Amtrak Status Maps Archives - Searchable Database

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acelafan

acelafan

Conductor
Joined
May 24, 2009
Messages
1,044
Location
Atlanta, GA
Hi AU,

I haven't been on the forum too much recently but I have been thinking about Amtrak and trains nonetheless! One of my favorite websites I found through AU is John Bobinyec's "Amtrak Status Maps" and I know I'm not alone.

For a while now I've wanted a way to search the archived train data, and while it took me 3 years to find time to work on this project and get it stable, I finally have a website up and running with John's help.

You can search for train history over a range of dates for a particular station, or search for a range of archived status files if you were curious to see when a particular train ran. Sorting by departure delays is pretty interesting, too. For example, how often was Empire Builder #8 late departing MSP in July, 2014? (You can probably guess!)

You can play around with the page and also check out the FAQ on it:

http://juckins.net/amtrak_status/

Anyways, some of you might find it interesting and I wanted to share. I plan to keep it updated and maintained as I can. Remember this is an archive page and not a real-time page, so the data is only updated once every 24 hours.

I'll try to answer any questions, as well.

Hope you enjoy,

Christopher Juckins
 
THIS.

IS.

AWESOME!!!!!

As you may or may not be aware, I've taken to downloading John's annual archives and have written some (really basic!) Python scripts to toll through the data and perform statistical analysis.

Next on my "to do" list was finding a way to update my data on a periodic basis (my 2013 data is pretty stale at this point).

Down the road on my "to do" list was finding a way of putting it on the web the way you've done so that others can do the research themselves. :)

Very, very well done.

Some examples of the stuff I've come up with. If you want to try to incorporate any of the parsing and plotting, I'm happy to give you what I've got and help in any way I can.

49_ERI_2013.png

8_CHI_2010_2012.png
 
acelafan said:
Hi AU,

I haven't been on the forum too much recently but I have been thinking about Amtrak and trains nonetheless! One of my favorite websites I found through AU is John Bobinyec's "Amtrak Status Maps" and I know I'm not alone.

For a while now I've wanted a way to search the archived train data, and while it took me 3 years to find time to work on this project and get it stable, I finally have a website up and running with John's help.

You can search for train history over a range of dates for a particular station, or search for a range of archived status files if you were curious to see when a particular train ran. Sorting by departure delays is pretty interesting, too. For example, how often was Empire Builder #8 late departing MSP in July, 2014? (You can probably guess!)

You can play around with the page and also check out the FAQ on it:

http://juckins.net/amtrak_status/

Anyways, some of you might find it interesting and I wanted to share. I plan to keep it updated and maintained as I can. Remember this is an archive page and not a real-time page, so the data is only updated once every 24 hours.

I'll try to answer any questions, as well.

Hope you enjoy,

Christopher Juckins
Click to expand...
Nice---except for all that red text. :help: :p
 
acelafan said:
Hi AU,

I haven't been on the forum too much recently but I have been thinking about Amtrak and trains nonetheless! One of my favorite websites I found through AU is John Bobinyec's "Amtrak Status Maps" and I know I'm not alone.

For a while now I've wanted a way to search the archived train data, and while it took me 3 years to find time to work on this project and get it stable, I finally have a website up and running with John's help.

You can search for train history over a range of dates for a particular station, or search for a range of archived status files if you were curious to see when a particular train ran. Sorting by departure delays is pretty interesting, too. For example, how often was Empire Builder #8 late departing MSP in July, 2014? (You can probably guess!)

You can play around with the page and also check out the FAQ on it:
Click to expand...
Very cool! Thanks for taking the time to build this. Useful to see patterns in delays and when they got worst as so many LD routes have done since last Spring. According to the database, the last time #49 LSL got to CHI reasonably close to on-time was June 1 when it arrived 18 minutes late. OTP for the westbound #49 LSL went to heck in April.
 
Oh good, glad you guys like it! And Ryan, yes, I had thought about charts -- maybe down the road? We can talk offline if you want - I am running this real basic set of pages with simple php and mysql queries. I wanted to make sure I could support what I have offered so far but I'm always open to enhancements.

Hope I found all the bugs, too (think so).
 
AU,

I finally had a chance to tweak the Amtrak Status Maps Database to make it a bit more useful. Now you can search for a specific range of delays.

For example, show train 3 leaving CHI with delays > 30 minutes for the month of February. Or show train 1 arriving into LAX with all delays < -10 minutes (all trains arriving at least 10 minutes early).

I also simplified the output table and removed the duplicate printing of stations and train numbers in each row where appropriate.

Again, the main URL is http://juckins.net/amtrak_status/

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do! ;)

CJ
 
Ryan, that's great. I've thought about looking at the data and figuring out the connections myself since I will be making 3 connections in a few weeks on my outbound cross-country trip.
 
Hi again,

I'm still working on my Amtrak Status Maps Archive Database project, and I've made a few enhancements. I'm still working on tweaking some of the content's presentation, so bear with me, but it's getting there.

As a recap...in case you are interested in looking for Amtrak historical performance, I have now included Service Disruptions and Cancellations in the results. You can filter by trains having service disruptions, trains not having service disruptions, cancellations, etc.

I also created a new page where you can search the archives for connecting trains.

As a recap there are 3 pages to the Status Maps Archive Database:

A) Search by Train Number or Station

Typical example: What kinds of delays has the Capital Limited #29 had when arriving into CHI?

http://juckins.net/amtrak_status/archive/html/history.php?train_num=29&station=chi&date_start=9%2F1%2F2014&date_end=9%2F30%2F2014&sort=d_ar&sort_dir=DESC&limit=&co=gt&limit_mins=

You'll see delays for September have ranged from 22 minutes to 7 hours and 47 minutes.

--

B) Search by Service Disruptions/Cancellations (check for how many times a train had a disruption over a range of dates)

Example: How many Service Disruptions has the Empire Builder #8 had since January 1, 2014?

http://juckins.net/amtrak_status/archive/html/history_file.php?date_start=1%2F1%2F2014&date_end=9%2F30%2F2014&train_num=8&sort=origin_date&sort_dir=DESC&sd=1&c=-1

And the answer is...42!

--

C) Search by Connecting Trains (check for train #1 arriving at a particular station and train #2 departing from the same station).

Example: How often did Empire Builder #8 arrive into CHI after Lake Shore Ltd #48 departed during September, 2014? (looks like only once)

http://juckins.net/amtrak_status/archive/html/connections.php?date_start=9%2F1%2F2014&date_end=9%2F30%2F2014&a_train_num=8&c_train_num=48&station=chi&sort_dir=DESC

On that page I'm trying to work in a reliable way to highlight missed connections - it gets a bit complicated when the calendar dates change but as I'm writing this I have some ideas. For example, train 137 connecting to train 66 at PHL:

http://juckins.net/amtrak_status/archive/html/connections.php?date_start=9%2F1%2F2014&date_end=9%2F30%2F2014&a_train_num=137&c_train_num=66&station=phl&sort_dir=DESC

In the meantime you can manually scan the table to see which trains missed.

Questions/comments welcome. I hope it's useful...and fun? Again, I couldn't do this without the Amtrak Status Maps website!

Chris J
 
Thanks for the improved features. I see that the search results now have blank entries for missing station arrival/departure reports in the status maps database. Helps to flag the missing days and look up the trip for that day if one wants to see how the trip went.
 
I have a request for a feature upgrade: wildcard characters in the train number to filter the results down to a train service. For example, 35* for train number and CHI for the station would show only the Wolverine service trains arrival times over the selected days. Or 30* for Lincoln service trains, Or 3** for all the Midwest corridor trains minus the LD trains. I was wondering how late the Wolverine and other Michigan service have been into CHI with the NS meltdown and the choice is either 1 train or a dump of all arrivals into Chicago.

For the NEC, by entering 2***, then we could see the on-time performance of just the Acelas for NYP, BOS, WAS. Or filters for the just the Keystones, some Regionals, Empire service trains as a group.

As a software engineer myself, I realize that this might be a lot of work, but I thought I would suggest it. :)
 
Hmmm, interesting - I know it can be done and I see what I need to do. It might take me some time to get it all working. You are right, it's tedious to dump all arrivals into CHI and then sort by hand right now. Thanks for the idea!
 
afigg said:
I have a request for a feature upgrade: wildcard characters in the train number to filter the results down to a train service. For example, 35* for train number and CHI for the station would show only the Wolverine service trains arrival times over the selected days. Or 30* for Lincoln service trains, Or 3** for all the Midwest corridor trains minus the LD trains. I was wondering how late the Wolverine and other Michigan service have been into CHI with the NS meltdown and the choice is either 1 train or a dump of all arrivals into Chicago.

For the NEC, by entering 2***, then we could see the on-time performance of just the Acelas for NYP, BOS, WAS. Or filters for the just the Keystones, some Regionals, Empire service trains as a group.

As a software engineer myself, I realize that this might be a lot of work, but I thought I would suggest it. :)
Click to expand...
OK, I think I have it all working for the searches afigg suggested. You can now search with train numbers having wildcards, such as:

Train: 35*

Train: 300-310 searches a range of train numbers

Train: 3,4,5,6,11,14 searches a comma separated list

Here is a link for Wolverine Service at CHI since Sept 15th:

http://juckins.net/amtrak_status/archive/html/history.php?train_num=35*&station=chi&date_start=9%2F15%2F2014&date_end=10%2F7%2F2014&sort=schDp&sort_dir=DESC&limit=&co=gt&limit_mins=

Here is an example of all Acela service at NYP with the wildcard 2*** as the train number, sorting by arrival delays:

http://juckins.net/amtrak_status/archive/html/history.php?train_num=2***&station=nyp&date_start=9%2F15%2F2014&date_end=10%2F7%2F2014&sort=d_ar&sort_dir=DESC&limit=&co=gt&limit_mins=

I hope this works as you wanted? I'm not sure the wildcard is searching exactly the way it should so let me know if I need to check anything.

Have fun!

Chris
 
acelafan said:
OK, I think I have it all working for the searches afigg suggested. You can now search with train numbers having wildcards, such as:

Train: 35*

Train: 300-310 searches a range of train numbers

Train: 3,4,5,6,11,14 searches a comma separated list

...

I hope this works as you wanted? I'm not sure the wildcard is searching exactly the way it should so let me know if I need to check anything.

Have fun!

Chris
Click to expand...
Ah, cool. Thanks for adding train number filter options. I think it will be useful to see how a specific train service or group of trains are doing for arrival/departure times. I will post here if I find bugs or glitches in the new train number option.
 
Here is another update for the Database...you can now make a very simple "Google chart" that shows the history of a train being late or early at a particular station.

Variable or extreme the delays show up pretty nicely. You can hover over the points with your mouse (if you are using a traditional computer like myself) and see the specific delay value. If you click the point you'll get the Amtrak Status Maps history file for that train. The traditional table showing the train history is included below the chart. You can also choose the size of the chart.

You can clearly see the recent trouble with train #29 (Capital Limited) arriving into CHI very late:

20141024_29_AR_CHI.png


On the flip side, #1 (Sunset) arriving into LAX is like a yo-yo...kind of interesting:

20141024_1_AR_LAX.png



Some notes on the charts:

- The "printable image" link does not work on Internet Explorer. It seems fine on other browsers.
- Gaps in the data probably indicate service disruptions, dates the train did not run, or gaps in the source data

- As time permits I'll try to add some other functions, like plotting more than 1 train.

Here is your direct link: http://juckins.net/amtrak_status/archive/html/historychart.php to make your own charts.

Suggestions/bug reports always welcome, too. Have fun!

CJ
 
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