Railway CLI

A command-line interface tool for searching Israel Railways train routes.

Installation

Prerequisites

This tool requires Python 3.11 or higher.

Using pip

# Install from GitHub
pip install git+https://github.com/yourusername/railway-cli.git

# Or, after downloading, install from the local directory
cd railway-cli
pip install .

# For development mode (changes to code will be reflected without reinstalling)
pip install -e .

Using uv (Faster Installation)

uv is a fast Python package installer and resolver:

# Install uv if you don't have it
pip install uv

# Install railway-cli with uv
uv pip install git+https://github.com/yourusername/railway-cli.git

# Or from local directory
cd railway-cli
uv pip install .

# For development mode
uv pip install -e .

Using pipx (Isolated Environment)

pipx installs packages in isolated environments to avoid dependency conflicts:

# Install pipx if you don't have it
pip install pipx
pipx ensurepath

# Install railway-cli with pipx
pipx install git+https://github.com/yourusername/railway-cli.git

# Or from local directory
cd railway-cli
pipx install .

Usage

Once installed, you can use the railwaycli command from anywhere.

Find Routes Between Default Stations (Ra'anana West and Tel Aviv HaShalom)

# Find routes at 9:00
railwaycli find_routes_by_hour 9

Find Routes Between Custom Stations

# Find routes between custom stations at 10:00
railwaycli find_routes_by_hour 10 "Herzliya" "Tel Aviv University"

# Using named parameters
railwaycli find_routes_by_hour 15 --origin="Jerusalem Navon" --destination="Beer Sheva Center"

Find Routes Between Any Stations (Alternative Method)

railwaycli find_routes "Tel Aviv HaShalom" "Jerusalem Navon" 10

Additional Options

• Set a specific date:

  railwaycli find_routes "Herzliya" "Beer Sheva Center" 8 --date=2025-06-01

Example Output

Here's what the output looks like when searching for routes between Ra'anana West and Tel Aviv HaShalom:

╭─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ Searching routes for 2025-04-30 at 09:00                                                │
╰─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

╭─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│                                                    Routes from Ra'anana West to Tel Aviv HaShalom                                                                │
├───────────┬───────────┬───────────┬───────────┬───────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Departure │ Arrival   │ Duration  │ Train #   │ Transfers │ Transfer Details                                                                                     │
├───────────┼───────────┼───────────┼───────────┼───────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 09:03     │ 09:22     │ 19m       │ 651       │ Direct    │ -                                                                                                    │
├───────────┼───────────┼───────────┼───────────┼───────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 09:33     │ 09:52     │ 19m       │ 653       │ Direct    │ -                                                                                                    │
╰───────────┴───────────┴───────────┴───────────┴───────────┴─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

╭─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│                                                    Routes from Tel Aviv HaShalom to Ra'anana West                                                                │
├───────────┬───────────┬───────────┬───────────┬───────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Departure │ Arrival   │ Duration  │ Train #   │ Transfers │ Transfer Details                                                                                     │
├───────────┼───────────┼───────────┼───────────┼───────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 09:07     │ 09:28     │ 21m       │ 650       │ Direct    │ -                                                                                                    │
├───────────┼───────────┼───────────┼───────────┼───────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 09:37     │ 09:58     │ 21m       │ 652       │ Direct    │ -                                                                                                    │
╰───────────┴───────────┴───────────┴───────────┴───────────┴─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

Here's an example with a transfer:

╭──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│                                                      Routes from Jerusalem Navon to Beer Sheva Center                                                                  │
├───────────┬───────────┬───────────┬───────────┬───────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Departure │ Arrival   │ Duration  │ Train #   │ Transfers │ Transfer Details                                                                                          │
├───────────┼───────────┼───────────┼───────────┼───────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 11:34     │ 13:53     │ 2h 19m    │ 724, 961  │ 1         │ Tel Aviv HaHagana: Train 724 → Train 961                                                                  │
│           │           │           │           │           │   Arrive: 12:44 (platform 4)                                                                               │
│           │           │           │           │           │   Depart: 12:51 (platform 2)                                                                               │
│           │           │           │           │           │   Wait: 7m                                                                                                 │
╰───────────┴───────────┴───────────┴───────────┴───────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

Features

• Beautiful, color-coded terminal output with line separations
• Support for both English and Hebrew station names
• Station code to name conversion
• Detailed transfer information including train numbers and platforms
• Fast querying by hour
• Error handling and validation

Dependencies

• fire - Command line interface generation
• israelrailapi - API client for Israel Railways
• pytz - Timezone handling
• rich - Terminal formatting and tables

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Display Format

The results are shown in beautifully formatted tables with the following information:

• Departure time
• Arrival time
• Journey duration
• Train numbers for each segment
• Number of transfers (or "Direct" for direct routes)
• Status indicators (crowding level, accessibility)
• Transfer details (for routes with changes), including:
  • Transfer station name
  • Arrival and departure times at the transfer station
  • Platform information
  • Wait time between trains

For the first route found, the tool also displays a detailed station-by-station breakdown showing all stops, arrival/departure times, and platforms.

Parameters

• hour: The hour of departure (0-23)
• origin: The name of the origin station (English or Hebrew)
• destination: The name of the destination station (English or Hebrew)
• date: Optional date in YYYY-MM-DD format (defaults to current date)

Notes

• The tool supports over 20 popular Israel Railways stations with automatic Hebrew translation.
• If a station name isn't recognized, it will be passed to the API as-is.
• If no routes are found at the specified hour, an appropriate message is displayed.
• Error messages are clearly highlighted for troubleshooting.

Examples

Search for routes from Herzliya to Beer Sheva at 8:00 AM:

railwaycli find_routes "Herzliya" "Beer Sheva Center" 8

Search for routes from Tel Aviv University to Haifa on a specific date:

railwaycli find_routes "Tel Aviv University" "Haifa Center" 16 --date=2025-05-10