will do.

 

[duffield]

Live departures seems to be working at the moment for desktop browsers (tested with Chrome and Firefox on ChromeOS and Linux respectively).

Edit: Also working OK on Android mobile (using Chrome).

 

[MikeWM]

Live departures working on (my) desktops again now, but still 500'ing on my iPad.

Anyway, I've given up and started using the live departures board on GN's website, as was suggested earlier in the thread. Don't have to wait seconds for the dropdown to pick the station after entering the three-letter code, and easily fits the next 20 or so departures on my desktop screen, as opposed to the useless 3-per-screen the new NR site manages with its dismal use of screen real estate.

 

[Gaelan]

Live departures working on (my) desktops again now, but still 500'ing on my iPad.

Anyway, I've given up and started using the live departures board on GN's website, as was suggested earlier in the thread. Don't have to wait seconds for the dropdown to pick the station after entering the three-letter code, and easily fits the next 20 or so departures on my desktop screen, as opposed to the useless 3-per-screen the new NR site manages with its dismal use of screen real estate.

I don't own an iPad, but the Railboard app for iPhone is absolutely fantastic and I imagine it works equally well on iPad.

 

[stufrog]

I used the online journey planner yesterday and it worked ok. And thanks for the tip, I've started to use the railboard app, yes it so much better.

 

[Statto]

I wish they'd change the Rovers & Rangers section of the site & list them in alphabetical order as it's a mess right now, you have to look far down [& have to give a good hard look for the Rover, or Ranger you want] the page for likes of Cumbria Round Robin, also Cheshire Day Ranger is right next to Hadrian's Wall Country Line Day Ranger, & East Yorkshire Round Robin.

 

[bearhugger]

I wish they'd change the Rovers & Rangers section of the site & list them in alphabetical order as it's a mess right now, you have to look far down [& have to give a good hard look for the Rover, or Ranger you want] the page for likes of Cumbria Round Robin, also Cheshire Day Ranger is right next to Hadrian's Wall Country Line Day Ranger, & East Yorkshire Round Robin.

When I'm looking at Rovers & Rangers, I prefer to use the GB Rail Rover Guide website. One of the features I found useful on that site was that I could select a station and it would tell you what Rovers & Rangers are valid for that location. I found a really good value rover for the Glasgow area when I was on holiday in the area.

 

[Mikey C]

On the website, the output screens have changed, giving far less information at a time, and having to select an outbound train before being able top look at return trains.

 

[Devonian]

On the website, the output screens have changed, giving far less information at a time, and having to select an outbound train before being able top look at return trains.

... and only the departure time of the outward journey is shown on the return trains page, so you can't see how long you will have between outward and return trains if you are planning a day out by rail.

 

[yorksrob]

Previously one used to be able to revert to the old website layout. This was particularly useful if you needed to specify a "via" station.

Tried the same again today, but after entering my info in the old page, I pressed the button and it just took me to the new page.

This is not an improvement.

 

[MikeWM]

Journey planner *finally* works on one of my iPads, though still not on the iPad mini (can't scroll the journey planner window to get to the 'ok' button...)

But, as pointed out, it is rather less functional than the previous one. It seems to be trying to compensate for the loss of the 'via' function by returning more answers rather than just the absolute fastest, but it all seems rather random.

For example, Cambridge to Liverpool pretty much has 5 'reasonable' routes - via London, via Birmingham, via Nuneaton, via the EMR from Ely, or via Leeds. The planner seems to offer some subset of those for each hour, but it seems a random subset each hour - eg. searching for Tuesday 12th, it offers journeys on the 1300, 1500, 1600 and 1800 XC to Birmingham, but not the 1000, 1100, 1200, 1400 or 1700.

Of course for a cross-country trip like this with a number of viable routes it would either have to show every option, which would be silly, or 'pick' a subset which may or may not correspond with what the passenger actually wants. Which is, err, why you need at least one 'via' point on the planner.

 

[miklcct]

Journey planner *finally* works on one of my iPads, though still not on the iPad mini (can't scroll the journey planner window to get to the 'ok' button...)

But, as pointed out, it is rather less functional than the previous one. It seems to be trying to compensate for the loss of the 'via' function by returning more answers rather than just the absolute fastest, but it all seems rather random.

For example, Cambridge to Liverpool pretty much has 5 'reasonable' routes - via London, via Birmingham, via Nuneaton, via the EMR from Ely, or via Leeds. The planner seems to offer some subset of those for each hour, but it seems a random subset each hour - eg. searching for Tuesday 12th, it offers journeys on the 1300, 1500, 1600 and 1800 XC to Birmingham, but not the 1000, 1100, 1200, 1400 or 1700.

Of course for a cross-country trip like this with a number of viable routes it would either have to show every option, which would be silly, or 'pick' a subset which may or may not correspond with what the passenger actually wants. Which is, err, why you need at least one 'via' point on the planner.

The new journey planner website has been out. However I can't find a way to force it to avoid doublebacks making it basically useless at all.

For example, I am planning a jounrey from Gospel Oak to Enfield Lock on the coming Saturday and it returns some journeys with a double back at Waltham Cross and some without. What I want to is to know the frequency of trains on a fixed route and the returned results are absolutely useless at all.

 

[yorksrob]

It's impossible to overstate just how crap this new website is.

Put in a journey with multiple legs and its telling me that part of it has a replacement bus. Only you can't actually open out the journey to find out where the replacement bus is - oh no.

I hope whoever's come up with it hasn't been paid for it.

 

[TheLunaPark]

The 'Beta' label seems to have now gone from the logo in the header section. So as far as National Rail and the developers are concerned, it's a product that's ready for the public. Evidently it isn't of course. Hopefully improvements are made.

 

[yorksrob]

Hopefully improvements are made.

We've been hoping that for months.

I also don't like the way it makes you select an outward journey before you can see the return options.

 

[lincolnshire]

We've been hoping that for months.

I also don't like the way it makes you select an outward journey before you can see the return options.

New web site is absolutely crap as compared with the old one, its hard work when you want to look at forthcoming engineering works. Why can,t they leave things alone, some things work Ok for years before some idot comes along and changes things and often no longer works properly.