3 June 2026
- New Hide map labels option in the key: switch to a clean, label-free base map so the railway lines and stations stand out, without street and place names competing for attention. Your choice is remembered for next time.
2 June 2026
- New optional layer in the key: London Underground. Switch on the Tube, drawn in the official line colours (Central red, Victoria light blue, Piccadilly dark blue, and the rest). Hover or tap a line to see which it is, and tick Stations underneath to add the Underground stations too. Previously the Tube was only visible mixed in with light rail and trams; it now has its own layer.
- More stations now show up and are searchable: London Overground stops that share a Tube interchange, such as North Wembley, Walthamstow Central, Willesden Junction and Kew Gardens, can now be found by name or station code (e.g. “NWB”).
- Closed / former station markers are now larger and easier to tap.
- Smoother on mobile: pinching to zoom no longer accidentally brings up line details. Tap a line to see its name.
- The disused & abandoned lines layer now streams in as you pan and zoom (like the main network), so it's much lighter on phones when switched on.
- trainmap.co.uk now has a proper homepage introducing the map; the interactive map itself is unchanged and one tap away via “Open the map”.
- More accurate heritage-line colouring where a preserved railway joins the national network: the short Network Rail-owned stretch up to the junction now shows as standard rail, not heritage (for example the Swanage Railway approaching Worgret Junction).
- New guides for exploring the network: disused & abandoned lines, closed & former stations, heritage railways and a geographic Tube map, each opening the map with that layer ready to explore.
- On mobile, the map key no longer overlaps the credits bar when those credits are expanded.
1 June 2026
- New By the numbers page: the whole network counted up, with kilometres of track, stations past and present, the four corners of the map, and a few fun facts.
- Much lighter on phones: the railway network now streams in as you pan and zoom, instead of loading the whole country up front. The map starts faster and uses far less memory, so if it was crashing or running out of memory on your phone, it shouldn't anymore.
- Simpler search: it's now a single compact box that's always ready, with no title and no expanding/collapsing.
- New optional layer in the key: HS2. Switch on the route of the new high-speed railway, with its stations too. Sections (and stations) under construction and proposed/cancelled ones are shown in different colours (magenta for under construction, red for cancelled), with a small HS2 key that appears when you turn the layer on. The lines are dashed so they're clearly distinct from today's operational railway; hover or click for details.
31 May 2026
- This site is now credited to its maintainer, optional.org.uk, in the map credits and page footers.
- Click any station, current or closed / former, for quick links: an info button that opens its Wikipedia article, and a navigation button that opens its location in Google Maps, both in a new tab.
- When the closed / former stations layer is switched on, you can now search those by name too (e.g. “Box”).
- New Data & credits page, listing every data source and library the map uses, with licences.
- Heritage-railway stations (e.g. the full Swanage Railway, and Heatherslaw) are now shown and searchable, not just the odd one.
- Heritage lines (e.g. the Swanage Railway) now show fully in the heritage colour, not partly as standard rail.
- Standard and preserved (heritage) railways, and station markers, can now be toggled on or off in the key, and your choices are remembered between visits.
- Fixed railway lines that could appear broken or straightened at certain zoom levels.
- More stations now appear: National Rail / Underground interchanges (e.g. Amersham, Harrow-on-the-Hill) and additional heritage-railway stations.
- New optional layer in the key: closed / former stations (e.g. Box): thousands of stations that no longer exist, from Wikidata.
- You can now search by station code too (e.g. PAD, YRK), as well as by name or postcode.
- Search for rail lines by name (e.g. West Coast Main Line) and the map zooms to fit the whole route.
- Disused & abandoned lines now stand out more clearly when switched on.
- Zoom controls moved to the bottom-right so the panels no longer cover them (especially on mobile).
- The nearest-stations list can now be minimised, and on mobile it sits below the search box instead of over it.
- The map page loads faster (the railway data now streams in rather than loading all at once).
30 May 2026
- Search now works by station name as well as postcode.
- Railway lines thicken as you zoom in, so they're easier to tap.
- Larger station markers when zoomed in for clearer, easier selection.
- New toggle in the map key to turn off bridge/tunnel colour-coding and show all track in one colour.
- Heritage & preserved railways now shown in their own colour.
- Tunnel highlighting is more accurate: covered sections through buildings (station roofs, depot sheds) are no longer shown as tunnels.
- Two optional layers you can switch on in the key: light rail & trams, and disused & abandoned lines.
- Hovering a line now shows whether it's a siding, spur or yard, and which line or depot it belongs to (optional layers included).
- Northern Ireland's railways are now on the map.
- Principal tunnels and viaducts are now named (e.g. Severn Tunnel, Ribblehead Viaduct); zoom in to see more.
- The map key can now be minimised.
29 May 2026
- New nearest stations panel: see the three closest stations, with distances, after each search.
- Search panel tidies itself away after a search and remembers your last lookup.
- Tap a railway line on mobile to see its name.
November 2025
- Initial launch: the complete UK railway network with postcode search and a nearest-station finder.