The joy of train apps

It is hardly a secret that I like trains. Indeed, as I write, I am on a Eurostar as it cuts through Northern France between Lille Europe and Calais-Fréthun. But it is not just the actual travelling that entertains me, it is the planning, the anticipation, if you like.

I have, as a result, been a big fan of the DB Navigator app, which allows you to plan a route from, say, Stowmarket to Vladivostok, choosing your preferred connections or breaking up the journey as you see fit, so that you can break your journey between Chisinau and Bucharest in Iasi, because the scheduled arrival at 5.50 a.m. is a bit on the antisocial side for a night owl like me.

But it isn't necessarily convenient for purchasing tickets from your required starting point, so I've spent the spare moments of my weekend exploring the wonderful world of railway apps for the iPad. So far, I've found the Voyagés-SNCF app, which is alright, but not spectacular, the SNCB app, which is quite nice, but best of all are the Swiss railway apps, for there are two of them. There is a standard one, and a social networking app, whereby you can become Mayor of a station, just as you can in FourSquare, gain vouchers for use in purchasing future rail tickets, and find out where your nearest station is, seemingly anywhere in Europe, and see when trains are due to run. You can invite your friends to join, 'chat' with them in real time, and log in via Twitter.

Next, I ought to see who else have train apps. Poland, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands, perhaps?...