TrainLink

TrainLink is a multimodal rail information and ticketing platform that aggregates schedules, real-time updates, and fare information from multiple railway operators into a single interface. The service is designed to help travelers plan routes, book tickets, and receive live status for departures, arrivals, and platform changes.

Core components include trip planning, real-time train tracking, platform and delay alerts, offline maps, and fare comparison. It supports cross-operator itineraries, multi-leg journeys, and optimized transfers.

TrainLink relies on standardized transport data feeds such as GTFS and GTFS-realtime, NeTEx, and operator APIs. It adheres to privacy and accessibility guidelines and offers developer APIs for partner integrations.

Development began in the early 2010s as a collaboration among regional transit authorities and software developers. A beta program with select operators established core data feeds, and by the mid-2010s the service expanded to consumer mobile apps and web access across several markets.

Adoption and impact: TrainLink is used by millions of travelers and is integrated into many operator apps and regional journey planners. It has been credited with simplifying cross-border and cross-operator travel, improving schedule visibility, and reducing missed connections. Criticisms focus on data licensing costs, dependency on operator feeds, and occasional outages affecting real-time reliability; operators may also constrain features through licensing terms.

See also: public transit app, GTFS, GTFS-realtime, NeTEx.