54 posts in Irail
Only because stats are pretty awesome. The effects of my media attention a few days ago. I’ll give some more info than what can be seen here.
And pretty happy I set up my nginx caching up a few weeks ago.
MRTG traffic stats on vm1, my nginx caching server, of the first 2 days (only major traffic source is this blog):
Top referrers (though not 100% accurate):
As I have no choice.
Geachte,NMBS heeft onlangs vernomen dat u de uitbater bent van de website www.irail.be.
Uw website is, zoals u het zelf vermeldt, een route planner waarbij alle gegevens en informatie van NMBS website komt (“all data and info is retrieved from the B-Rail website”).
uw website maakt hergebruik van de data van NMBS. Hierdoor schendt u haar intellectuele rechten, zoals haar auteursrecht en databankrecht. Tevens maakt u zich daardoor schuldig aan het strafrechtelijk misdrijf van namaak.
Let me remind you, iRail is NOT affiliated with the NMBS/SNCB in any way.
This website was created during my spare time (and mainly for myself). It is also maintained during my spare time. NMBS/SNCB never helped to create or maintain this website (nor did it show any interest to do so).
I never got paid (or earned any kind of money) for this website. The website is free to access from any device (but it’s built to be used on an iPhone or iPad).
Only one and a half year after I launched iRail, the NMBS/SNCB launched their own mobile website (with a few additional functions, but not all of them optimized for mobile view).
Well done I’d say. Just a tiny bit late. :) And too bad there doesn’t seem to be an iPhone optimized version (later?).
Oh well, finally. I’ll be testing it next time I’ll be taking the train. :)
Apparently the NMBS/SNCB website now makes a difference between “Brussels-Midi” and “Brussels-Midi Eurostar”; same station, different track.
Due to this change, iRail was no longer able to provide any scheduling information which included Brussels-Midi.
I’ve made a quick and dirty work around (by including “+ Eurostar” in the drop down menu), solving this bug.
However, please, NMBS/SNCB, please please please provide an API or report such changes to web developers.
As it is now, if you manually fill in Brussels-Midi and do not add the Eurostar text, the iRail website will not be able to to look up the requested information.
Took me a while to notice, but iRail.be was displaying the wrong year by default (2011 instead of 2010) and the NMBS website doesn’t have the 2011 time tables yet. Resulting in errors.
Anyway, fixed!
Today, I received an e-mail informing iRail was broken, and not showing any information.
The issue has been solved and the site is working again as it should be.
I have no idea for how long the website has been broken, as currently I’m not using any trains to reach my destinations. ;)
Don’t forget to e-mail me if you come across bugs. Much appreciated.
Finally, NMBS/Infrabel does something customer minded.
Today (after canceling every train passing through Antwerp-Berchem, due to light problems), they launched Railtime.be. I must say I’m surprised in a positive way.
Ok, it has a simple (ugly?) layout, it uses asp and .htm extentions… But hey, we got a site, that isn’t too slow, and seems to provide correct information for now… :P
Too bad there’s no mobile version available.
Guess it’s one of those things to add to iRail… ;)
Don’t forget, as of today the belgian (and most other) trains will be using a new time sheet. Use iRail to get to your destination… ;)