Where's my platform?

What's going on?

The GB rail industry uses a system called Darwin to provide real-time information about trains, including platform numbers, delays, cancellations, diversions and more. Typically this information is detected automatically when trains enter or exit stations, but at larger stations platform information is artificially hidden until a predetermined "boarding time".

At these stations, it is up to staff to unhide the platform information when it is time to board a service, and the local customer information system (CIS) will then update the platform information on the station displays, and within the wider Darwin system so that third parties can use and display the details to users.

Frustratingly, some stations are failing to connect to the wider Darwin system, meaning that when these changes are made, they are not propagated to users of the open data.

What does that mean for me?

Do you track your train with an app? Or using nationalrail.co.uk? If so, you won't be seeing platform numbers for your trains. If you're in a rush, that could be the difference between making and missing your train.

And, for the open data community, it means that we can't make the most of our projects.

The data

This table shows the London stations and what proportion of recent services had platform data associated with them, excluding cancelled services and services which have not yet departed.