PMS and RCS Service Desk

The Network Rail signalling systems allow any number of TIPLOCs to be allocated to different parts of the same station for train operating purposes. By contrast, HS1: linking London to Kent and the Channel Tunnel; is based on the French signalling system and restricted to one TIPLOC per station as a consequence. 

HS1 is used by Eurostar and Southeastern services, but rail retail systems need to differentiate between the two train operators to ensure that timetables are not quoted for one operator alongside fares for the other. Different minimum interchange times and check-in times are another consideration.

Here are the codes allocated to Stratford International and Ebbsfleet International in CORPUS:

154100 & 154400 in the retail environment are treated as Eurostar locations, with 556600 & 722200 being used for Southeastern fares and timetables. These latter NLCs (and their associated codes) are only used in PMS, DTD and the downstream retail systems. They ensure that there is no possibility of Eurostar services being quoted by mistake for Southeastern journeys in domestic passenger enquiries, or vice-versa. 

The same applies at London St Pancras but that station is more complex, being treated as three locations for rail operating purposes:

In addition to the HS1 TIPLOC issue, the St Pancras location code above do not match the requirements of fares and timetable enquiries in domestic rail retail systems. The links between the NLCs, TIPLOCs and CRS Codes for St Pancras are managed in PMS and DTD so that the location data in domestic retail systems looks like this:

A function within DTD identifies all Southeastern HS1 services in the incoming CIF file by means of the Train Service Code. The TIPLOCs for St Pancras, Stratford and Ebbsfleet in those services are then converted, as shown below, in the timetable output file that is distributed to domestic rail retail systems:

Here is an extract of a train schedule showing the original CIF data and the DTD conversion as an example:

Notes:

Ashford International is also served by Eurostar and Southeastern trains, but as the domestic platforms are not on HS1 the two sets of services have separate NLC/TIPLOCs/CRS Codes by default – so no conversion is required.

TIPLOCs are used in the train planning process. In retail systems they sit in the background, cross-referenced to the NLC and CRS Code to link timetable enquiries to fares and reservations enquiries.

The output TIPLOCS are only used in retail systems, so train operating systems (TOPS, Darwin, etc), still use those in the CIF file input.