ATOC CIF data - what period is it valid for?

[Marcus Young]

Hi,

I'm using ATOC CIF data (actually in the GTFS form obtained from http://www.gbrail.info/). I am interested in the historic data for research purposes.

I had sort of assumed that this data would have the published schedule for the next period ahead - say for the next 3 months (as that seems to be the limit of NRE).

However, I downloaded the data dated 25 April 2015 and found that Ebbw Vale Town, which opened on 17 May 2015, doesn't appear as a stop in the GTFS feed. That suggests that the data doesn't have schedules for the period ahead, or at least,not very far ahead

I'd be grateful if anyone here can clarify what period the data should cover.

Thanks

Marcus

[Marcus Young]

I forgot to mention that the 25 April 2015 data also does not contain Pye Corner Station (PYE) which opened on 14 December 2014.

[Paul Kelly]

Hello there,

On 09/12/2016 05:21 PM, Marcus Young wrote:
>
> I'm using ATOC CIF data (actually in the GTFS form obtained from
> http://www.gbrail.info/). I am interested in the historic data for
> research purposes.
>
> I had sort of assumed that this data would have the published schedule
> for the next period ahead - say for the next 3 months (as that seems to
> be the limit of NRE).
>
> However, I downloaded the data dated 25 April 2015 and found that Ebbw
> Vale Town, which opened on 17 May 2015, doesn't appear as a stop in the
> GTFS feed. That suggests that the data doesn't have schedules for the
> period ahead, or at least,not very far ahead

I have an archive of a fair portion of the ATOC open schedule data, and
have just had a look at what I presume is the corresponding dataset
(released onto data.atoc.org at 6am on Saturday 24th April 2015).

The CIF schedule data (MCA file) certainly does include Ebbw Vale Town,
as you'd expect (the relevant TI - TIPLOC Insert record is shown below):
TIEBWVTN 04362800UEBBW VALE TOWN 76647 0EBBEBBW VALE

However the master station names file (MSN file) doesn't include the
station - but this is quite normal - it is always very late being
updated for any changes. See here for an interesting article on the
general tardiness of various parts of the rail industry in responding to
new station openings:
<http://www.railfuture.org.uk/article1647-Sent-to-Coventry>.

Pye Corner on the other hand in both the MSN and MCA files, indeed if it
was missing from the MSN file most journey planners and other online
systems would not function properly, so that's not a surprise. But if
it's missing from the GTFS files on gbrail.info then that is a separate
issue.

Best regards

Paul K.

[Marcus Young]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for your reply.

I have only examined the GTFS data on gbrail.info, so perhaps the issues relate to that rather than the CIF data.

Ebbw Vale Town does not appear in stops.txt in the 25 April 2015 feed. Though it does appear a few weeks later (9 May 2015). PYE still wasn't in that feed. It is in the current download though.

Marcus

[George Goldberg]

On 12 September 2016 at 19:48, Marcus Young <mar...@graspit.co.uk> wrote:

Hi Paul,

Thanks for your reply.

I have only examined the GTFS data on gbrail.info, so perhaps the issues relate to that rather than the CIF data.

Ebbw Vale Town does not appear in stops.txt in the 25 April 2015 feed. Though it does appear a few weeks later (9 May 2015). PYE still wasn't in that feed. It is in the current download though.

I'm not sure this is necessarily the cause of this particular problem, but Pye Corner is absent from NaPTaN (and seemingly always has been), which has caused problems for me before with systems that get their list of stations from there.

--

George