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Trackway - Live Train Information

Trackway

Member
Joined
22 Sep 2026
Messages
7
Location
Stirling
Hello,

Hopefully this is the right forum thread to post this under, but I’ve been working on a train tracking website and app for a couple of months now and wanted to share it for some feedback.

trackway.uk

It’s very much still a work in progress and the app version should be updated again in the next 48 hours once Apple publish it, but I’m open to any feedback, questions or suggestions for it!

Thanks in advance
 
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Trackway

Member
Joined
22 Sep 2026
Messages
7
Location
Stirling
@Trackway

Hi

Really good. Very user friendly

Will there be an android app at all ?

Dave
Yes, I actually have an android app developed too however it turns out in the last 12/18 months Google have finally stepped up their 'quality gate' for their app store. I need 12 users to have it installed for 30 days via a testing link before I can publish it on the open app store. So if you or anyone else here would like to be one of the testers then please let me know.
 

zwk500

Veteran Member
Joined
20 Jan 2020
Messages
18,679
Location
Northampton
You need an option to filter off non-passenger services (or just get rid of them). And ideally a filter to isolate journeys between station pairs.

May I ask what sets this app apart from the normal Train operator apps or RTT? The simplicity seems to be aimed at casual users but then it includes all sort of additional data that will be meaningless to that user base.
 

Trackway

Member
Joined
22 Sep 2026
Messages
7
Location
Stirling
You need an option to filter off non-passenger services (or just get rid of them). And ideally a filter to isolate journeys between station pairs.

May I ask what sets this app apart from the normal Train operator apps or RTT? The simplicity seems to be aimed at casual users but then it includes all sort of additional data that will be meaningless to that user base.
Thanks, both are fair points.

I’m planning to add a way to filter out non-passenger services rather than remove them entirely, as I’d still like to keep that enthusiast detail available for people who want it. I think for some people they want to see that level of data.

On the station-pair point, there is actually something close to that already. If you save the stations you’re interested in, the My Trains option on a departure/arrival board filters the board down to services relevant to those saved stations. So, for example, if Newcastle, Edinburgh and Glasgow were saved, you could use My Trains on the Edinburgh board to narrow services down to the services relevant to Newcastle or Glasgow.

That said, if that wasn’t obvious, that’s useful feedback in itself.

In terms of what I’m aiming for more generally, I’m not really trying to replace either the TOC apps or RTT directly. The idea is to keep the main live information (what’s running, whether it’s late/cancelled, platform, calling points etc.) very easy to read, but still let people drill into more detailed operational information if they’re interested. As the data set grows there should be more and more opportunities to provide richer insights also.

One thing I've added recently was the rolling stock allocation. I don't think this is available elsewhere at the moment, and it lets you see what a unit has worked in the last 7 days, what it is working currently, what it is scheduled for the rest of the day and a quick look at it's calendar day 'performance'.

Ideally it sits somewhere between a normal passenger app and the much deeper railway-data tools, without forcing everyone to see all of that detail all of the time. But making it easily available and understandable to anyone who does.

That balance is still something I’m working out, so this is useful feedback. Please feel free to share anything else.
 

trainmania100

Established Member
Joined
8 Nov 2015
Messages
3,041
Location
Newhaven
One thing I've added recently was the rolling stock allocation. I don't think this is available elsewhere at the moment, and it lets you see what a unit has worked in the last 7 days
This is relatively new but I think it's on a few apps like train mapper.

The website looks good. There are a few tiploc codes that need changing eg
Victoria shows as Victoria (C) (Tps Indic. Only)
 

Zeremony

Member
Joined
28 May 2022
Messages
56
Location
London
I'd be happy to test on Android :)

I used it briefly on my way home and had a few quick thoughts.

One niggle: when I search for LST (Liverpool Street), it appears as the eighth result rather than the first.

Another thing: when a service is delayed, it would be nice if the expected time were displayed, not just "+XX min". Also, perhaps services could be sorted by expected time rather than scheduled time. For example, a late service could be stuck behind an on-time service heading to the same destination. The on-time service is ahead, yet the late one is displayed first because it's sorted by scheduled time rather than expected time. I was using the high-frequency Overground, and it was slightly confusing as there were a few late services.
 

Trackway

Member
Joined
22 Sep 2026
Messages
7
Location
Stirling
I'd be happy to test on Android :)

I used it briefly on my way home and had a few quick thoughts.

One niggle: when I search for LST (Liverpool Street), it appears as the eighth result rather than the first.

Another thing: when a service is delayed, it would be nice if the expected time were displayed, not just "+XX min". Also, perhaps services could be sorted by expected time rather than scheduled time. For example, a late service could be stuck behind an on-time service heading to the same destination. The on-time service is ahead, yet the late one is displayed first because it's sorted by scheduled time rather than expected time. I was using the high-frequency Overground, and it was slightly confusing as there were a few late services.
Thanks for the feedback! I’ve made a couple of changes based on this.

The search on web now prioritises the CRS, then the TIPLOC, before going on to try and match the station name. The apps already had this so it made sense to align them.

For delayed services now, I've kept the booked time visible, but show the latest expected/actual time directly underneath it in the main time column. I’ve kept the board ordered by booked time rather than moving rows around as forecasts change, as I think that keeps it easier to follow. This applies to arrivals as well as departures.

Let me know if it makes things a bit smoother.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==

This is relatively new but I think it's on a few apps like train mapper.

The website looks good. There are a few tiploc codes that need changing eg
Victoria shows as Victoria (C) (Tps Indic. Only)
Thanks for spotting this, it turned out to be a really useful one.

The issue was a bit deeper than just the wording. Some major stations, including Victoria, have multiple internal railway location codes for different platform groups/operational purposes. I was using the clean passenger-facing code for station search, but much of the actual timetable/live data was attached to those internal variants instead.

I’ve now fixed both sides so that the internal labels are mapped to clean passenger-facing station names where it’s safe to do so and station boards now group the equivalent location codes together, so places like Victoria, London Bridge, Waterloo, Vauxhall and Clapham Junction populate correctly rather than appearing empty or incomplete

The underlying railway identifiers are still kept intact for matching/data purposes, so this is just making the passenger-facing view behave properly.

Thanks again, this ended up uncovering a broader issue than I’d realised.
 
Last edited:

Zeremony

Member
Joined
28 May 2022
Messages
56
Location
London
Thanks for the changes!

I've been using it a few more times and I really like the "My Trains" feature. It's very useful.

I do have a few more suggestions though:
  • Being able to search/filter by preceding and/or following station
  • Being able to filter by operator
  • Possibly include the train length
There are also a few duplicate stations I've found, such as Farringdon and Farringdon EL, and Richmond and Richmond North London Line.

Also, I noticed that services which were partially cancelled are not displaying a cancellation reason.
 

MrJeeves

Established Member
Associate Staff
Senior Fares Advisor
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28 Aug 2015
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4,731
Location
Burgess Hill
I’ve been working on a train tracking website and app
You have, or Claude/<insert LLM here> has?

I'm guessing Claude by the comments like "The empty state is one muted line, never dominant" in the HTML, though.
 

trainmania100

Established Member
Joined
8 Nov 2015
Messages
3,041
Location
Newhaven
How do I understand this bar thing at the top?
 

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Trackway

Member
Joined
22 Sep 2026
Messages
7
Location
Stirling
How do I understand this bar thing at the top?
It’s meant to represent the calendar day for a single unit. Each block is a working that the unit is currently allocated to.

The muted blocks are workings that have already finished. Green means they completed on time, orange means they completed late. The brighter block is the working the unit is currently operating, and the empty blocks represent the remainder of the day.

You should be able to tap a block and jump straight to that working in the list below.

There’s also a ‘Changed Allocations’ section at the bottom which shows workings that were previously allocated to the unit but have since been superseded.

The allocation logic isn’t completely foolproof, as the source data can occasionally leave overlapping or stale allocations, but I tried to resolve those using the available TRUST and Darwin information.
 

Trainfan2019

Member
Joined
9 Aug 2019
Messages
530
Looks nice and clear from what I've seen when having a look around. Just a few points to ask you about, not criticism, just feedback...

What about freight services? I have regular freight and sometimes diverted freight services on my local line. It looks like the system only shows freight which is timetabled to briefly stop at a station, not passing (non-stopping) freight.

ECS stock movements. I sometimes get these passing through like diverted Caledonian Sleeper and Locomotive Services stock. Are there plans to include these?

I think the feature where you can see what routes and services a particular train has been allocated is great. I never knew that would be possible. Is there an option for searching by the train fleet number please?

I'd be happy to test on Android. Thanks.
 

Trackway

Member
Joined
22 Sep 2026
Messages
7
Location
Stirling
Hi all,

Apologies, it's been a couple of weeks since my last update but I thought I'd share a bit of progress.

Thanks again to everyone who's taken the time to try it and offer feedback. It's been really useful in identifying issues and shaping what I've been working on.

A few of the more recent improvements:
  • Live train information — Further refinements to how booked, expected and actual times are displayed, along with better handling of cancellations, diversions and short workings.
  • Station boards — Improvements to how different railway location codes are handled, which should help with the completeness and accuracy of boards at larger stations.
  • Search by time — You can now view station boards for a different time, whether that's 30 minutes ahead, an hour ahead or a specific time of your choosing. This is live on the web and should appear on iOS with the next version (awaiting Apple publishing)
  • Rolling stock allocations — Continued improvements to matching units with their workings, including historical and changed allocations. This is still very much a work in progress, particularly where the underlying data is incomplete.
  • Sharing — Direct links to station boards, individual trains and rolling stock pages can now be shared more easily on the web, with iOS to follow.
There's also been quite a bit of work behind the scenes improving performance and reliability.

On some of the other suggestions raised recently, I've not forgotten about better filtering for freight and ECS services, showing non-stopping movements, searching directly by unit number and making it easier to find trains between two stations. These are all things I'm considering as the functionality develops. I'd also be interested to know of any other use-cases or suggestions that you would find useful.

Android development is also progressing, and I appreciate those who've offered to help test it. I'll share more on that once it's ready for wider testing.

I'm still trying to find the right balance between providing straightforward live train information and the more detailed operational information that railway enthusiasts might find useful.

If anyone hasn't looked recently, it's at https://trackway.uk, with the iPhone app also available.

As always, feedback is very welcome, particularly if you spot anything that doesn't look right. There are still plenty of imperfections, but hopefully it's continuing to move in the right direction!

Thanks again
 

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