Find My Train in France

We’re expanding our flagship ‘Find My Train’ functionality to other European countries, kicking off with the release of a beta version of our train map for France. 

Until now, we’ve focused on Great Britain, enabling various geolocation tools for rail with Signalbox API - including automatic train detection, live train maps, and ETA sharing. But now we’re tweaking our technology for interoperability and introducing the flexibility to cope with new data feeds and different geographies.  

At the core of Signalbox is a machine-learning algorithm that combines a burst of location data from a smartphone with geospatial and rail information. The technology matches a device’s location with live rail data, enabling AI-powered, real-time updates for any train on the network. Though far from simple, this formula means that Signalbox has the potential to identify any train in any country that has a mature rail network and real-time transport data. It’s an exciting prospect. 

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves! At this stage, we’re developing a working prototype to track trains in France and carrying out real-world beta testing. We are incorporating various SNCF data feeds and working towards supporting live train movements nationwide. It’s exciting to embrace the challenge of working with different data feeds, timezones, networks, and operators to deliver the map. 

We’re in France this week putting the algorithm through its paces to test the detect tool for SNCF services, and laying the groundwork for expanding our journey-detection and train tracking tools to other countries. We’re also attending the Autonomy Paris exhibition, on 16 - 17 March 2022. We look forward to meeting some of you there. 

The prototype has been developed as part of a project to scope the feasibility of expanding Signalbox’s technology to a wider international audience and co-funded by the UK's innovation agency, Innovate UK.