In villegar/trainR: An Interface to the National Rail Enquiries Systems

knitr::opts_chunk$set(
  collapse = TRUE,
  comment = "#>",
  fig.path = "man/figures/README-",
  out.width = "100%"
)
knitr::opts_knit$set(
  knitr.kable.NA = ''
)
`%>%` <- magrittr::`%>%`

trainR: An Interface to the National Rail Enquiries Systems

r badger::badge_cran_release("trainR", "black") r badger::badge_devel("villegar/trainR", "yellow") r badger::badge_github_actions("villegar/trainR") r badger::badge_doi("10.5281/zenodo.4506590", "black")

The goal of trainR is to provide a simple interface to the National Rail Enquiries (NRE) systems. There are few data feeds available, the simplest of them is Darwin, which provides real-time arrival and departure predictions, platform numbers, delay estimates, schedule changes and cancellations. Other data feeds provide historical data, Historic Service Performance (HSP), and much more. trainR simplifies the data retrieval, so that the users can focus on their analyses. For more details visit https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/46391.aspx.

Installation

You can install the released version of trainR from CRAN with:

install.packages("trainR")

And the development version from GitHub with:

# install.packages("devtools")
devtools::install_github("villegar/trainR", "dev")

Setup

Before starting to retrieve data from the NRE data feeds, you must obtain an access token. Visit the following website for details: http://realtime.nationalrail.co.uk/OpenLDBWSRegistration/

Once you have received your access token, you have to store it in the .Renviron file; this can be done by executing the following command:

trainR::set_token()

This will open a text file, .Renviron, add a new line at the end (as follows):

NRE="<token>"

<token> should be replaced by the access token obtained from the NRE. Save the changes and restart your R session.

You only need to perform this configuration once.

Example

Load trainR to your working environment:

library(trainR)

Arrivals board at Reading Station (RDG)

Generated on r lubridate::now().

rdg_arr <- trainR::GetArrBoardWithDetailsRequest("RDG")
print(rdg_arr)

rdg_arr %>%
  dplyr::select(-c(5:6)) %>% # Drop the lists of train and bus services
  knitr::kable()
if (!is.na(rdg_arr %>% dplyr::select(5) %>% .[[1]]))
  rdg_arr %>%
    dplyr::select(5) %>%
    .[[1]] %>%
    .[[1]] %>%
    dplyr::select(-previousCallingPoints) %>%
    knitr::kable(caption = "Train services")
if (!is.na(rdg_arr %>% dplyr::select(6) %>% .[[1]]))
  rdg_arr %>%
    dplyr::select(6) %>%
    .[[1]] %>%
    .[[1]] %>%
    dplyr::select(-previousCallingPoints) %>%
    knitr::kable(caption = "Bus services")

rdg_arr %>%
  dplyr::select(5) %>%
  .[[1]] %>%
  .[[1]] %>%
  dplyr::select(previousCallingPoints) %>%
  .[[1]] %>%
  knitr::kable(caption = "Train services")

Departures board at Reading Station (RDG)

Generated on r lubridate::now().

rdg_dep <- trainR::GetDepBoardWithDetailsRequest("RDG")
print(rdg_dep)

Add some colour (Terminal output only)

Now you can add some colour to the service boards, based on their expected time:

• "On time" and early services: green
• "Delayed" and delayed by 5 or less minutes: yellow
• "Cancelled" and delayed over 5 minutes: red

Without colours:

trainR::GetDepBoardWithDetailsRequest("CRE")

With colours:

options(show_colours = TRUE)
trainR::GetDepBoardWithDetailsRequest("CRE")

# rdg_dep <- trainR::GetArrDepBoardWithDetailsRequest("rdg_dep") %>%
#   dplyr::mutate(origin = purrr::transpose(.$origin) %>%
#                   purrr::pluck("crs") %>%
#                   purrr::map_chr(as.character),
#                 destination = purrr::transpose(.$destination) %>%
#                   purrr::pluck("crs") %>%
#                   purrr::map_chr(as.character))
# 
# rdg_dep %>%
#   dplyr::select(-11) %>% # Drop the calling points list
#   knitr::kable()

# names(rdg_dep$previousCallingPoints) <- rdg_dep$serviceID
# trainR::get_calling_points(rdg_dep$previousCallingPoints) %>%
#   dplyr::left_join(rdg_dep[, c(7, 9, 10)], by = "serviceID") %>%
#   dplyr::select(-c("timestamp")) %>%
#   knitr::kable()

Get services without details (calling points)

These requests are useful if the calling points are not relevant for your analyses, visualisations, etc.

Arrivals board at Reading Station (RDG)

Generated on r lubridate::now().

rdg_arr <- trainR::GetArrBoardRequest("RDG")
print(rdg_arr)

Departures board at Reading Station (RDG)

Generated on r lubridate::now().

rdg_dep <- trainR::GetDepBoardRequest("RDG")
print(rdg_dep)

Acknowledgements

Access to the data feeds it is only possible thanks to the National Rail Enquiries. This package is just a tool to facilitate access to the data. For more information about the available data feeds, visit https://www.nationalrail.co.uk.

Code of Conduct

Please note that the trainR package is released with a Contributor Code of Conduct. By contributing to this project, you agree to abide by its terms.

villegar/trainR documentation built on Aug. 14, 2021, 10:23 p.m.