Train Schedules Y Paths

[Legolash2o]

Hi everyone,

How do you tell which Y paths are related to each other? Do they share the same headcode, service codes, start/end dates, schedules start time/location, or end time/location?

The feeds that are freely available don't always have a headcode, which makes it more difficult.

 

[zwk500]

The only definite way is to check for places where their schedules are in the same place at the same time (or very close to it).

It's perfectly possible for Y paths to have completely different characteristics apart from the extremely congested section where they've been put on top of each other to keep the FOC's options open.
Headcodes can be the same, closely related, or utterly different depending on where the train is going. Service codes will change if the 2 paths are part of different flows/cost centres.

Origins and destinations are a good guide, but it is entirely possible for a Y path to run, say, Acton-Newhaven and Wembley-Grain. They'd only be Y paths from Mitre Bridge junction to Latchmere junction, would likely have different service codes and probably would have unrelated headcodes.

 

[Legolash2o]

Thanks for the response. I've done some queries where I can see trains starting at the same location and the same time but I suppose that can be true for any part for the journey?

Thanks again.

 

[zwk500]

Thanks for the response. I've done some queries where I can see trains starting at the same location and the same time but I suppose that can be true for any part for the journey?

Thanks again.

No worries

You're quite right, Y paths can share the path at any point during their journey. In theory, they only need to share the path at one junction/station, although once you've started sharing a path it's much better to keep them together as long as you can.

A guide on headcodes: If the Y paths have a common origin and different destinations, they will often have sequential 2-digit numbers in the 2nd half of the headcodes. This is not hard-and-fast by any means, if there would be a headcode conflict on 1 path it'll change. If Y paths have separate origins and a common destination they may well run with the same 2-digit number in the 2nd half. Y paths that only share an intermediate part of the path will likely not have related headcodes except by accident.

May I ask what your interest in Y paths is?

 

[Legolash2o]

Thanks again for the reply.

I'll just check schedules which share the same time/location at any point of the journey so that I can group them. Hopefully that'll be enough.

I'm doing research in rail delays and predicting reactionary/knock-on delays. I need to figure out how much of an impact Y paths will have.