
atlas
The world railway atlas as MCP tools: notable train routes, night trains, journey times.
What it can do
What data it sees
Do you need an account
No: the server works without sign-in
The world railway atlas as MCP tools: notable train routes, night trains, journey times.
How to connect
How to connect atlas to Claude
The server address to paste into Claude settings:
https://trainrouter.com/mcp
- Open Claude (claude.ai or the desktop app).
- Go to Settings → Connectors.
- Click Add custom connector.
- Paste the server address copied below into Remote MCP server URL and click Add.
- In a chat, click + → Connectors and switch the new connector on.
Custom connectors are available on Free, Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans (Free is limited to one). On Team and Enterprise an organization Owner adds the connector first under Organization settings → Connectors.
Authorization
After you click Add, a sign-in window for the service opens. Sign in with your own account and approve access. Claude never sees your password.
How to connect atlas to ChatGPT
The server address to paste into ChatGPT settings:
https://trainrouter.com/mcp
- Open ChatGPT in a browser (chatgpt.com). A Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise or Edu plan is required.
- Turn on developer mode once: Settings → Apps → Advanced settings → Developer mode.
- Open Settings → Connectors and click Create.
- Fill in the form: Name (anything), Description (one line about what the service does), MCP server URL (copy it below).
- Under Authentication choose OAuth if the service requires sign-in, otherwise None. Click Create.
- In a new chat open + → Apps/Connectors and enable the connector.
OpenAI has renamed this section before (Connectors → Apps/Plugins). If the label differs, search settings for "developer mode". On Business/Enterprise workspaces an admin must allow custom connectors first.
Authorization
On first use ChatGPT opens the service's sign-in window. Sign in and approve access.
How to connect atlas to Cursor
The server address to paste into Cursor settings:
https://trainrouter.com/mcp
Fastest: click Open in Cursor below and confirm the prompt.
Manually:
- In Cursor open Settings → Cursor Settings → MCP and click Add new global MCP server.
- Paste the JSON copied below into
~/.cursor/mcp.json(per project:.cursor/mcp.jsonin the repo root). - Save the file. The server appears in the MCP list; authorize it there if asked.
Authorization
If the service needs sign-in, an authorize button appears next to the server in the MCP list.
Server tool list (7)
Raw names from tools/list. Only developers need these.
| search_routes | Free-text search over every route in the World Train Map atlas — matches route name, cities, train name, operator and countries, with optional category/country filters. Accent-insensitive; every word of the query must match. Returns compact per-route facts with id and worldtrainmap.com URL, sorted by renown with route-name matches first; with no query it lists the whole atlas by renown. Use get_route with a returned id for full detail, famous_routes for a ready-made top list, city_pair for A-to-B journey times. |
| get_route | Full record for one atlas route by exact id: distance, fastest time, top speed, operator, rolling stock, opening year, ridership, story, on-route sights, photo and page URL, plus country-hub links. An unknown id returns up to 5 close-match suggestions instead of failing. Use search_routes first when you only have a name or city. |
| famous_routes | The world's most famous train journeys in World Train Map's renown order (rank 1 = most famous: Trans-Siberian, Glacier Express, Orient Express lineage, Shinkansen…), as compact facts with id and URL per route. Best first call for bucket-list and "greatest train trips" questions; use search_routes to find something specific, get_route for full detail on one route. |
| routes_in_country | Every atlas route crossing one country, sorted by renown, plus that country's worldtrainmap.com hub URL when it exists. An unrecognised country returns an error, not an empty list. Use for "trains in X" questions; use search_routes to combine a country with text or category filters, night_trains for sleepers only. |
| night_trains | Sleeper routes from the atlas, sorted by renown — all of them by default, or only those starting or ending in a given city — with the per-city night-train guide URL when one exists. Use for overnight and sleeper questions; city_pair for concrete A-to-B times; search_routes for other route categories. |
| city_pair | Journey facts between two cities (European coverage): fastest and typical duration, whether direct trains run, fewest changes, operators and the guide URL — plus legendary atlas routes on that corridor. Direction-insensitive. Figures are sampled from public schedule data, not live times — treat as planning estimates. An uncovered pair returns an error with a search_routes tip. |
| atlas_stats | One-call snapshot of what the World Train Map atlas covers: total route count, countries, combined length in km, the category list, number of city-pair guides, data snapshot date, and direct URLs to the main browse pages (world map, all routes, Europe/USA maps, night trains, scenic, by-country, city-to-city). Takes no parameters. Call it to learn what this server can answer, to cite dataset totals, or to link a browse page — it returns no individual routes; use search_routes or famous_routes for those. |