Darwin:Reference locations

Locations in Darwin's reference data describe the TIPLOC, name, operator, and CRS code of a given location.

Attributes

• tpl (TIPLOC) - mandatory - 4-7 character alphanumeric primary key which uniquely identifies this location in schedules
• locname (location name) - mandatory - for locations without a manager set, the TIPLOC is used instead of a true name.
• crs (CRS/3-alpha) - optional - three alphabetical characters
• toc (train operating company) - optional - two letter ATOC code noting the company which manages the station, can be cross-referenced with TOC entries in the reference data

Please note that:

• A location in the reference data may no longer exist (SINFINN - SIR - Sinfin North), it may not be on the rail network (HTRBUS3 - HWE - Heathrow Airport T3 Bus), it may not be in Great Britain (Rail locations in mainland Europe, several ferry terminals), it may not ordinarily be used for passenger purposes.
• Non-passenger locations can and do have CRS codes
• Multiple TIPLOCs can have the same CRS code, and be part of the same station. In some cases this is because old data has been retained (e.g. London Waterloo via WAT has WATRINT, WATRLMN, WATRLOO, WATRLOW, WATR; but aside from occasional scheduling mistakes, only WATRLMN is currently in use), in other cases it's because a station has areas which are distinct for routing/scheduling (London St Pancras via STP has STPANCI for HS1, STPX for Midland Main Line platforms, and STPXBOX for Thameslink)
• CRS codes which appear in Network Rail data, from which National Rail's CRS codes are derived, follow a different convention where CRS codes are unique, and a station with multiple TIPLOCs will have multiple CRS codes.
• Darwin maintains one name per CRS, regardless of whether a station has multiple TIPLOCs . In some cases this means useful distinctions may be lost (e.g. Thameslink vs Midland Main Line at St Pancras, or High Level vs Low Level at Glasgow Central).
• Locations without names appear regularly in schedules as passing points, in some cases they will appear as origins or destinations for passenger services (e.g. a mainline rail replacement service into London which runs to a London Underground station).
• TOC codes refer to the company or organisation which manages the station/location. These are mostly TOCs, but there's also generic operator codes (PC - private charter, ZB - bus stop/station, ZF - ferry terminal), and Network Rail (RT).

Examples (reference v3 - corresponds to push port v16)

<PportTimetableRef xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" timetableId="20230201021854" xmlns="http://www.thalesgroup.com/rtti/XmlRefData/v3">
  <LocationRef tpl="DONCSWY" locname="DONCSWY" />
  <LocationRef tpl="GOOLLOP" locname="GOOLLOP" />
  <LocationRef tpl="MDVLLT" crs="ZMV" locname="MDVLLT" />
  ...
  <LocationRef tpl="EBRYBGJ" locname="EBRYBGJ" />
  <LocationRef tpl="NWMILSC" crs="NMC" toc="NT" locname="New Mills Central" />
  <LocationRef tpl="SCNTS20" locname="SCNTS20" />
  ...
  <LocationRef tpl="ECLRFHH" locname="ECLRFHH" />
  <LocationRef tpl="HBRTBDG" crs="HBB" toc="EM" locname="Hubberts Bridge" />
  ...
  <LocationRef tpl="SPAROAD" crs="XSU" locname="SPAROAD" />
  <LocationRef tpl="WHRDGBF" locname="WHRDGBF" />
  <LocationRef tpl="ADLC" crs="ADC" toc="NT" locname="Adlington (Cheshire)" />
  ...