departureboard.io API

Name: departureboard.io API API
Brand: departureboard.io API
Availability: InStock

★ Only Publicly Available OpenAPI DocumentMaps GeolocationPlaces Searchnone6 EndpointsREST

For Agents

Look up live UK rail departures, arrivals, fastest and next services by CRS station code, and fetch detailed information for a specific service.

Quickstart

Get started with departureboard.io API in minutes using your preferred integration method.

# Add to your MCP client config (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf)
{
  "jentic": {
    "url": "https://api.jentic.com/mcp",
    "auth": "oauth"
  }
}

# Then ask your agent:
"next departures from a uk station"

# → Jentic returns the GET /events tool with parameter schema, agent executes.

Capabilities

What an agent can do with departureboard.io API API.

Get arrivals and departures for a UK station by its CRS code

List arriving services at a station via /getArrivalsByCRS/{CRS}

List departing services at a station via /getDeparturesByCRS/{CRS}

Find the fastest next service to a destination from a starting station

GET STARTED

Start building with departureboard.io API API

Explore with Jentic

View OpenAPI Document

Jentic publishes the only available OpenAPI document for departureboard.io API, keeping it validated and agent-ready.

Jentic publishes the only available OpenAPI specification for departureboard.io API, keeping it validated and agent-ready. departureboard.io is a high-performance Golang service that fronts the legacy National Rail SOAP feeds with a clean JSON API. It exposes departures, arrivals, fastest and next services by CRS station code, plus deep service detail by service id, making it a good fit for travel apps, dashboards, and station signage that need live UK rail data without dealing with SOAP. Use is free for non-commercial purposes.

Use Cases

Patterns agents use departureboard.io API API for, with concrete tasks.

★ Live Station Departure Board

Render a live departure board for a UK station by calling /getDeparturesByCRS/{CRS} on a short polling interval. The endpoint returns the same data National Rail's SOAP feed exposes, formatted as JSON for direct rendering in web dashboards, kiosks, or station signage.

Poll GET /getDeparturesByCRS/{CRS} for the requested station and render the response as a live departure board UI.

Journey Planner Helper

Power a lightweight journey planner that suggests the fastest option between two stations using /getFastestDeparturesByCRS/{CRS} and the next viable services with /getNextDeparturesByCRS/{CRS}. This is well suited to chat assistants and embedded widgets where a full route planner is too heavy.

Call GET /getFastestDeparturesByCRS/{CRS} with the origin and a destination filter, then return the platform and time.

Service Disruption Lookup

When a user mentions a specific service, look up its full detail via /getServiceDetailsByID/{serviceID} to see calling points, delays, and operator. This lets a travel assistant respond with concrete information about that train rather than generic advice.

Call GET /getServiceDetailsByID/{serviceID} for the train the user named and summarise calling points and any reported delay.

AI Agent Integration via Jentic

A travel assistant can use Jentic to answer station and service questions in real time. Searches such as 'next trains from Paddington' map to /getDeparturesByCRS/{CRS}, and the agent receives a typed response without writing SOAP or scraping National Rail.

Use Jentic to search for 'next departures from a uk station', call GET /getDeparturesByCRS/PAD, and summarise the top three trains.

Key Endpoints

6 endpoints — jentic publishes the only available openapi specification for departureboard.

METHOD

PATH

DESCRIPTION

GET

/getArrivalsAndDeparturesByCRS/{CRS}

Get arrivals and departures at a station

GET

/getArrivalsByCRS/{CRS}

List arriving services at a station

GET

/getDeparturesByCRS/{CRS}

List departing services at a station

GET

/getFastestDeparturesByCRS/{CRS}

Get the fastest next service to a destination

GET

/getNextDeparturesByCRS/{CRS}

Get the next service between two stations

GET

/getServiceDetailsByID/{serviceID}

Get full details for a specific service

GET

/getArrivalsAndDeparturesByCRS/{CRS}

Get arrivals and departures at a station

GET

/getArrivalsByCRS/{CRS}

List arriving services at a station

GET

/getDeparturesByCRS/{CRS}

List departing services at a station

GET

/getFastestDeparturesByCRS/{CRS}

Get the fastest next service to a destination

GET

/getNextDeparturesByCRS/{CRS}

Get the next service between two stations

Why though Jentic?

Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.

Credential isolation

departureboard.io's documented endpoints require no credential, so Jentic's role is consistent operation discovery and execution rather than secret handling. If commercial keys are introduced, they would be stored in the Jentic vault.

Intent-based discovery

Agents search by intent (e.g. 'next departures from a uk station') and Jentic returns the matching CRS-based operation with its full input and response schema, removing the need to read the legacy National Rail documentation.

Time to first call

Direct integration: a few hours to wire the six endpoints and CRS code lookups. Through Jentic: under 15 minutes to render a live departure board from search to first response.

Related APIs

Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.

Complementary

OpenAI API

LLM used to summarise live rail responses into natural-language travel advice.

Use OpenAI alongside departureboard.io when building a travel assistant that turns raw service data into conversational answers.

Complementary

Anthropic API

Alternative LLM provider for summarising rail data into user-facing answers.

Use Anthropic alongside departureboard.io when Claude's behaviour or longer context windows fit the assistant pattern better.

Complementary

Twilio Messaging API

SMS delivery for sending live rail alerts to subscribers.

Use Twilio alongside departureboard.io when commute disruption alerts should be delivered as SMS.

Complementary

SendGrid Mail API

Transactional email for daily commute summaries built from rail data.

Use SendGrid alongside departureboard.io when daily journey emails are the right channel for the user.

FAQs

Specific to using departureboard.io API API through Jentic.

Why is there no official OpenAPI spec for departureboard.io API?

departureboard.io does not publish an OpenAPI specification. Jentic generates and maintains this spec so that AI agents and developers can call departureboard.io API via structured tooling. It is validated against the live API and kept up to date. Get started at https://app.jentic.com/sign-up.

What authentication does the departureboard.io API use?

The endpoints in this OpenAPI spec do not declare a security scheme — the API is publicly accessible and free for non-commercial use. Commercial use requires checking the latest terms on api.departureboard.io.

Can I get live UK train departures with this API?

Yes. GET /getDeparturesByCRS/{CRS} returns live departures for the station identified by its three-letter CRS code (for example PAD for London Paddington). Combine with /getArrivalsByCRS/{CRS} for an arrivals board.

How do I find the fastest train between two stations?

Call GET /getFastestDeparturesByCRS/{CRS} with the origin CRS in the path and the destination as a query parameter. The response includes the fastest next service and its scheduled platform.

Can I get full details for a specific train service?

Yes. GET /getServiceDetailsByID/{serviceID} returns calling points, operator, and delay information for the named service id, suitable for showing the user the full journey of the train they care about.

How do I render a departure board through Jentic?

Run `pip install jentic`, search for 'next departures from a uk station', execute GET /getDeparturesByCRS/{CRS} for the station you want, and feed the response straight into your UI. No credential is required for the public endpoints.