National Rail UK Live Train Board Scraper

Scrape live departure and arrival boards from nationalrail.co.uk. Returns real-time service data — operator, scheduled and actual times, delays, platform assignments, cancellation reasons, and crowding levels — for any UK station by CRS code.

Every UK train operator is covered. GWR, LNER, Avanti West Coast, ScotRail, Southern, Thameslink, Transport for Wales, CrossCountry, Northern, the Elizabeth line — if it runs through a UK station, it appears here.

National Rail UK Scraper Features

• Extracts live departure and arrival boards by station CRS code (3-letter identifier)
• Returns real-time delay data — scheduled vs. estimated vs. actual times, delay in minutes
• Captures cancellation reasons — not just the flag, but the text description when available
• Covers all UK operators — 20+ train operating companies in a single run
• Includes platform assignments when announced
• Returns crowding level per service (Unknown, Level1, Level2, Level3)
• Supports multiple stations in one run — pass a list of CRS codes, get boards for all of them
• Pure HTML scraping — no browser required, no JavaScript execution overhead

What Can You Do With UK National Rail Data?

• Travel app developers — build live board displays, delay notifications, or journey planners on top of real-time NRE data
• Data researchers — track cancellation rates, delay patterns, and operator performance over time
• MaaS platforms — integrate UK rail data into multi-modal journey planning
• Capacity planners — monitor loading levels (crowding indicators) across routes
• Journalists and analysts — pull operator-level delay and cancellation data for reporting

How It Works

1. Configure your stations. Provide one or more 3-letter CRS codes — the standard identifier for every UK rail station. King's Cross is KGX, Edinburgh Waverley is EDB, Manchester Piccadilly is MAN.
2. Choose a board mode. Departure board shows next trains leaving from each station. Arrival board shows incoming services.
3. Run it. The scraper fetches each station's live board from nationalrail.co.uk and parses the SSR-embedded service data. No waiting on JavaScript rendering.
4. Get structured JSON. Each service is a flat record with all timing fields, operator info, status, and platform — ready to pipe into a database, dashboard, or API.

National Rail UK Scraper Input

{
    "mode": "departure_board",
    "stations": ["KGX", "EDB", "MAN"],
    "maxItems": 30,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true,
        "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"],
        "countryCode": "GB"
    }
}

Field	Type	Default	Description
mode	string	departure_board	departure_board or arrival_board
stations	array	["KGX", "EDB"]	List of 3-letter CRS station codes
maxItems	integer	10	Maximum total records to return across all stations
proxyConfiguration	object	UK Residential	Proxy settings — UK residential recommended

Finding CRS codes: Every UK station has a 3-letter CRS code. National Rail publishes the full list at nationalrail.co.uk/stations. Common examples: LDN (London Victoria), EUS (London Euston), BHM (Birmingham New Street), GLC (Glasgow Central), LVP (Liverpool Lime Street).

National Rail UK Scraper Output Fields

Each service record looks like this:

{
    "station_name": "London Kings Cross",
    "station_crs": "KGX",
    "board_type": "departures",
    "rid": "202605116741058",
    "train_uid": "C41058",
    "operator": "London North Eastern Railway",
    "operator_code": "GR",
    "origin_station": "London Kings Cross",
    "origin_crs": "KGX",
    "destination_station": "Edinburgh",
    "destination_crs": "EDB",
    "scheduled_departure": "2026-05-11T09:30:00+01:00",
    "estimated_departure": null,
    "actual_departure": "2026-05-11T09:29:46+01:00",
    "scheduled_arrival": "2026-05-11T13:38:00+01:00",
    "estimated_arrival": "2026-05-11T13:38:00+01:00",
    "actual_arrival": null,
    "delay_minutes": 0,
    "platform": "8",
    "status": "OnTime",
    "cancelled": false,
    "cancellation_reason": null,
    "stops_count": 3,
    "service_category": "ExpressPassengerTrain",
    "loading_level": "Unknown",
    "scraped_at": "2026-05-11T08:31:00.000Z"
}

Field	Type	Description
station_name	string	Name of the queried station
station_crs	string	3-letter CRS code of the queried station
board_type	string	departures or arrivals
rid	string	Run ID — unique service identifier for this running
train_uid	string	Train UID (timetable identifier)
operator	string	Train operating company name
operator_code	string	2-letter TOC code (GR, GW, SR, etc.)
origin_station	string	Origin station name
origin_crs	string	Origin station CRS code
destination_station	string	Destination station name
destination_crs	string	Destination station CRS code
scheduled_departure	string	Scheduled departure (ISO 8601)
estimated_departure	string	Real-time estimated departure, null if unavailable
actual_departure	string	Actual departure time, null if not yet departed
scheduled_arrival	string	Scheduled arrival at destination (ISO 8601)
estimated_arrival	string	Real-time estimated arrival, null if unavailable
actual_arrival	string	Actual arrival time, null if not yet arrived
delay_minutes	number	Delay in minutes (positive = late), null if no real-time data
platform	string	Platform number or letter, null if not yet announced
status	string	OnTime, Late, Cancelled, Arrived, or Departed
cancelled	boolean	True if the service is cancelled
cancellation_reason	string	Reason text when cancelled, null otherwise
stops_count	number	Number of intermediate stops
service_category	string	ExpressPassengerTrain or PassengerTrain
loading_level	string	Crowding: Unknown, Level1 (quiet), Level2 (busy), Level3 (very busy)
scraped_at	string	ISO 8601 timestamp when this record was collected

🔍 FAQ

How do I scrape UK train departure boards?

National Rail UK Scraper takes a list of CRS station codes and fetches the live departure or arrival board for each one. Pass stations: ["KGX"] and mode: "departure_board" to get the next departures from London King's Cross. The result is structured JSON — no screen-scraping glue required.

How much does National Rail UK Scraper cost?

The actor charges $0.10 per run start plus $0.0015 per service record returned. A run fetching 20 records from two stations costs roughly $0.13.

Does National Rail UK Scraper need proxies?

Yes. UK residential proxy is required for reliable results from nationalrail.co.uk. The default proxy configuration (RESIDENTIAL, country GB) is pre-filled — leave it as-is unless you're testing at low volume.

What is a CRS code?

CRS stands for Computer Reservation System — it's the 3-letter station identifier used across UK rail. Every station in the National Rail network has one. King's Cross is KGX, Edinburgh Waverley is EDB, Manchester Piccadilly is MAN, Birmingham New Street is BHM. National Rail publishes the full list on their website.

Can I get historical timetable data?

National Rail UK Scraper returns live board data — the next ~10 services from each station at the time of the run. It doesn't cover historical schedules or full 24-hour timetables. For historical data, the OpenTrainTimes API or the Darwin/LDBWS feeds (commercial licensing required) are the appropriate sources.

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Need More Features?

Need custom filters, additional stations, or a different data source? File an issue or get in touch.

Why Use National Rail UK Scraper?

• Zero competition — first UK rail live board scraper on Apify, which covers the entire national network through a single source
• Clean output — flat JSON records with consistent field names, ISO 8601 timestamps, and explicit null fields so your pipeline doesn't guess
• All operators — every UK TOC in one place: LNER, GWR, Avanti, ScotRail, TfW, CrossCountry, Northern, Southern, Southeastern, and more