HAFAS Print is getting Great Britain's Electronic National Rail Timetable in shape

The British railway infrastructure operator Network Rail is getting its timetables into shape with the help of the software HAFAS Print. The Electronic National Rail Timetable (eNRT) is available on the Internet. The timetable information system HAFAS from the Hanoverian software company HaCon makes sure that the National Rail Timetable (NRT) – the British timetable – is configured simply and can be filled with the current timetable data with just a few clicks.

eNRT-Fahrplantabellen als PDF zum Download
Since May, British passengers can download the timetables from the UK Rail Timetable (NRT) as a PDF on the Internet. Network Rail is using the software HAFAS Print for the first time to create the tables. HAFAS Print is a standard product that can be customised to the needs of individual customers. The basis for the customising is the timetable data from the transport company: in this case HAFAS Print uses the database of the Train Planning System (TPS). The system for constructing the timetable and capacity management – also from HaCon – is being used by Network Rail since the May 2010 timetable. For the construction of the current winter timetable 2010/2011 it has successfully been deployed for the second time.

TPS meets HAFAS
HaCon has created a connection between both TPS and HAFAS for its British customer using a HAFAS gateway, so that the timetable data from the TPS database are fed directly into HAFAS Print and available for the calculation of the tables. Network Rail's employees can additionally record data on the web using the HAFAS Information Manager, HIM. They can also set and edit their preferences for the representation of the timetables. They can influence the order of the stops or the design of the tables, as well as the titles, symbols or highlighting. HAFAS Print2Web is used to fill the configured timetables with concrete data, i.e. timetable data. The result is loaded into a desktop publishing programme, such as Adobe Framemaker. This allows the user to make any additional adjustments manually before creating a PDF. Later updates to the timetable data can thus be integrated into the configured form with just a few clicks.

Network Rail has managed the entire British railway infrastructure since October 2002. Besides the tracks, this includes the signals, tunnels, bridges and a few of the largest train stations in Great Britain.

Extract of the Electronic National Rail Timetable (eNRT) at Network Rail:
www.networkrail.co.uk

Network Rail: Example of eNRT