Schedules - question from the UK

[Red Leicester]

Hello All,

 

I'm based in the UK and actually work as a timetable (schedules) planner on the railway and have a question regarding how things are done over there. For the UK national rail network we produce a National Rail Timetable (also known the public book) which covers all services in the UK and is available for the public to download. Operating Companies produce their own slimmed down version for specific routes which are much easier to read.

 

As a Planner though I plan what is called the Working Timetable, this is the one for industry use and provides drivers and signallers much more detail about the running of the train, headcodes, lines to run over, arrival and departure times at each station, passing times at key junctions (where a station may not actually exist and the train does not stop), platforming details and empty coaching stock moves to / from the depot.

 

London Underground produce a Working Timetable for drivers but not a public timetable (bar first and last trains) as the service is always frequent.

 

So my question... Does something similar exist over there on the Subway, LIRR etc?

 

Thanks!

[Alex L.]

In Subways, there are public timetables - available via http://mta.info - which show terminal departure/arrival times, departure times at key stations and headways (time between trains) for most trains.

 

The in-house employee timetable lists all of the above, plus scheduled put-ins/lay-ups, more intermediate stations and junctions, scheduled hold times and changes in routing that occur during the day.

[Kamen Rider]

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[Amtrak7]

Employee timetables on the LIRR and other true railroads are much more than the simple public timetable. In the USA, employee schedules are also line-specific rule books. They list speed limits, grade crossings, specific restrictions, and other little exemptions to the main rule book. If you want an example I have a recent Amtrak employee timetable. (that I can't post publicly)

[Red Leicester]

Thanks for the info, it sounds very much like it's done the same as over here. As someone pointed out that's the theory, in practice as soon as the first incident happens the timetable is in bits and pieces on the floor!

 

We have a separate set of working timetables for freight too, except we have freight that's booked to run in a booked path and freight that is planned on a short term basis, so operators ask for a train on Monday that will run on a Wednesday, that sort of stuff never makes the timetable.

 

Interestingly London Underground trains make it into the heavy rail working timetable where they run over Network Rail lines.

[KGTeleport]

Interestingly London Underground trains make it into the heavy rail working timetable where they run over Network Rail lines.

 

Does that still include the bit of the District Line from East Putney to Wimbledon that sees very few (no?) NR trains? Or is that now a London Underground WTT with an occasional NR train in it?

[Red Leicester]

Hello,

 

Sorry for the delay in replying but I've been away on leave.

 

To answer you KGTeleport the answer is both! They go into the heavy rail WTT because Network Rail still signal the East Putney - Wimbledon line but don't maintain it. Likewise any non-London Underground trains using the section go into the District Line WTT.

 

For the record there are at least two South West Trains (non-underground) passenger services a day that use the Wimbledon - East Putney section at the start and end of each day. These are "route retainers" for drivers so that they have the chance to go over the route, this must be done every few months so that the drivers and guards still "sign" the route in the event of a diversion being required. There are also a large number of empty coaching stock moves that use this line as well.

 

RL