Amtrak smart home integration, free and open source
Amtrak, VIA Rail and Brightline trains in real time: delay, next stop, arrival at your station.
Published by guim31
- Devices
- Version 1.0.0
- Requires Gladys >=5.3.0
- ★ 0
Amtrak trains in real time in Gladys, and VIA Rail (Canada) and Brightline (Florida) trains too: delay, state, next stop, expected arrival at your station, and the next trains of a station.
Data: Amtraker, a free community API by piemadd that re-serves the public "Track Your Train" map of Amtrak, under the ODC-By 1.0 licence. Unofficial: this integration is not affiliated with Amtrak, VIA Rail, Brightline or Amtraker. No account and no key.
What you get
- A device per watched train (a train number, and optionally your station): delay (minutes), state (scheduled, en route, at a station, arrived, not running), next stop with its time and, with a station, the expected arrival there (text) and the minutes left (countdown).
- A device per watched station: the next train calling there, in how many minutes, and its delay.
- A dashboard widget: a train with its delay, arrival at your station and next stops, or the board of a station.
- Three scene triggers: train delayed, train approaching my station, train arrived.
- A scene action that reads a train, with a sentence ready to send by message or speaker.
Requirements
- Gladys Assistant 5.3.0 or later.
- Internet access from the Gladys host (the integration calls
api.amtraker.com). - A train number, as printed on the timetables and tickets:
5for the California Zephyr,v15for the VIA Rail Ocean (prefixv),b5150for a Brightline train (prefixb).
Installation
- In Gladys, open Integrations → Install from GitHub.
- Paste
https://github.com/guim31/gladys-amtrakand install. - Open the integration's Configuration tab.
Configuration
Settings
- Language of the texts: language of the feature names, of the states (texts) and of the sentences sent to your scenes. Feature names are set when a device is created.
- Refresh interval: 1 or 2 minutes (2 by default). One request per watched train number, or one request for every train as soon as a station is watched.
Watching a train or a station
- Optional: Find a station with a name, a city or a code lists the matching stations with
their code (
Chicago→Chicago Union [CHI]). - Watch a train: the train number, and optionally the code of your station. With a station, the device also gets the expected arrival there and a countdown, and the "Train approaching my station" trigger works. The station must be on the train's route.
- Watch a station: the code of a station, for its next trains.
- Open the Discover tab and create the device.
A train that is not running right now can be added: Amtraker lists a train shortly before it leaves, and the device fills in on its next run. The same train with another station makes another device.
Removing a watch, checking the state
Stop watching takes the name shown by Show what is watched, the train number or the station code. The device stays in Gladys until you delete it. Show what is watched lists the trains and stations, their devices, the last read from Amtraker and its last error.
Devices
A train number runs several days at once: a long-distance train like the California Zephyr (two days and a half) has three runs on the line together. The device follows the run that will reach your station first; without a station, the most recent one on the line, else the next one to leave, else the last one arrived.
| Feature | Type | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Delay | duration, minutes | At the next stop (on departure when the train is there) |
| Status | text | Scheduled, en route, at a station, arrived, not running |
| Next stop | text | "Galesburg · 16:14", in the station's time zone |
| Arrival at my station | text (with station) | "Emeryville · 17:29 (+32)", or the actual arrival time |
| Minutes to my station | duration (station) | Countdown, 0 once the train is there or has passed |
| Next train in (station) | duration, minutes | 1440 when no train is announced |
| Next train (station) | text | "5 California Zephyr → Emeryville · 14:00 (+5)" |
| Delay of the next train (station) | duration, minutes | Departure delay, or arrival delay at a terminus |
An early train shows a delay of 0. Times are those of the station, as on the timetables.
Dashboard widget
Amtrak train: pick a watched train or station. A train shows its state and delay, its arrival
at your station, then its next stops with their times (hide them with Show the next stops);
green on time, orange from 5 minutes late, red from 30. A station shows its next ten trains (→
departure, ← arrival at the terminus). The caption names the data source, or an Amtrak alert of
the train; the Data: Amtraker button opens amtraker.com.
Scene triggers
- Train delayed: a watched train is late by the chosen number of minutes or more (5 to 120); once per run and threshold. Variables: train number, route, delay, next stop and its time.
- Train approaching my station: a train watched with a station is the chosen number of minutes from it (5 to 60); once per run and threshold. Variables: train number, route, station, minutes, expected arrival, delay.
- Train arrived: a watched train has reached your station (its terminus when watched without one). Variables: train number, route, station, arrival time, delay.
Nothing fires at the first read after a start: what is already there is not news. A threshold crossed long before a read (Amtraker down) is not announced late.
Scene actions
Read an Amtrak train returns, for a watched train, a sentence ("Train 5 California Zephyr: 38 min late, next stop Galesburg at 4:14 PM. Arrival at Emeryville at 5:29 PM.") and its values: number, route, state, delay, next stop and time, station, minutes to the station, arrival time. On a watched station, the sentence lists its next three trains and the values describe the next one.
Scene examples
- When Train approaching my station fires with 20 minutes, send "Leave now to pick up Grandma at the station" to your phone.
- Every morning at 7, Read an Amtrak train on your commuter train, then say the sentence on a speaker.
- When Train delayed fires with 30 minutes, postpone the dinner reminder.
Data, refresh and quotas
Amtraker is a free service run by one person, without a published quota: the integration reads it
at most once a minute, only for created devices, with one small request per train number (or one
request of about 110 kB for every train when a station is watched), and identifies itself. Amtrak
updates a train every few minutes, so a faster refresh would show nothing more. The station list
of Find a station is read at most once a day. Only /data/watch.json is written: the watched
trains and stations. When Amtraker does not answer, the integration status says so and the
devices keep their last values.
Amtraker data is under the ODC-By 1.0 licence: the widget, the actions and this page name it.
Troubleshooting
- "Not running": Amtraker does not list the train right now (it lists it shortly before its departure). Check the number on amtraker.com.
- "is not a station code": use Find a station; codes are 2 to 6 letters (
CHI,NYP). - "does not call at": the station is not on this train's route; the message lists its stops.
- The integration is shown offline: Amtraker cannot be reached; it comes back by itself.
- Logs: the integration logs only its lifecycle; set
LOG_LEVEL=debugfor every read.
Limits
- Developed without riding these trains: feedback welcome. Tested against the real Amtraker API (night train, short train, VIA Rail, station board).
- Cancellations are not published by Amtraker: a cancelled train simply disappears ("Not running").
- Unofficial data, re-served from Amtrak's public map: it may lag, or be missing for a while.
- Up to 10 watches. Feature names are set when the device is created.
Credits
- Data: Amtraker by piemadd (piemadd/amtrak), ODC-By 1.0, from Amtrak's "Track Your Train" map, VIA Rail and Brightline.
- Amtrak, VIA Rail and Brightline are trademarks of their owners. This integration is not affiliated with them.
Configuration settings
These are the settings Amtrak asks for in its configuration screen in Gladys.
| Setting | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| How it works | section | No | Watch a train by its number (and your station), or a station, with the actions below, then create its device in the Discover tab. Data from Amtraker (amtraker.com), a free community API: unofficial, not affiliated with Amtrak. |
| Language of the texts | select | No | Language of the feature names, of the states and of the sentences sent to your scenes. Feature names are set when a device is created. |
| Refresh interval | select | No | How often Amtraker is read for your created devices. Amtraker is a free service: keep it gentle. |
How to install Amtrak in Gladys
- In Gladys, open Integrations: Amtrak appears in the catalog, next to the native integrations, with a community badge.
- Click Install. Gladys pulls the Docker image (
ghcr.io/guim31/gladys-amtrak:1.0.0), starts it in a sandbox isolated from the core, and generates the integration's interface (devices, discovery and configuration). - Open the Configuration screen of the integration, fill in the settings, and save.
- You can also install it directly from its repository URL: https://github.com/guim31/gladys-amtrak.
Amtrak requires Gladys >=5.3.0. The catalog inside Gladys refreshes every hour, so a new version becomes available at most one hour after its release.
Not running Gladys yet? It is free and open source: follow the installation guide to get started.
About external integrations
Amtrak is an external integration: a community integration packaged as a Docker container and published on GitHub, that Gladys installs in one click and runs in a sandbox isolated from its core. It is published and maintained by guim31, not by the Gladys core team.
- Browse all integrations, native and community
- Build and publish your own external integration
- Source code on GitHub — source of this documentation