Darwin Evolution – migration questions for Push Port and FTP snapshots

[Валерия Болотова]

Hi all,

Has anyone received detailed guidance from the Darwin Evolution team regarding migration of:

* the AMQ Push Port (currently `darwin-dist-44ae45.nationalrail.co.uk:61613`, STOMP), and
* FTP Push Port / snapshot access (e.g. `/pushport/pPortData.log.*.gz` used for cold starts)?

I emailed darwin.e...@raildeliverygroup.com on 11 August 2025 with the questions below but haven’t had a reply yet, so I’m wondering if:

* there is an updated change document or FAQ, or
* a recommended contact channel for technical migration questions.

Specifically, I’m trying to clarify:

1) AMQ Push Port migration

Current endpoint: `darwin-dist-44ae45.nationalrail.co.uk:61613` (STOMP)

Change doc mentions: `amq1.realtime.nationalrail.co.uk:61616`

Questions:
- Will `darwin-dist-44ae45.nationalrail.co.uk:61613` remain available during and after the Darwin Evolution go-live, and if so, for how long?
- Can we safely switch to `amq1.realtime.nationalrail.co.uk:61616` now, or is there another recommended endpoint for Evolution?
- Will our existing credentials, topic (`darwin.pushport-v16`) and XML payload format remain unchanged?

2) FTP Push Port / snapshot access

The Darwin Evolution change document (v1.0) references an S3 bucket for timetable file access.

Questions:
- Will the S3 bucket provide:
  (a) only CIF timetable (scheduled) files, or
  (b) both CIF timetable files and Push Port snapshot archives (e.g. `/pushport/pPortData.log.*.gz`) used for cold starts?
- Will the current FTP `/pushport` directory remain available after Evolution go-live? If not, what is the replacement mechanism and timeline?

If anyone has already migrated or received clarifications from the project team (e.g. confirmation of the new AMQ hostname/port and the future of FTP snapshots vs S3), I’d really appreciate if you could share your experience or any notes.

Best regards

[Peter Hicks]

Hello

On Tuesday, 25 November 2025 at 08:42, Валерия Болотова <bolot...@gmail.com> wrote:

If anyone has already migrated or received clarifications from the project team (e.g. confirmation of the new AMQ hostname/port and the future of FTP snapshots vs S3), I’d really appreciate if you could share your experience or any notes.

I'm sorry you haven't had any feedback from the project team - whilst I don't have an official mechanism for reporting this, I will mention it.

Darwin Evolution impacts two things:

1. Industry users who connect directly to Darwin, who need to test the new infrastructure
2. Non-industry users (Open Data users) who connect to the NRDP (darwin-dist-44ae45.nationalrail.co.uk) and will need to migrate to use the RDM
   

NRDP will be decommissioned post-migration, but I'm not aware of any timescales.  Given the large functionality gap between NRDP and RDM's Darwin feeds, I get the impression NRDP may be around for a while longer as I don't see the two platforms as offering functional parity.

So for the time being, if I were in your shoes, I'd continue using NRDP until the RDM data product is evolved to handle snapshots, reference data and 'catch-up' log access somewhat better than it does at the moment.  Should any closure date for NRDP be announced prematurely, trust me - I will be on the side of Open Data users and being constructively vocal about the issue.

Peter