Thanks for the info! I must admit I was going by the reviews that appeared shortly after your app was released, so apologies for the incorrect information. Very interesting about the NRE data being available to all (for a fee obviously). I shall certainly take a detailed look at your app, and post a full review in due course.

I just wanted to clear up a few common misconceptions in this post. Firstly, the National Rail Enquiries app you mention isn’t developed or sold by National Rail Enquiries. The app is developed and sold by my company, Agant Ltd.

Our app costs £4.99 because we can’t develop it for free – we’re a small independent iPhone development company, and we have to make money from our apps somehow. We decided to charge a one-off fee, as this was the only option at the time we launched the app. This one-off fee covers all future updates to the app, all of which will be free.

We’ve worked with NRE to make sure that our app is using licensed data, to ensure that it is around for the long term. The free apps you mention weren’t using licensed data, and this is why they are no longer available.

I should also add that we certainly don’t have a monopoly on using NRE’s data – in fact, our license agreement explicitly states that NRE can work with other companies too (and we completely agree that this should be the case).

If you don’t want to buy our app, you can always use the free CrossCountry Trains app (for live departures and arrivals), or the Trainline app (for journey planning). But I’d definitely recommend you try our app – we’ve spent over 12 months developing it, and have some great ideas in store for future versions too.