Network Rail Lifts and Escalators API
nr-lift-and-escalator.developer.azure-api.net
nr-lift-and-escalator.developer.azure-api.net
escalator/4567/emergency-stop
escalator/4567/reverse
escalator/4567/go-fast
lift/335/close-doors
lift/335/lights-off
lift/335/ignore-requests-from-level/2
I'm from Sozialhelden / Wheelmap.org (Germany), we'll explore if/how we can integrate this.
We also have a running web app to let passengers subscribe to elevator/escalator service changes via QR code. Feel free to get in touch (Email: sebastian@sozialhelden.de) if you're interested :)
Besides inaccessible vehicles, broken elevators are among the most significant pain points for people who regularly use a wheelchair, rollator, or stroller in public transit. Such an elevator can add an hour to your commute.
If you have a mobile impairment, it can save your day to know in advance if ‘your’ elevators work.
Berlin’s transit network (VBB) already does this: When you request a wheelchair accessible route, its app lets you navigate around broken elevators – thanks to facility status APIs of its connected partners.
To my knowledge, it’s the first transit operator to do this.
For passengers, there is an overview webpage: https://brokenlifts.org
IMO Google Maps and Apple Maps should have this feature, too.
For those not from the UK, "leaves on the line" is their #1 excuse for late-running trains.
The short answer is that leaves crushed under train wheels make for a very slippery layer that makes it hard to brake and can affect some of the train location tech (axel counters).
This post has some nice info about some research into why some leaves seem to be more of a problem than others, and also the measures used to try and clean the track.
Er, I think you mean track circuits, don't you? Those work by virtue of the train's wheels and axles creating an electrical connection between the two running rails, and would therefore indeed be likely to be affected by a potentially isolating layer of leaves on the line.
Axle counters on the other hand just detect the wheels by other means (usually contactless by magnetic or inductive sensing), so wouldn't be affected by the presence of leaves.
Again the UK is more susceptible to problems in this regard because it's been almost exclusively using track circuits for train detection until comparatively recently – it's only in the last two decades that axle counters have started seeing more widespread usage.
In practice this is not actually a very common cause of unanticipated delay, although it can happen. Where deciduous trees (the kind with annual leaf fall) grow over or very near to railway lines, leaves may accumulate on the rail and will be crushed by the tremendous weight of the train, this creates a potentially very low friction layer on the rail, which makes braking difficult, leading to problems with the train service. Of course both the most trivial (don't have so many deciduous trees in places where that's a problem; re-schedule trains during leaf fall to allow for worse braking) and sophisticated (fit special equipment to trains to destroy the leaves) solutions are in use to reduce the likelihood of this happening.
Because leaves don't seem like a big threat to a bipedal human the juxtaposition (seemingly unthreatening leaves actually causes big problems) is good comedy.
The actual most common reason announced is "Signal failure". This too is misleading and an opportunity for comedy, since it might seem as though it refers to e.g. an incandescent bulb burned out in a signal lamp - why not just fit two or use LEDs (they do). But in reality "signal failure" means any part of the entire signal system, including every sensor and component, might have failed and as a result the system has degraded working. For example perhaps in one of the sixteen motorised points ("switches" in US terminology) at a busy junction a sensor that confirms the metal "lock" to prevent undesired movement is in place has broken and its output is floating instead of tied. A human needs to go there, stop any trains nearby, take the machine to pieces, replace the sensor, put it all back, confirm it works, and then re-open, until then that part of the junction mustn't be used because the computer isn't sure it's safe, and all resulting delays will be reported as "Signal failure".