Railways in the United Kingdom
|
Mapping the railways of the United Kingdom. | |
| Status | started |
|---|---|
United Kingdom Railways is a project to map all the mainline railways in the United Kingdom. There are related projects to map the London Underground, United Kingdom trams, and independent and minor Railways.
Progress
Most railway lines are in.
Things still work checking and needing doing.
- Adding details of the number of trackes (tracks=1, track=2) etc or adding multiple parallel tracks
- Stations layout (platforms, passages, steps etc)
- Relations for Services
- Relations for historic lines
- Relations for Network Rail operating section
Infrastructre
The following tags have GB-specific meanings:
ref=*: when used on railway tracks, it refers to the ELR (Engineer Line Reference) which can be found on the ground.ref:lor=*: the Line of Route which is used in timetable planning, and may be composed of different ELRs.ref:tiploc=*: the TIPLOC code of a location which exists for all timing points.ref:crs=*: the CRS code of a location, used for stations and other locations relevant for ticketing and operations.
Services

Railways are shown on most OpenStreetMap mapping layers alongside other information.
Stations
- Main article: United Kingdom railway stations
All currently operating UK mainline railway stations have been now mapped as nodes, according to a comparison of the list from Wikipedia. There is currently an effort to map the stations in more details, including the platforms and station buildings.
Train services
Please see Talk:United Kingdom railways for discussion over colour usage
Current operational train services (as distinct from historic services) should all be mapped as relations tagged as type=route and route=train. They should also be tagged as network=National Rail to specify the service is part of the National Rail network. This helps distinguish the more important services and aids sensible display by the OpenStreetBrowser renderer.
List of services
National Rail
Southeastern
Southeastern uses route names for all their services, which are shown on the service status page.
The following termini are for regular service patterns, trains may run to alternative termini during peak hours, early morning or late night.
| Name | From | To | type=route_master |
Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
High speed services (service=high_speed)
| |||||
| HS via Ashford | St Pancras | Dover Priory / Ramsgate / Margate | |||
| HS via Gravesend | St Pancras | Ramsgate / Maidstone West | |||
Mainline services (service=regional)
| |||||
| Sole Street | Victoria | Gillingham / Dover / Ramsgate | |||
| Maidstone East | Victoria | Maidstone East / Ashford | |||
| Paddock Wood | Charing Cross | Dover Priory / Ramsgate | |||
| Hastings | Charing Cross | Tunbridge Wells / Hastings | |||
| Medway Valley | Strood | Tonbridge | |||
| Sheerness | Sittingbourne | Sheerness-on-Sea | |||
Metro services (service=commuter)
| |||||
| Woolwich | Cannon Street | Dartford / Cannon Street | |||
| Bexleyheath | Victoria / Charing Cross / Cannon Street | Dartford / Cannon Street | |||
| Sidcup | Charing Cross | Dartford / Gravesend | |||
| Hayes | Charing Cross | Hayes | |||
| Grove Park | Charing Cross / Cannon Street | Orpington / Sevenoaks | |||
| Bromley South | Victoria | Orpington | |||
Thameslink
After the completion of Thameslink Programme, there are now 12 half-hourly routes in the whole Thameslink network giving a total of 24 tph through the core if the full network is implemented. A full network map can be found here and the full route descriptipon can be read here.
All routes are half-hourly unless otherwise specified.
ref=* |
From | To | type=route_master |
Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Regional services (with first class, service=regional)
| |||||
| TL1 | Bedford | Brighton | 6421836 |
All-day service | |
| TL2 | Bedford | Three Bridges (via Redhill) | 16151940 |
Evening service now starts from Luton; 1 tph extended to Horsham on Sunday | |
| TL3 | Bedford | East Grinstead | 16151939 |
Peak hour only service | |
| N/A | High peak hour only service, now withdrawn (become Southern London Bridge - Littlehampton service) | ||||
| TL5 | Peterborough | Horsham (via Redhill) | 17541418 |
All-day service; Sunday service 1 tph only and terminates at Kings Cross | |
| TL6 | Cambridge (fast from Stevenage) | Brighton | 17541310 |
All-day service, 1 tph in evenings and on Sundays | |
| N/A | The Kent section has never been materialised; now terminates at Kings Cross and become a Great Northern service | ||||
Suburban services (without first class, service=commuter)
| |||||
| TL8 | Welwyn Garden City (peak) / London Blackfriars (off-peak) | Sevenoaks | 6464333 |
All-day service | |
| TL9 | Luton (peak) / |
Orpington | 9898994 |
Planned as all-day service in the 2019 network but now operating peak only (from Luton in the morning, from Kentish Town in the evening) | |
| TL10 | Luton | Rainham | 15045727 |
Evening service and Sunday service start from Kentish Town | |
| TL11 | St Albans | Sutton (via Mitcham Junction) | 168327 |
Starts from Blackfriars on Sunday morning | |
| TL12 | St Albans | Sutton (via Wimbledon) | Starts from Luton on Sunday | ||
Great Northern
ref=* |
From | To | type=route_master |
Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Regional services (operated with class 387 or class 700, service=regional)
| |||||
| GN1 | London Kings Cross | Kings Lynn | |||
| GN2 | London Kings Cross | Cambridge | slow service | ||
| GN3 | London Kings Cross | Peterborough | Limited service | ||
Suburban services (operated with class 717, service=commuter)
| |||||
| GN4 | Moorgate | Stevenage | via Hertford North | ||
| GN5 | Moorgate | Welwyn Garden City | |||
Southern
The route codes are sourced from the GTR 2018 timetable consultation.
ref=* |
From | To | type=route_master |
Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mainline services (service=regional)
| |||||
| SN1 | London Victoria | Brighton | 1 |
morning / late night and Sundays only | |
| SN4.1 | London Victoria | East Grinstead | 11566470 |
||
| SN4.2 | London Bridge | Uckfield | 20971524 |
Sunday service starts from Oxted | |
| SN5.1 | London Victoria | Reigate | 6489645 |
||
| SN5.2 | Redhill | Tonbridge | 20978518 |
||
| SN6.1 | London Victoria | Portsmouth Harbour | 12200101 |
||
| SN6.2 | London Victoria | Southampton Central | will be cancelled from June 2024 | ||
| SN6.3 | London Victoria | Bognor Regis | split portion from SN6.1 / SN6.2 | ||
| SN6.4 | London Victoria | Littlehampton | 167474 |
via Hove | |
| SN7.1 | London Victoria | Eastbourne | 9967155 |
||
| SN7.2 | London Victoria | Ore | |||
| SN8.1 | Brighton | Hove | shuttle service | ||
| SN8.2 | Brighton | West Worthing | |||
| SN8.3 | Brighton | Portsmouth Harbour | |||
| SN8.4 | Brighton | Southampton Central | |||
| SN8.5 | Littlehampton | Bognor Regis | |||
| SN8.6 | Littlehampton | Portsmouth & Southsea | |||
| SN9.2 | Brighton | Seaford | |||
| SN9.3 | Brighton | Ore | |||
| SN9.4 | Eastbourne | Ashford International | |||
Suburban services (service=commuter)
| |||||
| SN2 | Mon-Sat: Sun: Watford Junction |
Mon-Sat: East Croydon Sun: Clapham Junction |
20971128 |
section north of Watford Junction permanently withdrawn after COVID | |
| SN3.1 | London Victoria | Mon-Sat: London Bridge Sun: |
20961934 |
via Crystal Palace, all day operation (Sunday trains terminated at Crystal Palace and returned as SN3.9 pre-COVID, but now operate full length to London Victoria replacing SN3.2) | |
| SN3.2 | London Victoria | West Croydon | 20961985 |
via Crystal Palace, Mon - Sat daytime only (Sunday operations operated pre-COVID but no longer exists now and replaced by the full length of SN3.1) | |
| SN3.3 | London Victoria | Epsom | N/A | via Mitcham Junction, originally all-day operation but now gone off-peak, with stops picked up by SN3.4 | |
| SN3.4 | London Victoria | Dorking / Horsham | 20968905 |
via Mitcham Junction, all day operation | |
| SN3.5 | London Victoria | Epsom Downs | 10003044 |
via Norbury, all day operation | |
| SN3.6 | London Bridge | Epsom | 10003045 |
express service, Mon-Sat only | |
| SN3.7 | London Bridge | Caterham / Tattenham Corner | 20969032 |
express service | |
| N/A | express service, peak hour only, withdrawn after COVID | ||||
| SN3.8 | London Bridge | Peak: Norwood Junction / Sutton |
20969056 |
via Sydenham, peak hour services to/from London start from Norwood Junction and end at Sutton, off-peak services no longer run post-COVID | |
| SN3.9 | London Bridge | Mon-Sat: Beckenham Junction |
20969071 |
via Tulse Hill, Sunday service no longer exists | |
| SN3.10 | London Bridge | Off-Peak: Caterham East Croydon |
20969111 |
via Norbury | |
| N/A | via Herne Hill and Wimbledon, returning as SN3.12, peak hour only, permanently withdrawn post-COVID | ||||
| SN3.12 | London Bridge | Sutton | 20969179 |
via Mitcham Junction, peak hour only, | |
South Western Railway
For SWR services, use "SW xx" as the ref where xx is the first 2 digits of the "headcode" in the timetable[1], still shown on the class 455 trains.
Use service=commuter for commuter services (served by red trains in SWT era), service=regional for regional services (served by blue trains in SWT era), and service=long_distance for Waterloo - Exeter / Weymouth services (served by white trains in SWT era).
ref=* |
From | To | type=route_master |
Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mainline services | |||||
| SW 62 / SW 63 | London Waterloo / Reading / Basingstoke | Salisbury / Yeovil Junction / Exeter St Davids | 9973389 |
West of England Line services, SW 62 for fast services between Basingstoke & Salisbury, SW 63 for slow services | |
| SW 91 / SW 92 / SW 94 | London Waterloo / Basingstoke / Winchester | Southampton / Bournemouth / Poole / Weymouth | 13193208 |
South West Main Line long-distance services, SW 91 for fast services between Southampton & Bournemouth, SW 92 for semi-fast and slow services, SW 94 for Southampton - Waterloo peak hour services | |
| SW 84 / SW 92 / SW 93 | London Waterloo / Winchester / Eastleigh | Portsmouth Harbour | 13445989 |
Eastleigh - Fareham Line services, SW 84 on weekdays, SW 92 on Sundays (combined with Poole trains), SW 93 for twice-daily slow services combined with Basingstoke suburban services | |
| SW 72 / SW 81 / SW 83 | London Waterloo | Haslemere / Portsmouth & Southsea / Portsmouth Harbour | 11582375 |
Portsmouth Direct Line services, SW 81 for fast services, SW 72 for weekday slow services to Portsmouth & Southsea, SW 83 for Sunday slow services to Portsmouth Harbour | |
| Suburban services | |||||
| SW 87 / SW 89 | London Waterloo | London Waterloo | via Hounslow, SW 87 for anti-clockwise services, SW 89 for clockwise services | ||
| SW 58 | London Waterloo | Windsor & Eton Riverside | 8862704 |
||
| SW 38 | London Waterloo | Reading | 8862245 |
||
| SW 13 | London Waterloo | Weybridge | 9679140 |
via Virginia Water | |
| SW 21 / SW 32 | London Waterloo | London Waterloo | 8863909 |
via Strawberry Hill, SW 21 for clockwise services, SW 32 for anti-clockwise services | |
| SW 24 / SW 47 | London Waterloo | Shepperton | 8864019 |
SW 24 via Kingston, SW 47 via Richmond | |
| SW 30 | London Waterloo | Hampton Court | 8609805 |
||
| SW 10 | London Waterloo | Woking | Monday - Saturday service (replaced with SW 75 on Sunday) | ||
| SW 64 | London Waterloo | Basingstoke | |||
| SW 51 | London Waterloo | Alton | 11582318 |
||
| SW 75 | London Waterloo | Guildford | Sunday service, via Woking | ||
| SW 42 | London Waterloo | Guildford | 8618229 |
via Cobham & Stoke D'Abernon | |
| SW 16 | London Waterloo | Guildford | 8607835 |
via Bookham | |
| SW 17 | London Waterloo | Dorking | 8607835 |
||
| non-London local services | |||||
| SW 45 | Salisbury | Romsey | 172798 |
via Southampton Central & Chandlers Ford | |
| SW 97 | Brockenhurst | Lymington Pier | 13370641 |
Lymington Flyer | |
| SW 75 | Southampton Central | Portsmouth & Southsea | 2239422 |
Stopping services - Fast services are provided by GWR Portsmouth - Cardiff route | |
| SW 29 | Guildford | Farnham | 11582245 |
Ends at Farnham on Mon - Sat, Ascot on Sun | |
| SW 28 | Ascot | Aldershot | 11582240 |
||
London Overground
Elizabeth line
See Elizabeth line
Eurostar
Lines
See List of UK railway lines for names of railway lines.
New Lines (Proposed and Under Construction)
Sources
The data can come from GPS traces submitted to OpenStreetMap (try searching the traces page for train, railway or rail), or from NPE Maps or landsat imagery. When tracing from NPE/landsat, do not use copyright sources to figure out if the line is still there or not. Instead, either use local knowledge, or other compatible map sources such as the OS Opendata
Surveying by train
Trains known to permit GPS reception
Unless otherwise specified, you'll need your GPS to be by the window on these trains to get a good lock.
- Turbostars (170/168), Turbos (165/166), Sprinters (15x), Pacers (14x) - used on non-electrified regional routes.
- Wessex Electrics (442)
- Slamdoor electric
- High Speed Train ('InterCity 125', 43)
- Great Western Adelante (180)
- Eurostar
- Electrostar classes 357/375/376/377/378/387
- DLR trains - NaviGPS users need to stand by the door, with the GPS horizontal, just above the bottom of the window
- Underground trains (tested on sub-surface and tube) - only when they can see the sky though!
- Caledonian Sleeper and other Mk2/Mk3 hauled stock
- 'InterCity 225', BR Mark 4 carriages
- Scotrail 'Sprinter' - depending on GPS unit (156/158).
- Desiro classes 350/360/444/450
- Desiro City classes 700/707/717 - reception only possible close to the window
Trains known not to permit GPS reception
- Voyager (220/221)
- MML Meridians (222)
- Pendolino (390) - rumoured that the vestibule windows may be ok
- Eurotunnel enclosed shuttle trains, though freight shuttles may work outside the tunnel.
