"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.
Rail Data Marketplace (RDM) is a central platform for finding and sharing rail data. RDM brings together rail data sources and related services in one place. It offers a simple and open way to share data from across the rail sector and beyond.
The RDM platform will:
We have continued to develop the service and get it into a position where we can make it publicly available. That time is getting nearer! We now have 30 organisations registered as users, both publishing and consuming data. Our ‘private beta’ trial which has been running since January was meant as a time of learning for us, and I am grateful for the patience of our trial users who have helped us to spot areas where we can improve the user experience. It was probably inevitable that we would also encounter a number of minor technical hitches which comes with trying to publish a variety of data sources but, with our partners, we are working through these. If you are interested in becoming a Publisher or a Consumer on the RDM platform please send us an email at
As well as usability improvements, we have been developing functionality to publish ‘flat files’ (the likes of .csv files) which are still widely used, and this functionality will be ready to roll out in June.
We hope that overcoming these technical hitches, along with publishing flat files, will allow a good variety of data products from different publishers to be available when we come to launch RDM including three data sources which aren’t available anywhere else.
Our thanks to all of those who responded to our survey in the last newsletter about the use of publish / subscribe (event stream) data sources, which was informative as we head into the design phase for functionality which will allow us to publish these types of data. We are hoping to make these data sources available later in the summer.
The RDM team have worked hard for months, developing the RDM platform to meet a high and professional standard. The images below are live images from the RDM platform, the first one being the front page of the platform. The second image highlights the organisations on the platform already with some soon to be publishers. The Programme team are still making iterations to the platform and we are excited to show you these changes when available. If you would like to experience the platform please email us at
The long-term goal of the Rail Data Marketplace Programme is to develop a user-centred, business-to-business digital service that:
In realising these objectives, the Rail Data Marketplace will:
One of the key objectives of the RDM is to bring data publishers and data consumers together on a single strategic platform which makes data searchable, easy to find and ‘friction-free’ to access. Through extensive user research off-the-shelf licenses were perceived as a high-value, key benefit. Feel free to have a look at the different contracts below.
pdf RDM Platform Agreement (Data Consumer) (264 KB)
Senior representatives from key rail organisations and clients are invited to join our members in the UK rail supply community, including Network Rail, HS2, Transport for London, Transport Scotland, Midlands Connect, Transport for the North, Transport for Wales, Rail Delivery Group, Rail Freight Group and many more.
Date: 29th June 2023
Location: Intercontinental Hotel Park Lane, London
Attendees: Jez Smith, Programme Lead & Clare Morrissey, Commercial Lead
RAIL’s annual National Rail Awards are known for their commitment to rewarding excellence and achievement across every aspect of the railway, RAIL’s annual premier awards scheme recognises everything from individual contributions made by those on the front line to major engineering triumphs on some of the railway’s biggest projects.
Date: 14th September 2023
Location: Grosvenor House Hotel, London
Attendees: Jez Smith, Programme Lead & Clare Morrissey, Commercial Lead
We bring together the five distinct communities of Logistics & Freight Movement, People Mobility, Planning in Transport, Operations and Supply Chain Management and Sustainability & the Global Community and provide specialist activities and multi-sector engagement through their associated forums and policy groups.
Date: 28th September 2023
Location: TBC
Attendees: Clare Morrissey, Commercial Lead
We need you to help shape the Rail Data Marketplace's development. If you would like to take part in our Private Beta phase, please email us at
Research has been an integral part of the Rail Data Marketplace and allowed us to build on our previous understanding of our users. We had the objective to test the following key areas using a mixture of the interviews and a survey
If you subscribe to RDM News, the Rail Data Marketplace team will hold your details only for the purposes of sending you updates regarding the Rail Data Marketplace for the duration of the programme. Your details will not be shared or sold to any third parties. If you wish to no longer receive email updates, please send a request to
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