The Rail Data Marketplace will bring together fragmented sources of rail data into an easy-to-use digital service. The service will provide the tools and frameworks to simplify data sharing between data consumers and the rail industry, opening data up to innovators to develop new tools and services for the industry and its passengers.

The Rail Data Marketplace will deliver a new way of sharing data between consumers – including app developers, tech firms, academia – and the rail industry. New data sharing opportunities will drive innovation, leading to the development of innovative passenger-facing applications, operational efficiencies and improved transparency. 

By adopting an ‘open by default’ approach, the Rail Data Marketplace will remove barriers and make it easeir for partners to work with the railway industry. Better access to quality rail data is seen as a key driver of better customer service and innovation across the industry, and forms one of the key commitments of the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail.

With funding announced in June 2021, the programme of work has begun and is being delivered by the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), and oversight by the Rail Data Council. Representatives from across the sector – including the Department for Transport, Rail Supply Group, RSSB, and Network Rail – have been working in partnership to kickstart the development of the service.

The first iteration of the Rail Data Marketplace is timetabled formid-2022, following engagement with stakeholders, understanding of requirements and build of the platform. A public Beta version is planned for late summer 2022. A detailed timetable will be provided in due course.

The long-term goal of the Rail Data Marketplace Programme is to develop a user-centred, business-to-business digital service that:

1. Provides access to data and real-time rail information, which stimulates innovation and enables the development of customer-focused products and services.
2. Improves data sharing across operational bodies, which leads to efficiency gains across the industry.
3. Improves access to high-quality rail data for public and private bodies which supports growth in rail and cross-modal public transport.
4. Provides a learning platform where users can access a rich source of data about the rail industry.

In realising these objectives, the Rail Data Marketplace will:

• Provide data that is transparent, and presents a ‘single source of truth’, meets a minimum standard of quality, and avoids a high barrier to entry for users.
• Establish community forums for users to raise issues, make suggestions for improvements (to the Rail Data Marketplace and to data itself), and request new datasets.
• Deliver enhancements, new features, services and datasets which responds to user needs.
• Make it easy to explore existing data sources.
• Help organisations to understand the contents of a data source, and provide technical documentation along with it.
• Show users how to connect to data and how to test that connection.
• Have clear terms of use for data sources and make signing up to them quick and easy.