5
votes
Europe train timetable app
Hi Tilerinos!
Is there an app that has most or all of the train timetables across Europe? When I was in the UK on my last trip, I found Train Times. It looks like the app was entirely redesigned since I used it, but at first glance it seems similar. I would like a similar app for Europe:
- Simple with no bloat (I don’t need the app to buy tickets, in fact, I would prefer if it couldn’t)
- Be able to look up a station and view all departing and arriving trains, no matter the destination
- Have live updates for delays and cancellations
- Reasonably priced subscription is fine (and expected because of the delay and cancellation info)
- Preferably not associated with any particular train company
- Covers most of Europe (although an app for just France, or specific countries, would also be appreciated)
Anyone here know of an app like that? I know it’s a big ask, but I am hoping some indie developer has made a nice app like this. Thanks!
Nothing I know of which does everything you want.
https://www.interrail.eu/en/plan-your-trip/interrail-timetable#/
https://www.thetrainline.com/en-us
https://int.bahn.de/en is excellent for route planning, also international, even if you can only buy tickets if either the start or the end station is in Germany.
I usually book with the rail companies directly, unless it's something simple as a trip from Germany to Paris or London, then DB can sell them.
Seconding Trainline - from a practical point of view it’s always given me good information, easily, and got me where I needed to be. It also makes sense to me that it’s a pretty user friendly app, because there’s always the fallback of going to the train operators directly so it has to offer something to set itself apart - and in this case that’s a nice unified interface across companies and countries.
But it also doesn’t meet @Weldawadyathink’s first request, so maybe there’s a preference or requirement there that doesn’t match my own? It’s very much a ticket buying app, but one I’m happy enough using since that’s given them the impetus to work around all of the mutually incompatible API headaches and edge cases and the rest - I’m not sure I’d bet on something like Train Times existing as a smaller indie dev product when it’s scaled up across borders and the data feed doesn’t already exist in a nice unified way.
Thanks for the info! I have train line downloaded, but I hadn’t checked it out yet. I’ll definitely be using it for cross shopping, but, as you mentioned, it doesn’t quite fit what I am looking for.
I want something geared more at unplanned travel. When I was in the UK, I would just look at the train schedule, see what trains were departing soon, and hop on one. Train line and similar apps seem more focused on wanting to get somewhere specific. That’s definitely useful, but doesn’t fill the same need.
For example, we were in Bath and had a half day to kill. We went to Bristol just because there was a train headed that way. Bristol wasn’t one of the cities that we had previously thought of to visit, so it wasn’t on our radar. We ended up having a fantastic time, but we wouldn’t have even known the train existed if we were using something like train line.
Bristol is great and was also a surprise for me! Recommended! (now if they only would get rid of that '70s highway monster...)
(not chatting about trains anymore)
That makes total sense! Sounds like you’re pretty much looking for Skyscanner’s “anywhere” destination, but trains rather than planes.
Interestingly I just tried searching with a blank destination on Trainline and the first error suggests it should be supported: “To view all departing trains, please choose a specific station”, but changing the origin from “London (Any)” to a specific station lets the search run and then just gives a generic response error.
Citymapper is possibly useful here? Definitely primarily a Google Maps competitor, but it will give live departures if you tap on a station rather than entering origin/destination. The downside is that they only do specific cities (competing with Google on quality and local knowledge, because they’d never be able to compete on scale), so if it’s not offered where you are then you’re out of luck.
I usually use the Interrail app, combined with the app of the local operator. I use Interrail to look up the trajectory: I find it gives consistently the best connections, and outperforms e.g. Rome2Rio. When I've found an itinerary, I use the app of the operator to check delays and cancellations, and to buy the ticket. I don't have any bad experiences with the several operators I have used.
For France that would be SNCF.
And tangentially related: a wealth of information on train travel in Europe (and worldwide) can be found on https://www.seat61.com/
What's wrong with them? They are the one operating the line, so I would trust them to have the most accurate updates about delays and all.
If an app exists that works well, I’m not particularly against it. In general, apps for specific companies don’t seem to work well, and may not show information about other companies. That might be a US centric perspective; I would love to be proven wrong.
I just don’t want to have to check a bunch of different apps to find all my options. Functionally I would just like an app version of the arrivals and departures board that is displayed at the stations.
http://www.ns.nl for the dutch railways.
There also is https://9292.nl which does all public transport.
Edit: as a bit of extra information, it likely will be difficult to find one app for everything. The ones you will find will focus on international trains mostly and will be light on inner country rail connections.
In the past I have found that google maps works fairly well as well for some countries, but it is a bit of a tossup. It will work fairly well in The Netherlands as well though as it has access to the same APIs as the apps I already mentioned.
I’d go with local train company apps/websites for each country. If you plan an international route, check it from website of both countries train provider, sometimes one of them can be cheaper.
Google maps tend to work most of the time, but in some countries do not reflect recently changed timetable / do not handle delays/platform (changes) well. It might be useful to get an overview of what you want to use, and then checking with the local companies.
There are some private companies worth checking, namely regiojet. They operate trains and busses across multiple countries and tend to be quite cheap.
I haven’t tried it myself but I heard the Swiss train app is decent to good for European rail. While I can’t vouch for that at all, nor check if it fits your criteria , it may be worthwhile to check it out.
While the SBB app can plan you a journey across Europe (I tried Marseille - > Kraków, it autocompleted both cities successfully and gave a a credible plan), it won't give you update about the state of the lines (delay and cancellation) outside of Switzerland.
You can have a timetable of all the outgoing train (and in Switzerland, buses , metro and funicular), which is a feature I didn't know existed. (thanks Weldawadyathink!). No arriving trains though.
If you are in Switzerland there's also a plan of the train stations (and how to move if you are changing trains), lgow busy it your train, wheres the 1st class, 2nd class, kids, restaurant and bicycle wagon.