Station Codes

[wimbledonpete]

KPA for Kensington Olympia is quite odd. In the days of boat trains to the continent we used to have all sorts of codes for continental stations - most escape me but there were CAL and BOU for Calais and Boulogne Maritime, DIE for Dieppe. HHO for Hoek van Holland (I think!) and lots of others. Don't know if any are still used. (Obviously not the Maritimes!)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

For Eurostar there are of course also:

AVI - Avignon
BXS - Brussels Midi
FRH - Calais Frethun
LIU - Lille Europe
MCK - Marne La Vallee
PBN - Paris Nord
XIB - Bourg St Maurice

Great minds...

 

[IanXC]

KPA for Kensington Olympia is quite odd. In the days of boat trains to the continent we used to have all sorts of codes for continental stations - most escape me but there were CAL and BOU for Calais and Boulogne Maritime, DIE for Dieppe. HHO for Hoek van Holland (I think!) and lots of others. Don't know if any are still used. (Obviously not the Maritimes!)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


Great minds...

Thanks for those - I was wondering why Calais Frethun was FRH rather than CAL, but past use makes sense. I dread to think where XIB came from though!

 

[wimbledonpete]

Thanks for those - I was wondering why Calais Frethun was FRH rather than CAL, but past use makes sense. I dread to think where XIB came from though!

Bourg St Maurice is interesting - we used to book the winter trains through from Calais as well as the normal trains from Paris Lyon and I really don't remember that code. Mind you, if you were of a certain age and used to working the old French computer then the UIC (I think) numeric codes were second nature and could also be used on our system. They started with the country code (87 for France, 80 for (West) Germany, 84 for Italy etc then three figure code for the individual station. 87102 was, I think, Avignon for example.

I'm dredging my memory here so I hope this is all accurate!

83 for Italy?? See what I mean?

 

[Starmill]

The "bus connection" codes are quite unusual.....
XBP...Bristol Airport (by bus)
XGO..Catterick Camp (by bus)
XBV...Minehead (by bus)
XCG...Oakhampton (by bus)

There are some codes for connection points....
GOZ...Goldthorpe police station
WTZ...Whitby bus station

There more examples of both of these types.

Perhaps a similar methodology in Altrincham (Metrolink) which is XNA.

 

[185143]

Liverpool South Parkway (High Level) is ALE - I reckon that has to be fairly high on the list of "codes you'd never guess". Unless you happened to know that it used to be Allerton.

I thought that was LPY.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Perhaps a similar methodology in Altrincham (Metrolink) which is XNA.

Indeed, there are codes for the Manchester Metrolink system such as this one that you have stated. It is noticeable that the 3-letter codes for the heavy rail railway stations on the Oldham loop line that was converted to the Manchester Metrolink system were not transferred over to the new Metrolink ones, but a different set were issued. Rather strange, as there was a long-ish time period between closure and reopening.

 

[transmanche]

In a similar manner, NEW is not Newcastle (NCL) but Newcraighall in Scotland!

And I just discovered that the adjacent Metro station is NCZ.

Interestingly, Metro stations on the Sunderland route have codes:
Fellgate - FEG
Brockley Whins - BNR
East Boldon - EBL
Seaburn - SEB
Stadium of Light - STI
St. Peters - STZ

... but only as far as Sunderland. (Stations in bold were built for Metro - the others were previously served by NR but are now Metro-only.

Stations between Sunderland and South Hylton don't have codes. Odd that...

 

[Manchester77]

Indeed, there are codes for the Manchester Metrolink system such as this one that you have stated. It is noticeable that the 3-letter codes for the heavy rail railway stations on the Oldham loop line that was converted to the Manchester Metrolink system were not transferred over to the new Metrolink ones, but a different set were issued. Rather strange, as there was a long-ish time period between closure and reopening.

Does metrolink actually have official stop codes?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Does metrolink actually have official stop codes?

If you access the "Other Public Transport" forum on this website and look at the master "Manchester Metrolink new routes" thread, you will find that gnolife has published a long list of these on certain lines on posting # 734 on 22nd March.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Alternatively, here's a link to save all the faff

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showpost.php?p=1404856&postcount=734

 

[Manchester77]

Aha thanks guys

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Alternatively, here's a link to save all the faff

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showpost.php?p=1404856&postcount=734

Matt, thank you for your help on this as I still have no idea at all on how to post such links. It is a "blind spot" that at my ripe old age that I appear never have come to terms with, despite numerous kind offers of assistance from forum members in the past.

I appear to be the "Fort William FC" equivalent of those with the most basic smatterings of the most basic computer knowledge...

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Not forgetting ELY....

Or Lye One of only two anagrams of stations in the UK as far as I know - the others being Bridgeton and Tonbridge.

Knew I'd have missed a couple any more?

I'm also now going to be up all night trying to think of other anagrammatical pairs!

 

[flymo]

Matt, thank you for your help on this as I still have no idea at all on how to post such links. It is a "blind spot" that at my ripe old age that I appear never have come to terms with, despite numerous kind offers of assistance from forum members in the past.

I appear to be the "Fort William FC" equivalent of those with the most basic smatterings of the most basic computer knowledge...

Just right click the number at the top right hand corner of each post then select copy or copy link or something similar and paste into the new post as hyperlink.

i.e. your post no.42 above this one.

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showpost.php?p=1418183&postcount=42

A man of your calibre will have it sorted in no time Paul...

 

[Bedpan]

Manchester International Airport is MIA, although the airport is MAN, from where you can fly to MIA (Miami).

Luton Airport Parkway is LTN, just like Luton Airport, but since FCC started charging for the bus trip, the airport itself is now LUT.

The "St Albans City" designation lives on in SAC, but Waverley is nowhere to be seen in EDB.

That can't be right, Luton station is LUT!

 

[flymo]

And I just discovered that the adjacent Metro station is NCZ.

Interestingly, Metro stations on the Sunderland route have codes:
Fellgate - FEG
Brockley Whins - BNR
East Boldon - EBL
Seaburn - SEB
Stadium of Light - STI
St. Peters - STZ

... but only as far as Sunderland. (Stations in bold were built for Metro - the others were previously served by NR but are now Metro-only.

Stations between Sunderland and South Hylton don't have codes. Odd that...

There are codes associated with each of the stations on that bit of the Metro:
Park Lane - CIC
University - UNV
Millfield - MIF
Pallion - PAI
South Hylton - SHZ

Whether they are unique to Nexus or also used on the National Rail network I don't know. I'm sure someone will though..

 

[class57basher]

I think some of the ones on the FCC network are the strangest ZFD - farringdon

 

[GatwickDepress]

I think some of the ones on the FCC network are the strangest ZFD - farringdon

At an absolute guess here: Farringdon is managed neither by NR or an NR TOC, in this case, LUL - hence "Z" is affixed to it.

Station such as Baker Street (does it still have a code?), Canada Water and Whitechapel share the "Z" suffix.

 

[furlong]

The ones referred to in this thread are CRS codes (Computer Reservation System codes), also referred to as National Reservation System (NRS) codes.

They were created to enable the booking of seat reservations by (station-based) computers

CRS was rolled out from 1979, initially for Sealink and then East Coast. By the late 80s, travel agents had access, motorail was included and the system was extended to track passengers requiring assistance on their journeys.

I remember quirks like the system knowing that coach B was always the smoking carriage. When GNER wanted this moving to end coach A on their trains, they found it easier to relabel the coaches from A-B-C-D-... to B-A-C-D-... than to change the computer system!

 

[hairyhandedfool]

I thought that was LPY.

It is LPY.

At an absolute guess here: Farringdon is managed neither by NR or an NR TOC, in this case, LUL - hence "Z" is affixed to it.

Station such as Baker Street (does it still have a code?), Canada Water and Whitechapel share the "Z" suffix.

As noted on page 2 of this thread, Z is not always an indicator that it is managed by someone other than NR or one of the TOCs, and yes, Baker Street does have a code, quite a few Underground stations do.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

....Luton Airport Parkway is LTN, just like Luton Airport, but since FCC started charging for the bus trip, the airport itself is now LUT....

That can't be right, Luton station is LUT!

LUT is Luton, LUA is Luton Airport.

 

[ValleyLines142]

Knew I'd have missed a couple any more?

Ayr also!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

A search through my railway archives this morning has turned up a faded piece of railway notepaper with three codes noted upon it:-
AER....Aberaeron Alban Gardens
AMD...Ampfield School
ATW...Alton Towers

Can anyone let me know the year(s) that these were last used, please ?

 

[Crossover]

There are codes associated with each of the stations on that bit of the Metro:
Park Lane - CIC
University - UNV
Millfield - MIF
Pallion - PAI
South Hylton - SHZ

Whether they are unique to Nexus or also used on the National Rail network I don't know. I'm sure someone will though..

I suspect it is to do with the services running on NR metals at this point. If you look at Realtime Trains or such, you will find they report on the NR systems for part of this journey

 

[transmanche]

I suspect it is to do with the services running on NR metals at this point. If you look at Realtime Trains or such, you will find they report on the NR systems for part of this journey

Which is odd, as NRE recognises the codes I posted, but not the ones that flymo posted. And both sections are Network Rail owned.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

Which is odd, as NRE recognises the codes I posted, but not the ones that flymo posted. And both sections are Network Rail owned.

Flymo notes in his post that they may be unique to the Nexus system.

 

[flymo]

Indeed flymo did.

ALL of the Tyne and Wear Metro stations have 3 digit codes associated with them. They were printed on the Metro ticket by the Metro ticket issuing machine at one point and they may well still be. No idea though as I don't live there any more. (CEN for Central, MMT for Monument etc...)

There is an online list somewhere of all of the Metro station codes somewhere.

 

[Crossover]

Just some across another

GMG is Garth (Bridgend)

 

[Ivo]

An interesting one I unintentionally found a few hours ago would be Llanrwst, arguably the station most commonly spelled incorrectly, whose code is also effectively a spelling error! Instead of the obvious LRW, which is not used by any station, it is treated as LWR, reflecting the common (but incorrect) spelling of "Llanwrst"...

Elsewhere, a more recent example of an oddball is Southend Airport, whose code is SIA. It is to be assumed that the "I" stands for "International", as the letter I is nowhere to be found in Southend Airport until after the A.

Under normal circumstances, this station would have surely been coded SOA, to match the fact that stations in major settlements beginning with "South-" are all named "SO-", as can be seen here:

SOC = Southend Central
SOE = Southend East
SOP = Southport
SOU = Southampton Central
SOV = Southend Victoria

But then there is a sixth one in this group which destroys the SOA idea:

SOA = Southampton Airport Parkway

So SIA has to do instead. I suppose you could argue that SIA is technically in Rochford, but then SOA is technically in Eastleigh...

 

[Singing Rails]

Something maybe worth mentioning is the london Underground platforms can have different codes (only seen on staff signs, not for public use so to speak), e.g EAL is NR ealing broadway or EAB is london underground ealing broadway

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

An interesting one I unintentionally found a few hours ago would be Llanrwst, arguably the station most commonly spelled incorrectly.

In Welsh, it is worth remembering that "W" is pronounced as a long "O" (OO as in ZOO) so using this in conjunction with the pronounciation of "LLAN" as "CLAN", the pronounciation of that settlement is "Clan-Roost".

I don't know about anyone else but a little book on the subject that my parents bought for me on Welsh pronounciation on an "excursion" rail visit to Llanberis in the early 1950's when I was eight years old has always been useful and albeit somewhat "well-thumbed", is still with the hard-copy archive railway books in my study.