Extend connection elements (de: Anschlußinformationen erweitern)

Description

Several issues have been identified for the connection element.

External train connections

There are two use cases that do not allow connection information to be exported in a valid railML file:

partial export - only one or several trains are exported instead of the whole timetable (e.g. for an incremental update)
missing information - trains to which connections exist are not available in the source system (e.g. cross border traffic or trains for another operator)

For this reason it shall be possible to supply connection information for a train even if the other train is not exported in the same file. For this the external reference needs to provide information regarding the connection itself and possibly a constraint on the days the connection takes place. The external reference shall be possible for:

train/operator
TAF TAP TSI unique train identifier
a line
text information only

Connection Details

The following connection details cannot be supplied in railML 2.2:

connection shall not take place - e.g. to prevent an importing system from deriving this particular connection
connection is not guraranteed
connections is on the same platform

Changes in railML 2.3

railML elements

Updated attributes:

connections/connection/@trainRef is now optional New optional attributes:
connections/connection/@operatingPeriodRef
connections/connection/@notGuaranteed
connections/connection/@nonConnection
connections/connection/@samePlatform
New optional element:
connections/connection/externalReference
externalReference/tafTapTsiTrainID
externalReference/trainNumber
externalReference/lineNumber
externalReference/information The following XSD file(s) have been updated:

timetableTypes.xsd

Changesets

[changeset:"614/railML"] - additional attributes for connection element
[changeset:"615/railML"] - documentation for connection corrected
[changeset:"651/railML"] - add externalReference to connection

Documentation Tasks

Document the new changes, new attributes and element for connection
Create a wiki page for externalReference