Re: [openraildata-talk] Train Status Messages

36 views

Skip to first unread message

George Goldberg

unread,

Dec 30, 2016, 11:00:56 AM12/30/16

to Chris Holly, A gathering place for the Open Rail Data community

On 30 December 2016 at 15:31, Chris Holly <chris....@gmail.com> wrote:

I understand that the public timetable is the published times that the train was planned for. Until now I assumed the working timetable was the real time predictions of the service but the working times don't seem to change after the schedule has been published. Taking this example: http://uktra.in/rtt/train/201612287103042 the train was clearly running behind schedule but the working times remain unchanged. So what is the difference between public times and working times?

The "public timetable" is the times at which the public, i.e. passengers, are told the trains will arrive/depart in journey planners / printed timetables / etc. The "working timetable" is the actual times at which the industry systems plans the arrival/departure/pass to happen. These are often the same, but sometimes they are slightly different. Reasons for this difference vary, but essentially it reflects the operational reality of what is planned to happen, rather than what is published to passengers. Other differences include stations that are, for example, alight only on some services (e.g. Stratford or Watford Junction), where there will be a WTD but not a PTD.

--