Open rail data can revolutionize travel by making industry data available and enabling new applications. Key questions around rail include who controls infrastructure, how the system is structured and funded. New apps using open data could monitor punctuality, find cheap fares, and integrate transport options. The National Rail Enquiries monopoly is ending as Network Rail releases real-time train location data. This will allow third-party developers like Placr to build applications that provide independent performance monitoring and new ways for passengers to get rail information and plan journeys.

1. How can open data revolutionise
your rail travel?
Jonathan Raper
CEO, Placr

2. Outline
Revolutionalising your rail travel means answering
these questions first…
• Who controls the railways?
• How is the industry structured?
• Who pays for the railways?
Then we can drill down on the issues that matter…
• How do we monitor punctuality?
• How do we get the cheapest fare?
• What are the cool new apps/services?

3. Your tax
Who controls the railways?
Your fares
Courtesy: Network Rail

4. How is the industry structured?

5. How are the railways funded?
• “Network Rail… operates, maintains, renews and
develops the infrastructure to deliver the
outputs that governments.. wish to buy” ORR
• High Level Output Spec is what government buys
• “Delivering a Sustainable Railway 2007” specifies
service levels etc that will be funded CP4 09-14
• Periodic Review 08 by ORR matched task & funds
– Next PR this year for CP5
• NR also borrows for capital investment

6. The governance problem for
railways
• DfT only buys services at a high level
• Almost all ToCs are monopolies on each line
• ORR tolerates self-regulation by ATOC
• Passenger Focus have influence but no power
• The industry is fragmented and complex
• Very little information escapes the industry
• Passengers are nihilistic about system

7. Some tweets
• Ahh #firstcapitalconnect - trains appear on the
KingsX board but it doesn't mean the train
exists - silly me [@JerryMarwood]
• @FirstCC We all know Ally is a robot.
Automated answers heh heh [@penaltyfare]
• @FirstCC I used to get the 909 from
letchworth and it always arrived at 912 so FCC
cleverly made that train the 912 but then
arrived at 914 [@tumsguide]

8. Role of National Rail Enquiries
• NRE are a service of ATOC
• Set up to provide phone service at privatisation
• Funded by TOCs, who are part-funded by taxes
• Developed organically to run a web/API service
• Until 2012 a monopoly supplier of all rail data
• Network Rail movement data now #opendata
• NRE still exclusively collect operating data from
TOCS that enhances its feeds
• NRE license rail data @ £1.50/app

9. Role of NRE in passenger info
• What passengers want
– Train times for free on web and good value apps
– Fares info to get the cheapest ticket(s) for journey
– Integrated transport options
• What NRE say their aims are (with some simplification)
– “to increase ticket sales
– to grow our registered customer base
– to continue our dominance as the #1 web site in travel
– Improving speed, accuracy &availability of information
– keep the cost of information to ToCs down”

10. What’s the solution?
• Information. Lots of it. From open sources.
• Arm the consumer… and open up the industry:
– Timetables to analyse service patterns
– Real time data to monitor delays
– Fares data to identify savings eg fare splitting
– Integration with other transport data eg bus
• Developers can help with this… can’t they?
• Placr created http://transportapi.com/ for this

11. NR train movement feeds
• 003-moves{"event_type": "ARRIVAL”,"gbtt_timestamp”: "1358780700000","original_loc_stanox":”
","planned_timestamp":"1358780700000","timetable_variation":"0","original_loc_timestamp":"",
"current_train_id":"","delay_monitoring_point":"false","next_report_run_time":"1","reporting_st
anox":"00000","actual_timestamp":"1358780700000","correction_ind":"false","event_source":"A
UTOMATIC","train_file_address":null,"platform":"","division_code":"60","train_terminated":"false
","train_id":"072G54MP21","offroute_ind":"false","variation_status":"ONTIME","train_service_co
de":"13569815","toc_id":"60","loc_stanox":"07132","auto_expected":"true","direction_ind":"UP",
"route":"0","planned_event_type":"ARRIVAL","next_report_stanox":"07136","line_ind":""} | 2013-
01-21 15:04:09 | 2013-01-21 15:04:09
• 002-cancellations 25739787 | 0002 | 561d0540-ee1e-012f-9605-00163e000001 | 632O31MY21 |
{"train_file_address":null,"train_service_code":"22710001","orig_loc_stanox":"","toc_id":"26","de
p_timestamp":"1358796120000","division_code":"26","loc_stanox":"63201","canx_timestamp":"1
358849100000","canx_reason_code":"YI","train_id":"632O31MY21","orig_loc_timestamp":"","can
x_type":"AT ORIGIN"} | 2013-01-22 10:06:05 | 2013-01-22 10:06:05
• 001-activations 1679921 | 0001 | C | | 2013-12-06 | 321A42MO21 |
2013-01-21 | 2013-01-21 11:05:15 | | 2013-01-21 14:15:00 | 22108001 | 65
| 00000 | MANUAL | P50657 | NORMAL |O | 32000 | 1A42M
| 2012-12-10 | 1415 | 38260220-ee20-012f-9605-00163e000001 | MANCHESTER
PICCADILLY | LONDON EUSTON | VT | 2013-01-21 11:05:19 | 2013-01-21 11:05:19
• Requires high-speed consumption of stream and cross-
referencing with reference sources

12. TransportAPI architecture
Raw
Raw
data
data
Maps
Feeds
Real-time Cache Data
Joins tables Geolocate
Cloud servers
Lookups App
Keys
API
Stop/station Displays
data
Content
App
Processing
`` logic
Updating

13. transportapi gallery

14. What do we want now?
• Initial data releases have enabled
us to start up services eg feeds
for CityMapper >>>
• Level playing field for businesses
• Liberalised data market
• Open data driven innovation
• Open fare data expected soon

15. Level playing field
• Access to the rest of industry data streams:
– Short term cancellations etc Tyrell
– Rolling stock formation etc Gemini
– Cycle policies
• Full details better enable us to launch
informative apps about your travel

16. Liberalised market
• Open up commercial interface to new
approaches to the market
– “Liverpool-London by train on a Friday night. Fare
splitting. Double the journey time at a third of the
price. Not an option on Nat Rail Enqs @Madprof
• Enable innovators to find the best deals and
reliable services for your journey, and then
fulfill their order without onerous T&Cs

17. Open data innovation
• Need to enable new insights, build confidence
e.g. OpenTrainTimes map visualisation
• New ways to view performance measures

18. Prototype open train times

19. FixMyTransport

20. New metrics from apps
• Apps will create
independent streams of
data about the railway
– Typical performance cf
expected performance
• Placr already been asked by
press to give independent
view of performance e.g.
http://tube-radar.com/

21. Apps as probes
• Smartphones can use
apps as probes for
– Train progress
– Acceleration/deceleratio
n via phone sensors
• Can check publicity
claims

22. Train lateness map
transportapi.com

23. Fares
• Fares are about to be
released as open data by
Rail Settlement plan
• Will become possible to
mine the data
• New role of information
facilitators to fare portals

24. In summary
• Open data can drive
– Accountability
– Reductions in cost
– Disruptive market influences
• Placr hope to play a key role with
– New apps/services
– Easy data distribution
– New value-added feeds

25. Contact
http://www.placr.co.uk/
jonathan.raper@placr.co.uk
@Madprof