Railway codes and other data (original) (raw)

Additional information is always gratefully received, whether entirely new records (particularly historical records) or information to fill in gaps or correct errors, via the contact link under the Miscellaneous entry in the navigation bar above. Thank you.

“[data] from Railway Codes, of course. Where else?„

— A satisfied corporate user

The British railway is, for a variety of reasons, awash with acronyms and codes of various kinds. This web site sets out to explain some of these related to the infrastructure and to operational issues. Not included in this site are abbreviations of company names or information about trains themselves: this information is available elsewhere and the editor's main interest lies in infrastructure.

Taking Aspley Guise as an example, the codes BBM and MD140 apply to the route on which Aspley Guise station sits, and APG, 138000, ASPLEYG, and 62051 (ASPLY GSE) apply to the station itself. All of these codes mean different things, and are used in different ways. This site helps to explain these codes.

Also on this site are lists of pseudo-legal data. The first is a list of British railway services introduced under special legislation. This legislation allows operators to consider certain services as 'experimental' and withdraw them if considered necessary without going through full closure procedures. The second is a list of licences and licence exemptions issued by the Office of the Rail Regulator. There is a list of routes designated as community rail partnerships, and finally a table of franchises with associated dates.

Information about other assets such as signal box prefix codes, electrification mast codes, stations, depots and tunnel lengths is also available here.

For more information about day to day changes with Britain's railway infrastructure, please refer to the infrastructure section of the Railway Observer.

Most of the information contained in this site has taken many hours and letters to different companies to compile: it is hoped that you, the reader, will find it helpful to shed light on some of the codes found in railway documents. The records contained in this site are as complete as possible. If you are able to add to the data, please contact the editor.

Please feel free to quote this site. However, please credit it as your source. Feel free to add a link on your website to here.

The use of a reliable host and dedicated domain name is courtesy of a generous supporter, to whom the editor is indebted.

Identify this! last update 14 January 2025

Can you help the editor identify some old photographs? These are shown here; page updated occasionally.

Wanted

Railway uniform neck ties, specifically:

• South Western Railway (coloured stripe variety)
• Transport for Wales (black 'launch' variety with single logo)
• Grand Central (orange variety)
• Southeastern High Speed
• Southeastern (latest variety with pale blue lower part)
• GWR (gold or silver variety)
• DB Cargo
• c2c
• Heathrow Express (any variety)
• DRS
• Freightliner (any post-privatisation variety)
• Merseyrail (any striped variety)
• Caledonian Sleeper
• Nottingham Express Transit
• Sheffield Supertram
• Edinburgh trams
• Blackpool trams ('wave' logo variety)
• Lumo (if such exists)
• GTR (any sub-brand except Thameslink)
• London Overground (wide orange band variety)

Reasonable costs paid: please contact the editor if you can help. Thank you.

Additionally, the editor has two uniform ties that are unidentified, shown here. Do you know which organisation issued them?

These pages are used by in alphabetical order:

Now over 120 corporate users external links open in new tab

1. Advenza Freight former freight forwarder
2. Aecom consultancy formerly known as Scott Wilson and URS
3. AGH Engineering electrical and mechanical consultants
4. Alphatek Hyperformance Coatings rail coatings
5. Amey infrastructure services/consultancy
6. Amtrain Midlands staff training and screening
7. Arcadis consultancy
8. Arriva Trains Wales former passenger train operating company
9. Arup consultancy
10. Aspin Foundations former earthworks contractor
11. Association of Community Rail Partnerships government/pressure association
12. Atkins consultancy
13. Babcock Rail infrastructure services
14. Balfour Beatty Rail Projects infrastructure services
15. BAM Nuttall construction contractor
16. Barry Doe independent consultant
17. Blue Cube Travel travel management
18. Blue Tree Acoustics energy and acoustic consultant
19. Bob Wilkes Railways railway operating consultants
20. course tutor at Bromley Adult Education Centre education establishment
21. Buckingham Group infrastructure contractor
22. Carillion former infrastructure contractor
23. Chiltern Railways passenger train operating company
24. Coffey ground engineering/geotechnical
25. Cogitare infrastructure optimisation consultancy
26. Coombes vegetation management
27. Cornerstone Information Systems travel industry IT solutions
28. Costain infrastructure contractor
29. Cotswold Rail former charter train and freight train operator
30. cpc Project Services systems management
31. Credo strategy consultant
32. Crossrail infrastructure operator
33. Cubic Transportation Systems consultancy formerly known as Serco Integrated Transport
34. Datasys software solutions consultant, now part of Tracsis
35. Delta Rail consultant
36. Department for Transport government department
37. East Midlands Trains former passenger train operating company
38. Emmanuel Richard Consultants yield management consultancy
39. ESL engineering and construction contractor
40. Faithful+Gould construction project and cost management consultancy
41. FENS Information Limited information services
42. Filter Worldwide IT solutions
43. Fone Alarm Installations customer information and monitoring
44. Frankham Group multidisciplinary engineering consultancy
45. Galliford Try infrastructure contractor
46. GeoFurlong infrastructure consultant
47. Graffica HERMES simulation software
48. Govia Thameslink Railway passenger train operating company
49. Great Western Railway passenger train operating company
50. Haigh Rail infrastructure contractor
51. HRS Services environmental services
52. High Speed 2 infrastructure owner
53. Hyder Consulting consultant
54. Infotec customer information system designer/supplier
55. ISC Best Practice CAD models for listed building and railway consents
56. JCP consulting engineers
57. Jacobs consultancy formerly known as Ch2MHill, formerly known as Halcrow
58. J Murphy & Sons infrastructure contractor
59. JNP Group consulting engineers
60. Kier Rail infrastructure contractor
61. Lancashire council local government
62. Landlab landscape architects
63. Lenz Labs innovation consultancy
64. Lionverge former infrastructure staff supplier
65. London Midland former passenger train operating company
66. MacRail Systems progress reporting and workforce attendance monitoring
67. Mott MacDonald consultant
68. MTR Crossrail passenger train operating company
69. Murphy Group infrastructure contractor
70. Network Rail infrastructure owner
71. Nexus Alpha transport information systems supplier
72. Northern Rail former passenger train operating company
73. NG Bailey infrastructure contractor
74. OLE Limited electrification services
75. Onsite water/drainage specialists
76. Onwave digital networks
77. OwenWilliams Railways former consultancy, now part of Amey
78. Parkeon Transit Systems ticket vending machine manufacturer/maintainer
79. Peeping Passenger Counts operations consultant
80. Permanent Rail Engineering (UK) infrastructure installation and maintenance
81. PRA-Rail Operations operations consultant
82. Premtech Solutions Limited consultancy
83. RailAdventure UK train operator
84. The Railway Engineering Co Ltd consultancy
85. Ramboll civil engineer
86. RASIC technology consultant
87. RKG Partnership architect
88. Rockshore real time information systems
89. Royal BAM Group construction contractor
90. RSSB safety and standards
91. Scientifics chemical analyst
92. SELRAP campaign group
93. SKM Anthony Hunt consultancy
94. Siemens equipment manufacturer
95. SNC Lavalin consultancy formerly known as Interfleet Technology
96. Southeastern Railway passenger train operating company
97. Southern Railway passenger train operating company
98. South Western Railway passenger train operating company
99. South West Trains former passenger train operating company
100. Stirling Geoenvironmental Ltd earthworks examinations
101. TEF Gauging railway gauging services
102. telent communications services
103. Trackmaps infrastructure diagram publisher
104. Tracsis plc operations and planning systems consultant
105. Transport Design International light rail specialists
106. Transport for London government department
107. Transport for Wales/Keolis Amey Operations passenger train operating company
108. Transport Scotland government department
109. Travelogix data reporting software
110. Trevor Patrick Partnership consultancy
111. TSP Projects multi-disciplinary solutions
112. University of Birmingham education establishment
113. University of East Anglia education establishment
114. University of Southampton education establishment
115. Virgin Media O2 telecommunications provider
116. Vital Rail infrastructure contractor
117. Volker Rail infrastructure services
118. WSP consultancy
119. WycheGnome passenger information consultancy
120. XYZ Rail infrastructure contractor formerly known as Stobart Rail
121. Yorcard smart ticketing

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… and something else last update 12 January 2025

You will find a small collection of railway photographs on the editor's Flickr pages. It is hoped that you find them enjoyable and a little different to the usual 'front three quarters in countryside' views. Click on an image to go to the photos.