New National Rail Map - Very Wrong

[enginedin]

A very short stub

I'd suggest that pragmatically, to most people, a short stub or what you have interpreted as a branch line have no difference

 

[Doctor Fegg]

They’ve let AI run wild with it.

They absolutely have not. It is no more made with AI than the new East Coast timetable is, whether or not you personally like the cartographic choices / the stopping pattern at Retford.

Poking around in the source and the HTTP requests, the map appears to be constructed with a vector tile backend; MapLibre JS on the frontend; and distinct, manual label placement and choices of what stations to show at each zoom level. (You can actually load the vector tiles into QGIS to have a play and see the underlying data.) It's about as far from AI as you can get. Although I had nothing to do with this particular map, this sort of stuff is part of what I do for a living (it's even possible, though unlikely, that they used some of my software to generate the vector tiles), and to me it looks like an impressive achievement both technically and cartographically - in particular, the approach to label positioning is really very interesting.

Yes, there are certainly some errors - as there are with pretty much any map - and no doubt many of these will be fixed over time. It probably needed a going-over by a rail geek or two before going live. But don't treat it as something it doesn't aim to be. For example:

Also, when did Wolvercote move south of Oxford North?

It's not a track diagram. If you want that then go buy a Quail. The Cotswold Line and the Bicester line both feed into Oxford station from the north; that's all a passenger needs to know, and that's what this map shows. The Harry Beck map is equally not a track diagram and takes similar liberties with the layout, yet millions of people find it invaluable as their way of getting around the Underground.

Cartographically the one failing with this new map in my (entirely personal) opinion is that the coloured TOC lines overlap at some zoom levels (smaller scales), which makes it difficult to distinguish between them. But that's a tricky problem to solve.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I'd suggest that pragmatically, to most people, a short stub or what you have interpreted as a branch line have no difference

Beg to differ. The line alongside the now closed platform is immediately adjacent to the main CLC running lines. To represent it as if it were at the end of some mile long branch line is just plain wrong. As the football ground station is no longer in use, probably best not to include it at all, IMHO.

 

[chrisjo]

In what sense is this 'Interactive'?

I note that when you hover over a station your cursor changes to a pointy-finger hand, implying that it is a link. But when you click, nothing happens (tried in Firefox & Edge).

Is there some functionality missing?

edit: This from elsewhere, which maybe explains it, or maybe not?:

"Throughout 2026 we will be introducing new selectable options to overlay various types of information on the map such as live disruption, accessible stations, Railcard and Rover & Ranger area of validities and much, much more."

 

[alistairlees]

Beg to differ. The line alongside the now closed platform is immediately adjacent to the main CLC running lines. To represent it as if it were at the end of some mile long branch line is just plain wrong. As the football ground station is no longer in use, probably best not to include it at all, IMHO.

The map is about relationships not about geographical accuracy. I do think a lot of people have not understood this. The level of spelling mistakes is a bit too high though, and there are far too many unnecessary bends and twists, as well as too much poor positioning of labels, for it to work well. But it might do, following some further improvements.

 

[enginedin]

In what sense is this 'Interactive'?

in the sense that you can (interactively) zoom in and out - and as you do so more information is revealed, and that you can hover over lines to show the calling points made by different operating companies. Compare the interactive map with the PDF version of the same information: https://assets.nationalrail.co.uk/e...National_Rail_All_Stations_Route_Map_V1.9.pdf

 

[chrisjo]

in the sense that you can (interactively) zoom in and out - and as you do so more information is revealed, and that you can hover over lines to show the calling points made by different operating companies. Compare the interactive map with the PDF version of the same information: https://assets.nationalrail.co.uk/e...National_Rail_All_Stations_Route_Map_V1.9.pdf

Indeed. My point was that there is evidence of a lot more interactivity planned than is there at the moment.

 

[The Planner]

It's not a track diagram. If you want that then go buy a Quail. The Cotswold Line and the Bicester line both feed into Oxford station from the north; that's all a passenger needs to know, and that's what this map shows. The Harry Beck map is equally not a track diagram and takes similar liberties with the layout, yet millions of people find it invaluable as their way of getting around the Underground.

Cartographically the one failing with this new map in my (entirely personal) opinion is that the coloured TOC lines overlap at some zoom levels (smaller scales), which makes it difficult to distinguish between them. But that's a tricky problem to solve.

I know exactly what it is and what its for, but if you are going to do it, do it better than they have.

 

[enginedin]

I know exactly what it is and what its for, but if you are going to do it, do it better than they have.

Well if you know it's not a track diagram, and is more akin to the tube map, don't complain that it has some of the design features of the tube map! Cake, eating, and can't have come to mind.

 

[Steddenm]

Beg to differ. The line alongside the now closed platform is immediately adjacent to the main CLC running lines. To represent it as if it were at the end of some mile long branch line is just plain wrong. As the football ground station is no longer in use, probably best not to include it at all, IMHO.

(image showing): Manchester United FC Halt does show as no services operating there with the big red Cross over the station dot.

But there are a lot of problems with the map showing services not calling at certain stations, lines that don't exist, multiple spelling mistakes and ferries that aren't passenger (Heysham etc) and ferries missing (Shields Ferry).

 

[Adam Williams]

Never mind the actual content of the map, have Fabrik forgotten to turn on antialiasing or something?

These circles look bloody awful:

 

[chrisjo]

Altnabreac looks like an interesting place:

 

[Western Sunset]

The map really needs a good proofreader. I'm sure we can all find irritating mistakes and omissions. No labelling of "Elmers End", for example. Folks not familiar with the area might think it's called Norwood Junction...

 

[Mag_seven]

The map really needs a good proofreader.

A panel of rail enthusiasts drawn from our forum.

 

[scrapy]

Shows Avanti as stopping at Kidsgrove too, is that a new one?

 

[buz33]

The map really needs a good proofreader. I'm sure we can all find irritating mistakes and omissions. No labelling of "Elmers End", for example. Folks not familiar with the area might think it's called Norwood Junction...

The label for Elmers End is there but the map has to be zoomed right in for it to appear.

 

[duffield]

Lumo and Grand Central are shown as calling at Grantham, which they of course do not!

Also some interesting spellings for Nottingham Express Transit stops, such as Morr Bridge rather than Moor Bridge, butler’s Hill instead of Butler’s Hill and High Road - Central Colleage instead of High Road - Central College. The walking link between Nottingham Station tram stop and Nottingham Railway Station is also missing, despite such links being shown at Bulwell and Hucknall.

Also on NET: "Hyson Gree Market", and "Beacon Street" instead of "Beaconsfield Street".

 

[Parallel]

Looking at the GWR and TfW areas, Copplestone is no longer a request stop on the Barnstaple branch. If they are wanting to use the English names, then it is Treforest Estate and Treforest without the extra 'f'. Kidwelly and Ferryside are no longer request stops. Narberth, Kilgetty, Saundersfoot and Penally aren't shown as being request stops when they are (except the limited summer Saturday GWR service), yet Lamphey is correctly shown as being a request stop on the same line. Talybont and Dyffryn Ardudwy are no longer request stops. Minor but they've got Dovey Junction east of where the lines join. Deganwy, Conwy, Penmaenmawr, Llanfairfechan and Llanfairpwll are no longer request stops. I'm not sure what's going on at Newton-le-Willows but it shows Transport for Wales as running via a new route and not via or calling at Earlestown. Llanwrst is not a request stop but is listed as one.

 

[Western Sunset]

The label for Elmers End is there but the map has to be zoomed right in for it to appear.

Ah, thanks. Trouble is, how are punters to know they have to zoom in so far to see it? I thought I'd enlarged it enough, but there you go...

Does the map have explicit zoom-in / zoom-out buttons? I couldn't find any.

 

[The Planner]

Well if you know it's not a track diagram, and is more akin to the tube map, don't complain that it has some of the design features of the tube map! Cake, eating, and can't have come to mind.

Disagree, the tube map isn't riddled with inconsistencies as this one is.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 30 Nov 2025 ==

Never mind the actual content of the map, have Fabrik forgotten to turn on antialiasing or something?

These circles look bloody awful:

View attachment 193093

View attachment 193092

As I said at the start, it doesn't look like its a vector drawing or its been saved as something else.

 

[Galactic142]

When I look at it on my PC, there's no easy way to zoom out. You can zoom in by double-clicking but there's no obvious way to zoom back out again without refreshing the page.

When the map initially loads it looks like the Cornish Main Line only gets an infrequent service because the 'infrequent service double-line' for Cross Country is superimposed over the regular GWR green one - you have to zoom in to see there are actually two lines there

 

[Horizon22]

When I look at it on my PC, there's no easy way to zoom out. You can zoom in by double-clicking but there's no obvious way to zoom back out again without refreshing the page.

You don't have a mouse wheel?

 

[Western Sunset]

I agree with Galactic. I don't have a mouse with my laptop...

 

[chrisjo]

You don't have a mouse wheel?

Or a track-pad?

 

[duffield]

When I look at it on my PC, there's no easy way to zoom out. You can zoom in by double-clicking but there's no obvious way to zoom back out again without refreshing the page.

When the map initially loads it looks like the Cornish Main Line only gets an infrequent service because the 'infrequent service double-line' for Cross Country is superimposed over the regular GWR green one - you have to zoom in to see there are actually two lines there

If you really don't have a mouse wheel or track pad to zoom in and out with, Shift-double-click zooms out.

 

[Energy]

Poking around in the source and the HTTP requests, the map appears to be constructed with a vector tile backend; MapLibre JS on the frontend; and distinct, manual label placement and choices of what stations to show at each zoom level. (You can actually load the vector tiles into QGIS to have a play and see the underlying data.) It's about as far from AI as you can get. Although I had nothing to do with this particular map, this sort of stuff is part of what I do for a living (it's even possible, though unlikely, that they used some of my software to generate the vector tiles), and to me it looks like an impressive achievement both technically and cartographically - in particular, the approach to label positioning is really very interesting.

Agreed, looking at the HTML elements, it's definitely MapLibre GL. The map is a pretty impressive achievement; trying to make the entire country fit into a not-perfectly-geographic London-Underground-style map is very difficult.

I think it's worth noting that the team that made this is almost certainly in one part of the UK. Most people can spot issues with the map in their area pretty easily, but would struggle to spot problems somewhere they've never been, hundreds of miles away.

 

[Horizon22]

I agree with Galactic. I don't have a mouse with my laptop...

He did say "PC" though not laptop. Zooming is pretty universal - once you know how it works on your device, it will work for pretty much anything.

 

[Galactic142]

Ah okay sorry, it is a laptop - I just instinctively call anything that's a computer a 'PC' by default. I didn't know know about shift-double-click so thanks for the heads up on that! Otherwise it's an impressive map, aesthetically it fits in with the regional area 'Project Mapping' ones that are also on the NR website maps page.

 

[DelW]

When the map initially loads it looks like the Cornish Main Line only gets an infrequent service because the 'infrequent service double-line' for Cross Country is superimposed over the regular GWR green one - you have to zoom in to see there are actually two lines there

The same occurs on the Pembroke Dock branch, where at most zooms the "occasional services" GWR double-line obscures the regular TfW line, despite TfW providing the vast majority of services.

Despite the issues, I like the concept of the map, which must be a difficult task to make work at multiple different zoom levels. I think when the minor faults are ironed out - the compilers might do worse than to read this thread, if they can cope with the criticism - it should become a useful resource.

 

[alxndr]

Some "interesting" cartographic choices here and issues to iron out.

• The right angle between Rutherglen and Carmyle, and highlighting of individual segments with the mouse, suggests that trains go from Glasgow Central high level to Carmyle rather than Glasgow Central low level via Rutherglen. Would be better off showing it as a diagonal just after Rutherglen.
• One line goes through Cambuslang-Newton-Uddingston, although Newton is effectively on a separate line at that point as no trains stop at both Newton and Uddingston.
• Wishaw is totally missing, although the line splits off to serve it.
• Other stations have their brackets but Newton is just "Newton" not "Newton (Lanark)".
• IBM isn't there, even crossed out although I didn't think it was officially closed.
• Falls of Cruachan doen't have a request stop symbol.
• The Holy Isle-Lamlash ferry line is shown, but Holy Isle is only shown at very high zoom levels and there's no labels on either island.

I think it's got a lot of merit, especially showing ferries/trams/etc but needs a good proof reading.