This morning, the Elizabeth line opened. We’ve also launched our new, live map of the new section from Abbey Wood and Stratford through to Paddington.

If you’re already familiar with our maps, this new one will look almost the same. The major differences are in how the map operates, as the new Central Operating Section (COS) uses moving-block signalling.

Where other routes have colour-light signals, which we show in either green or red, almost all of the new COS uses ETCS marker boards. These are simply an arrow, with the movement authority communicated to the train’s European Vital Computer (EVC) via a balise mounted between the running rails. To indicate when a movement authority has been issued past a marker board, it will show with a dark blue background. When no movement authority has been issued, we show the marker board with a lighter, more transparent background.

The control system for the new section at Romford ROC also sends axle counter section occupation data. We show these on the map as a series of yellow dots between two parts of the track. When one of these indications is showing, it means a train is occupying that section of track.

Undoubtedly, we’ll discover bugs and mistakes in the map we’re drawn – if you see anything untoward, please contact support with details.

Recently, the Samsung Internet browser application was updated with new features which broke its compatibility with our site. The browser has an AI-driven privacy feature which strips out some very necessary tracking data from the technology we use to deliver our live maps.

A big thank you to @MalcolmA73 on Twitter who has discovered that turning off the smart anti-tracking functionality fixes the problem.

For the technically minded, the problem is that the browser views the URL for our Websocket server, which includes a unique value in the URL for each connection, as a privacy concern. This isn’t really true in our view – the unique value allows us to send the right data to the right browser, and is actually less intrusive than tracking by IP address and TCP port number.

We’re working on a feature that will automatically identify if you’re trying to use our maps from a Samsung browser and display some information on how to disable the privacy feature for our website. If all goes to plan, this should be in the update on Sunday 22nd May 2022.

This week, we’ve been busy looking at a problem with the Samsung Internet browser continually trying to connect to our maps. At the moment, we’re unsure what the exact problem is – if you’re affected, please use another browser for the time being, such as Chrome or Firefox (other browsers are available). For the technically minded, when the Samsung browser connects to our load balancer, it seems not to upgrade the HTTPS connection to a Websocket connection properly, and we’re not sure why.

Since we’ve been preoccupied, there’s only a bunch of minor updates to announce:

• We’ve updated the North Kent Line map to add the connection in to the Crossrail Core east of Abbey Wood
• We’ve tidied up Fawkham Junction, adding signal and route indications
• The signal and route indication problem with the Crewe – Shrewsbury map is no longer present, so we’ve removed the warnings and drawn in further router indications
• Signals at Littlehampton were shown as colour-light signals, but are in fact semaphore signals. We’ve updated our map to make this clear, and adding BH72 signal at Arundel which was missing
• The two junctions at Tonbridge are now labelled East and West, and not both the same name, defying the compass
• Routes from T560 signal at Purley were incorrectly drawn in to platform 4, rather than platform 5 as they are in reality
• As well as fixing the name of Castle Donington siding on the Sheet Stores Junction map, we’ve added in East Midlands Gateway which was built after the maps we were working from. We also have routes around Trowell and Ilkeston Junctions
• Some routes at Leicester weren’t indicating correctly, so we’ve fixed these
• The routes from WK802 at Woking were incorrectly drawn due to a mis-positioned crossing, which we’ve resolved
• At Clay Mills Junction, routes were showing incorrectly from signal 184, and routes were also showing incorrectly at Burton-on-Trent and Leicester Junction
• Platform 1 at Retford is now drawn in the right place

And finally – to everyone who’s asked when our Crossrail/Elizabeth Line/Purple Train map will be available… it’ll be the day before the line officially opens to the public.

This evening, we released a new version of the site with lots of updates to maps:

• Our coverage now extends through Telford Central on the new Oxley area map. This map is slightly unusual in that it has additional berths without signals at Telford, used for reporting train movements to TRUST
• The Northern City Line is being re-signalled over the weekend, with ETCS marker boards and very little change to signal positions. We’ve updated our map accordingly so you can watch the commissioning take place
• The new crossovers at Leeds are shown on, unsurprisingly, our Leeds map. We’ve also taken the opportunity to finish adding route indications to the rest of the map, which is no easy task
• The North Kent East map now has route indications at St Johns, Lewisham and Lewisham Vale Junctions, Parks Bridge Junction and Courthill Loop Junctions
• We missed the resignalling at Trafford Park, so our Salford area map has only just been updated. Trains between Castlefield Junction and Urmston are now showing correctly
• We also added route indications at Otford Junction
• The GNGE map has been slightly extended past Retford Low Level toward Worksop

As always, there are a bunch of other minor things we’ve fixed that you’ve reported – missing crossovers, signals in the wrong position, incorrect map labels. Please remember to report any issues using the support email address. We log everything we get there, and it can’t get lost in somebody’s inbox.