departureboard.io API
Agent-ready OpenAPI document · curated by JenticMaps GeolocationPlaces Searchnone6 EndpointsREST
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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.
Use for: I want to see the next departures from a UK station, Find arrivals at a station by CRS code, Get the fastest train from one station to another, List the next services running between two stations
Not supported: Does not handle ticket purchase, fares, season tickets, or non-UK rail networks - use for live UK rail departures, arrivals, and service details only.
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.
Install Jentic One Beta
Connect the departureboard.io API to your agent
Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the departureboard.io API, or any other public or private API you need. You set the rules, the agent never sees your credentials, and every call is logged.
Two steps, two machines. Install the instance in a safe environment, then register your agent from wherever it runs.
1
Step 1: Jentic One Host machine
# On the machine that will host your Jentic One instance:
curl -fsSL "https://jentic.com/install.sh?src=apis&api=%2Fapis%2Fdepartureboard.io%2Fdepartureboard" | sh2
Step 2: Agent machine
# On the machine where your agent runs (keep this separate from the instance):
curl -fsSL "https://jentic.com/install.sh?src=apis&api=%2Fapis%2Fdepartureboard.io%2Fdepartureboard" | sh
jentic register # connects your agent to your Jentic One instanceJentic One is in public beta. The setup above keeps your agent separate from the instance, which is what you want before using real credentials: an agent running as the same OS user as Jentic One can read its stored keys directly. Just evaluating? A single local install is fine to start. See the secure deployment guide for the tiers.
Capabilities
What an agent can do with departureboard.io 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
Find the next service running between two stations
Retrieve full information for a specific train service by its service id
Use Cases
Patterns agents use departureboard.io 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
GET
/getServiceDetailsByID/{serviceID}
Get full details for a specific service
Why Jentic?
What agents get from Jentic-routed access to this vendor.
Setup
Wiring departureboard.io by hand means decoding CRS station codes, building the separate arrivals, departures, fastest, and next-departure calls, and mapping the legacy National Rail response shapes yourself. Through Jentic you install once, import the departureboard.io API from the API Directory, and your agent calls it, and since the documented endpoints are anonymous there is no credential to configure.
Permission scoping
departureboard.io puts the station code in the URL path (/getDeparturesByCRS/{CRS}) and every operation is read-only, so a rule can pin your agent to live board lookups: it can read arrivals, departures, and service details and has no ability to book or write.
Credential isolation
The documented departureboard.io endpoints are anonymous, so no secret is held. If commercial keys are introduced, they are stored once, encrypted, by your own Jentic One instance, injected at execution time, and never enter the agent's prompt, logs, or context.
Intent-based discovery
Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'next departures from a UK station' or 'live arrivals board', and Jentic returns the matching CRS-based operation with its input and response schema so the agent calls the right endpoint without reading the legacy National Rail docs.
Related APIs
Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.
FAQs
Specific to using departureboard.io 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 with Jentic One, the self-hosted execution layer.
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.
Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the departureboard.io API?
Yes. Because you run Jentic One yourself, your own rules decide which departureboard.io operations your agent may call, and every documented endpoint here is read-only. You can pin the agent to live board lookups such as GET /getDeparturesByCRS/{CRS} and GET /getArrivalsByCRS/{CRS}, or narrow it further to service detail via GET /getServiceDetailsByID/{serviceID}. The API exposes no write, booking, or payment operations, so a scoped agent can read arrivals, departures, and service details and nothing more.
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