NR schedule updates - accounting for bank hol schedule changes 3+months in the future

[David Mountain]

We're processing the json schedule data from Network Rail (http://nrodwiki.rockshore.net/index.php/SCHEDULE) and stay up to date with the STP and VSTP updates.

It looks like he schedules are not yet representing the reduced schedule over the christmas period (it shows a regular timetable operating), even though this is known and represented by other sources (e.g. thetrainline).

Our logs do not point to any missed updates, so this suggests that the christmas period is too far in the future to be represented. However the records in the permanent schedule extend until May 2017. Incorrect schedules feel like more of a liability than no schedules, so I'm wondering about ways for accounting for this, either in how the schedules are published, or our application logic when representing them.

From the schedules side:

A. could all known predictable schedule changes associated with bank holidays, that fall within the time period represented by the permanent schedule, be published earlier, so periods such as christmas and easter do not show erroneous schedules when searching a 3+ months ahead.

B. alternatively, could the permanent schedules extend less far into the future (e.g. never more than 3 months.

Alternatively, are there any other fields in the schedule (or a reliable rule of thumb) which give an indication of the time window within which the schedule can be trusted to account for predicable schedule alteration, such as bank holiday periods.

Cheers

Dave

[Peter Hicks]

Hi Dave

Good application-layer logic might be to adhere to only show trains up to the next 12 weeks (three months).  Have a read of the training material (from 2009, so read TSDB as ITPS) at http://www.gjdms.org.uk/uploads/2/8/8/7/2887782/student_notes__module6_.pdf - this shows quite well the timescales involved.

I'm not sure how TheTrainLine know which trains are and aren't running over Christmas.  Maybe they've done something manually.

Peter

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[David Mountain]

Thanks Peter - great advice.

[Phil Wieland]

I've just had a quick look at a couple of trains near here last Christmas, and the cancellations appeared in the database in late September 2016.

I take a half way position with regard to the 12 week boundary and allow users to look beyond that but with a notice warning that the information is provisional.  I feel completely blocking these queries would be a shame, as there is a lot of interest in the new timetable starting December 2017, which arrived on my site over the last couple of weeks.

[petermount]

I was thinking the same. Previously I've just allowed a query if it's within the 12 month range in the CIF.

I've almost finished rewriting my timetable search tool in React so I'll probably add a warning message if it's more than 12 weeks in the future.