PC Thirdrails Live Map Tracker Now Supports Train Sim World 5

Update 22-05-2025:
ThirdRails 9 has now full support for Train Sim World 5!
Whether you want to simply track your ride in Train Sim World or Train Sim Classic, enjoy stunning maps, discover new landmarks, join a growing multiplayer-style community, or integrate a timetable with spoken announcements , it’s all now possible.
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Here’s what you can do with ThirdRails in TSW right now:
[Edit 03-06-2025 to reflect full API support]

1. Track Yourself on the Multiplayer-Style Radar
Follow your train live on a map, complete with stations, signals, and discoverable landmarks. See and interact with other drivers, turning an isolated solo ride into a connected railway experience.

2. Drive Real-Time Timetables
Use live schedules from RealTimeTrains (UK) or DB (Europe) in both timetabled and freeroam scenarios. Enjoy spoken announcements along the way, triggered by the timetable or added manually.

3. Leverage the Live Browser
Access real-time data on train formations, schedules, and station info while driving. The built-in PDF viewer lets you pull up manuals, maps, or route notes without leaving the cab.

Interested?
What is ThirdRails? ThirdRails is a tracker
Check out more information here: ThirdRails forTrain Sim World users
Free download available here: https://thirdrails.org/downloads.html

I’m excited to see how this is adopted in the community—let me know what you think!

See you on the radar!

They say a video speaks louder than words, so hop in the cab and let us walk you through how simple it is to track your ride.

 

im still a bit confused on how this works

 

This is fantastic news BeenTrain ! I have been wondering if Thirdrails was ever going to be availalbe for TSW and now it is here.

Thanks for putting in the time and effort to create this.

 

I really appreciate what you've created, BeenTrain. I've been using it since the early days on TS.

 

I tried it today on the München to Augsburg route using an S3 service from Mammendorf to Hackerbrücke. It worked quite well. The only real difference from TSC is that you need to open the doors at each stop using TSW keys U or Y, as well as the ThirdRails keybinding of Alt T to record the stop.

At the end of the run, it didn't save to my ThirdRails Activity Logbook.

 

Working on it.

For logbook bit puzzling what to log, since we don't have driven miles logged.
Could probable calculate distance from the straight lines between the stations, but some stations could be missed if we can't find the GPS position, so it will be inacurate anyway. Maybe a combi with manual input or better waiting till an API is available.
But would be nice to log the timeliness.

 

[Updated to reflect full TSW API support]
I understand where you’re coming from.
ThirdRails has been in development for over six years, continuously adding new features.

At its core, ThirdRails is a tracking tool. You start the simulator, click "follow," and your in-game position is displayed on a real-world map (OSM, Bing, OpenRailwayMap). This position is broadcasted to the radar—a website that shows a map with all players in real-time, creating a multiplayer-style experience.

The second key feature of ThirdRails is extended gameplay, and this is where also TSW users can benefit. Extended gameplay allows you to pick up a real-time timetable (or create your own) and run it using ThirdRails' custom HUD. In this mode, you can ignore the in-game HUD and follow the timetable directly.

In Train Simulator Classic, this brings extra meaning to Quick Drive scenarios, where you’re not just driving from A to B—you’re executing a timetable, potentially in sync with a real-world service. As an added bonus, ThirdRails provides spoken announcements on every route, powered by over 450 Azure AI voices, enhancing the immersion.

In Train Sim World you could execute this on timetabled of freeroam scenarios with possibility to ignore ThirdRails timings and follow only the sim's timings.

I hope this helps!
For more information, visit the Learn Page, where you’ll find more tutorials and videos.

 

Is there AI traffic?

 

Yes.
In TSW5 for sure if you use a matching timetabled scenario.
In TSC it depends if the Quickdrive scenario provides AI traffic. Most do provide AI traffic.
For TSC the app also offers a Multiplayer option using standard scenarios.

 

Ah I think I've misunderstood what this does.

 

This is the best idea product for TSW thx.
I tried launch it with tsw5 on english routs(as in example) but i cant launch it with Koln-Achen rout. Help me please

 

For example:
I want drive Train ICE 15 Bruxelles-Frankfurt. In TSW i can choose it ICE15 11:40 from Aachen.
In ThirdRail choose StartService - Europe- choose ICE 15 and i see that Ice15 only Bruxelles-Aachen
So how i can drive it
P.S.
I founded Route RE9 - and choose it. But its not working I see me in browser but my speed 0km/h

 

You can search for service from Aachen?
Live schedules may differ from the one in game. You can choose what you want, you can for example ride a night service in TSW in the afternoon.

No speed and live tracking yet because currently TSW API does not support it.
So no realtime live tracking like in Train Simulator Classic.

 

A wonderful app!
Of the features, I noticed a time discrepancy with TW5, namely, if you synchronize the time, then after half an hour there will be a minute difference - the simulator is lagging behind) I also can't connect to the DB service, I don't know what caused it..


The UK service is fine -

 

A key aspect of ThirdRails Real Drive is that you can largely ignore the TSW HUD and execute the timetable using the ThirdRails HUD. This allows for more flexibility in real-time driving, such as running a night timetable during the day or adjusting your schedule dynamically without strict time constraints.
If the upcoming TSW API provides a way to extract the player's timetable, ThirdRails could automatically sync time, much like in TSC, where a scenario timetable is used for execution. (TS Drive)
This could open up a whole new gameplay experience, allowing for a multiplayer-style interaction on the radar where players follow and execute real-world schedules together. (It remains to be seen if the API provides this functionality)

That's a known issue (the used DB Service stopped working), and it's already fixed in our next update!
This update will be released alongside the official TSW API, which, according to Matt in the Roadmap Stream, is expected in one or two TSW updates, so hopefully within a few weeks.

 

Thank you for your reply. The upcoming update with API support is really good news. So far, I've found the best synchronization option for myself: I manually create a schedule according to the current schedule in TSW, enter the time and platforms, and then save and use them. Thus, in the ThirdRails application, the time corresponds to the time in the simulator. The main thing is to take into account the gaps during stops, this allows you to completely abandon the HUD. And the functionality of the program allows you to quickly recalculate the time in the schedule, when the departure time changes. This makes it easy to duplicate schedules for the same service but for different departure times. Thank you for developing such an application and I hope that in the future it will be fully optimized for working with TSW.

 

Tried this on a New Jersey route and worked flawlessly. Trying it now on Peninsula Corridor and it's all a mess. When I start at San Francisco it shows me in Spain (San Francisco) on the map. My first stop is 22nd Street and that shows me in Toronto (att 22nd Street.) Since it isn't reading location from TSW how can I get it to show me in the proper location? Really enjoy the announcement feature, as well as using a real world timetable in free roam.

Eddie

 

Really glad you’re enjoying it, Eddie!

Yeah, the station-based hopping isn’t perfect, it uses the Calling At station names, and sometimes it gets confused if different places share the same name. So every once in a while, you might end up halfway across the world!

The good news is: once the full TSW API drops (Matt mentioned in the roadmap stream it shouldn’t be too far off), we’ll have proper real-time tracking. All the features TSC drivers already have will be there for TSW drivers too.

Just need a little more patience… but trust me, it’s going to be amazing when it’s all up and running!

 

damn, this looks good, but I am too lazy to fiddle this much with stuff ... I am still wishfully thinking we get an Ebula/PTC kind of in-cab display on those blank unused screens in cabs ... so we can immerse in the game with either most or all of HUD gone

 

Hi Beentrain, this is the first I’m hearing of such an application, it sounds amazing. I’ll wait until TSW have released the API software first; however, I’m very excited to see where this goes. Keep up the good work.

 

Hello, whenever I try to start the service, it says ''please start TS first'', can I know what I have to do so I can use the app properly? Thanks

 

Assuming you want to use it with TSW you have to start TSW 5 before you can proceed.
Since ThirdRails was originaly build for TSC the 'old' message is showing.

 

I do have TSW5 started then started ThirdRails, I've tried it multiple times and it's still not working

 

That's strange I did not receive other reports on that. Could be that your system has another setup.
Please send an email to beentrain [at] gmail.com so we can workout a solution.

 

Just wanted to share that ThirdRails 9 now fully supports Train Sim World!
Whether you just want to track your ride, enjoy beautiful maps, discover new landscapes, or go all in with a service timetable and spoken announcements, it’s all there.

Give it a try!
More info: https://thirdrails.org/tut_tsw5.html

 

Is it possible to run it on Steam Deck?

 

This is FANTASTIC! I was using it before but now with the GPS it adds a whole new layer to the sim. Being able to follow along on a satellite map and compare to the in-game scenery really adds to the realism for me. And love the announcements.
Well done! And THANK YOU!

 

Out of interest you mention that we only have to enable -httpapi once, does that change any settings in game files and if so how do we turn it off if we decide to not use the program? Thank you

 

Good question!
Enabling -HTTPAPI doesn’t change any game files or settings, it simply opens up a local port on your PC that makes the TSW API available while the game is running.
If you decide not to use ThirdRails (or any API tool), just remove -HTTPAPI from your launch options, and that’s it, nothing permanent is changed.

 

This seems pretty neat, I'll be keeping an eye on it as it comes along.

 

I tried this out today and I am enjoying using ThirdRails in TSW after years of using it with TSC!

 

Thx DTG!! your GPS output export is beautiful!!!
ThirdRail working properly now Thx all

 

Is there an option, for those of us with multiple monitors, to pop out the thirdrails overlay to a window on a second display instead of having it overlay the ingame view?

 

Yes you can!
All HUD panels, including the Timetable, Speedometer, EBula, and Radar, can be freely moved anywhere on your screen by simply dragging them.

They currently reset to their default positions on startup (relative to the TSW form) , but saving their layout would be a good feature for a future release.

 

That is a good idea for an option.

I might try this out later today.

 

Hmm, activating the overlay ingame causes an infinite loop of unhandled exception errors. But that's cool as the regular thirdrails window looks fine on my second monitor so there's no need for the overlay HUD to ever be turned on.

 

That bug is fixed in version 9.0.0.3
Download hotfix here : https://www.thirdrails.org/downloads.html?v9003

 

Oh, wow, that this was not the version available to download on the downloads page when I went and grabbed it an hour ago

[edit] I see, it's there when I scroll down past the "latest" version.

Maybe ought to just offer a straight up installer for 9.0.0.3 as well as the fix for those who installed 9.0.0.0?

By the way, commendation on the variety of skins, I was even able to find my own windows desktop's theme in there, and I had to edit my registry to get that back after it was deprecated in W10.


Anyway - next question, is there a means of getting it to remember my layer settings for the radar tab the way it does for the map tab? Or synchronise the former to the latter?

 

And one more - is there a way to get my whistleboard profile to correctly reference me as "she" rather than the default "he"? Couldn't find a toggle in the settings.

 

I am still trying to get this to work. I can get it fine with TSC but TSW refuses to broadcast location. I added the script in to the Steam launcher, but in Thirdrails it shows the 5 icon but does not track and broadcasts nothing to the map.

I tried reinstalling the program but now every time I try to track it keeps showing unhanded exception has occurred a component in the application, I cannot close this as it just reappears with the message and I have to restart to get rid of it. This also happens now in TSC so after reinstalling it is no longer possible to track in TSC either.

How do I get this to work again and track TSW?

 

Please send a mail to beentrain [at] gmail.com with the exception text and I will try to get you back on track.

 

Just a follow on question to that. Is there any documentation available about this API? DTG has been talking about an official API, however, to what they are saying (even in the last roadmap stream…) it will only be released with the next editor update.

 

Yeah, it’s basically an early version of the official API. As far as I know, there’s no real documentation out yet. I’d guess that’ll come once it officially launches, probably with or after the next editor update like they mentioned in the roadmap stream.

 

Unfortunately I can't send you the email, every time I attempt to send it I just get redirected to "upgrade to 365" after it kept pausing the page several times while trying to type out the message. I don't know if I exceeded a character limit or what but I can't send with the error details in the text or with it attached. I do not want to pay subscription fees for all the stuff I won't even use when I just need to send an email. It seems to always end up being the case that you get a limited use then you have to pay subscription for stuff.

Anyway, I got Thirdrails to work in TSW 5 once though it did freeze at the end. Every attempt to click follow in TSC has caused the "unhandled exception" error. I will try and attach it here in a notepad document.

 

Good to hear you got TSW5 working!

The issue you’re seeing with TSC is an older problem that sometimes reappears for users who upgraded to version 9. To fix it, please go to File → Settings and use the “Edit RailDriver Location” button to manually set the RailDriver path.

That should resolve the error.

Hope this helps!

 

I have it set to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\RailWorks\plugins, is this what it sgould be set to? I don't think I currently have RailDriver setup for TSC as it isn't compatible with AP stock, do I need to update the drivers and have RD running for Thirdrails to follow?

 

ThirdRails doesn’t require the RailDriver hardware or drivers to be installed or running.
All it needs is the correct path to the RailDriver64.dll, which is part of the standard Train Simulator Classic installation.

If your TSC is installed on the C: drive (the default), then C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\RailWorks\plugins is indeed the right location.
If the DLL isn’t found, ThirdRails will let you know with a message.

If you’ve installed TSC elsewhere, just point to the correct plugins folder in your installation.

 

That is what it is set to and I have RailDriver64.dll in that folder but it is still giving the unhanded exception every time I hit follow.

 

Make sure you use the 64 bits version of TSC. It won't work with the DX12 or 32 bits version.

If it’s okay with you, feel free to drop me an email so we can look into it more directly, it’s often a bit easier to troubleshoot that way than through the forum.

 

64 bit is the version I am using. I tried emailing you before but it keeps giving me issues.