About the Network Rail feeds

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Revision as of 14:44, 25 March 2013 by Mark Ellens (talk | contribs) (Added link to release notes)
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What are the feeds?

The following feeds are available:

Feed Type Details
RTPPM Real-time low volume Real Time Public Performance Measure. This shows the performance of trains against the timetable, measured as the percentage of trains arriving at destination on time, and is updated every minute
Train Movements Real-time high-volume Messaging from the TRUST system, containing reports of train movements past timetabled calling and passing points
TD Real-time high-volume Berth-level data from the Train Describer system, showing raw data with train movements in more detail than the Train Movements feed
VSTP Real-time low-volume Late-notice train schedules which are not available through the Schedule feed
TSR Low-volume Temporary Speed Restriction data as published in the Weekly Operating Notice
SCHEDULE Static data Extracts of train schedules from ITPS in JSON format

There are also several sets of reference data which are helpful when working with the data, as well as a page of advanced usage assistance.

NOTE: The Train Movements and TD messages are batched to reduce network overheads.

How do I get the data?

First, register for an account by visiting http://datafeeds.networkrail.co.uk. You will receive a confirmation email - follow the instructions: log in and change your password. When your account is active, you can connect to the service. Your account may be in one of three states.

The real-time feeds are available on message queue topics. You will need to use a Stomp or OpenWire client. Stomp clients are available in many languages.

The static feeds are available via authenticated HTTP GET requests.

Support

If you are having problems with the feeds:

  • First, read this wiki - there's a lot of material here that will help you
  • Check the FAQ to see if you have a common issue
  • If you want to discuss your problem with other people working with the service, the openraildata-talk group on Google Groups will be useful
  • Finally, if you're still having a problem, email nrod.support@rockshore.net

Good practice

Please bear in mind the following points when you use the service - they're here to make sure everyone gets a good service:

  • Sign up with one account - it gives an accurate reflection of how many people are actually using the service.
  • Connect to the service once - you can receive multiple feeds in a single connection. If you need to access the data more than once, you can do so - but be sensible!
  • Don't leave a failed client running - if you can connect but get an authentication or authorization error, stop your client, don't leave it continually trying.
  • Make sure your client handles failures - if your client fails to connect or is disconnected, use an exponential backoff and wait 1s, 2s, 4s, 8s, 16s etc. before trying to reconnect. Service problems sometimes occur, and if everyone tries to reconnect every second, the service will not recover quickly.
  • Use a durable subscriber - if you want data to be queued in case you disconnect, request a durable subscription when you connect.

Background reading

It may be useful to understand the background to the sources of some of these data feeds. These links will help:

Examples

Example code is available for several common languages:

NOTE: This code has been written by members of the community as a starting point, and may not be a complete solution.

Releases

For further information on the content of releases please see Release notes