Atlas

Official7 tools

by Flightmussy · JavaScript

The world railway atlas as MCP tools: 744+ legendary train routes, night trains, journey times.

Topics

datasetgeojsonmapsmcpmcp-serveropen-datarailwaytrainstravel

Captured live from the server via tools/list.

search_routes

Free-text search over every route in the TrainRouter atlas — matches route name, cities, train name, operator and countries, with optional category/country filters. Accent-insensitive; every word of the query must match. Returns compact per-route facts with id and trainrouter.com URL, sorted by renown with route-name matches first; with no query it lists the whole atlas by renown. Use get_route with a returned id for full detail, famous_routes for a ready-made top list, city_pair for A-to-B journey times.

Parameters4

query	string	optional	Free text matched against name, cities, train, operator and countries — e.g. "glacier", "Tokyo", "Amtrak". Omit to browse all routes by renown.
category	string	optional	Only routes in this category.
country	string	optional	Only routes crossing this country — full name or 2-letter ISO code ("Switzerland" or "CH").
limit	integer	optional	Max routes returned. Default 10, max 50.

Raw schema

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "query": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Free text matched against name, cities, train, operator and countries — e.g. \"glacier\", \"Tokyo\", \"Amtrak\". Omit to browse all routes by renown."
    },
    "category": {
      "type": "string",
      "enum": [
        "high-speed",
        "classic",
        "night",
        "scenic"
      ],
      "description": "Only routes in this category."
    },
    "country": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Only routes crossing this country — full name or 2-letter ISO code (\"Switzerland\" or \"CH\")."
    },
    "limit": {
      "type": "integer",
      "description": "Max routes returned. Default 10, max 50."
    }
  },
  "additionalProperties": false,
  "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#"
}

get_route

Full record for one atlas route by exact id: distance, fastest time, top speed, operator, rolling stock, opening year, ridership, story, on-route sights, photo and page URL, plus country-hub links. An unknown id returns up to 5 close-match suggestions instead of failing. Use search_routes first when you only have a name or city.

Parameters1

string

required

Exact route id in kebab-case, e.g. "glacier-express" — take it from search_routes, famous_routes or routes_in_country results.

Raw schema

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "id": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Exact route id in kebab-case, e.g. \"glacier-express\" — take it from search_routes, famous_routes or routes_in_country results."
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "id"
  ],
  "additionalProperties": false,
  "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#"
}

famous_routes

The world's most famous train journeys in TrainRouter's renown order (rank 1 = most famous: Trans-Siberian, Glacier Express, Orient Express lineage, Shinkansen…), as compact facts with id and URL per route. Best first call for bucket-list and "greatest train trips" questions; use search_routes to find something specific, get_route for full detail on one route.

Parameters1

limit

integer

optional

How many top-ranked routes. Default 25, max 100.

Raw schema

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "limit": {
      "type": "integer",
      "description": "How many top-ranked routes. Default 25, max 100."
    }
  },
  "additionalProperties": false,
  "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#"
}

routes_in_country

Every atlas route crossing one country, sorted by renown, plus that country's trainrouter.com hub URL when it exists. An unrecognised country returns an error, not an empty list. Use for "trains in X" questions; use search_routes to combine a country with text or category filters, night_trains for sleepers only.

Parameters1

country

string

required

Country name or 2-letter ISO code, e.g. "Japan" or "JP". Accent-insensitive; unambiguous partial names resolve.

Raw schema

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "country": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Country name or 2-letter ISO code, e.g. \"Japan\" or \"JP\". Accent-insensitive; unambiguous partial names resolve."
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "country"
  ],
  "additionalProperties": false,
  "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#"
}

night_trains

Sleeper routes from the atlas, sorted by renown — all of them by default, or only those starting or ending in a given city — with the per-city night-train guide URL when one exists. Use for overnight and sleeper questions; city_pair for concrete A-to-B times; search_routes for other route categories.

Parameters1

city

string

optional

Optional city filter matched against route endpoints (accent-insensitive), e.g. "Vienna".

Raw schema

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "city": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Optional city filter matched against route endpoints (accent-insensitive), e.g. \"Vienna\"."
    }
  },
  "additionalProperties": false,
  "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#"
}

city_pair

Journey facts between two cities (European coverage): fastest and typical duration, whether direct trains run, fewest changes, operators and the guide URL — plus legendary atlas routes on that corridor. Direction-insensitive. Figures are sampled from public schedule data, not live times — treat as planning estimates. An uncovered pair returns an error with a search_routes tip.

Parameters2

from	string	required	Origin city, e.g. "London". City name only, no station needed; accent-insensitive.
to	string	required	Destination city, e.g. "Paris".

Raw schema

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "from": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Origin city, e.g. \"London\". City name only, no station needed; accent-insensitive."
    },
    "to": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Destination city, e.g. \"Paris\"."
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "from",
    "to"
  ],
  "additionalProperties": false,
  "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#"
}

atlas_stats

One-call snapshot of what the TrainRouter atlas covers: total route count, countries, combined length in km, the category list, number of city-pair guides, data snapshot date, and direct URLs to the main browse pages (world map, all routes, Europe/USA maps, night trains, scenic, by-country, city-to-city). Takes no parameters. Call it to learn what this server can answer, to cite dataset totals, or to link a browse page — it returns no individual routes; use search_routes or famous_routes for those.

Parameters

No parameters.

Raw schema

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {},
  "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#"
}

README.md5 KBView on GitHub

TrainRouter Atlas — the world's legendary train routes, as open data

DOI

744 train routes · 118 countries · ≈ 366,500 km of line — every route with its key facts and hand-traced geometry, from trainrouter.com, the interactive world railway map.

High-speed spines (Eurostar, TGV, Shinkansen, AVE), classic long-distance runs (Trans-Siberian, California Zephyr), night trains (Nightjet, the Ghan) and the scenic lines people fly in just to ride (Glacier Express, Bernina Express, the Jacobite).

🗺️ Explore it interactively: trainrouter.com 🤖 Use it from an AI assistant: free MCP server at https://trainrouter.com/mcp (how to connect)

Files

File	Contents
`data/routes.csv`	One row per route — all facts, no geometry
`data/routes.json`	Same records with structured country objects
`data/routes.geojson`	`LineString` per route (lon/lat waypoints) + all facts as properties

Schema

Field	Type	Notes
`id`	string	Stable slug, e.g. `glacier-express`
`name`	string	Route/service name
`from`, `to`	string	Terminus cities
`category`	enum	`high-speed` · `classic` · `night` · `scenic`
`train`	string	Rolling stock, e.g. `e320 · Class 374`
`operator`	string	Operating company
`distance_km`	number	Route length
`top_speed_kmh`	number	Service top speed
`duration`	string	Published journey time, e.g. `2 h 16 min`
`opened`	number	Year the line/service entered service
`pax_per_year`	number\|null	Approx. annual ridership where published
`countries_iso` / `countries`	string	`\|`-separated, in travel order (CSV); structured objects in JSON
`highlight`	string	One-line description of what makes the route legendary
`fame_rank`	number	1 = most famous (TrainRouter renown ranking)
`url`	string	The route's page on trainrouter.com

Quick start

python

import pandas as pd
routes = pd.read_csv("data/routes.csv")
routes.nsmallest(10, "fame_rank")[["name", "from", "to", "distance_km"]]

import geopandas as gpd
gdf = gpd.read_file("data/routes.geojson")
gdf.plot(column="category", figsize=(16, 8))

Accuracy & provenance

Figures are approximate published values (operator sites, timetables, press material) — good for exploration and visualization, not operations.
Geometry is hand-traced at map scale to follow each line's real corridor — it is not survey-grade track alignment.
The dataset is curated: it covers the world's notable routes, not every railway line on earth.
Not included here (they live on the site): per-route stories and sights, photos, and city-to-city journey guides.

License & attribution

CC BY 4.0 — free to use, share and adapt, with attribution to TrainRouter. A link to https://trainrouter.com (or the specific route page in url) satisfies attribution.

Also available on

Kaggle: kaggle.com/datasets/albanius/world-train-routes-trainrouter-atlas
Hugging Face: huggingface.co/datasets/Flightmussy/trainrouter-atlas
Zenodo (archived, DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21322030 — always resolves to the latest version

Citing

TrainRouter Atlas: the world's legendary train routes (2026). trainrouter.com. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.21322030. https://github.com/Flightmussy/trainrouter-atlas

Updating

The data is generated from the TrainRouter atlas source. New versions land here first; publishing a GitHub release mints a fresh Zenodo DOI and (once the repo's KAGGLE_API_TOKEN/HF_TOKEN secrets are configured) syncs the Kaggle and Hugging Face mirrors automatically via sync-mirrors.yml.

Also in this repo

mcp/ — source of the TrainRouter MCP server (live at https://trainrouter.com/mcp, listed in the Official MCP Registry as com.trainrouter/atlas), which serves this atlas as tools for Claude and other MCP clients.

Install

Tools (7)

search_routesget_routefamous_routesroutes_in_countrynight_trainscity_pairatlas_stats

Remote endpoint

Streamable HTTP

Hosted server - connect over the network, no local install.

url

https://trainrouter.com/mcp

Add to VS Code Add to Cursor

claude_desktop_config.json

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "atlas": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://trainrouter.com/mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Desktop config is stdio-only; this bridges via mcp-remote. Native remote: Settings > Connectors.