Mind the Gates — UK level crossings

Live barrier status and closure forecasts for ~1,600 UK level crossings. Public data, no auth.

Should I use this

Quality & Safety

A
Description quality
100%
Schema completeness
83%
Naming quality
85%
Poisoning risk
100%
Permission match
100%
Protocol compliance
100%

Based on automated analysis of tool definitions and protocol compliance.

Context Cost

~801Tokens (tool definitions)
~866 BTypical response size
Moderate attention impact (0.63% of 128k context)

This is the approximate number of tokens consumed each time the server's tools are loaded into a model's context. Higher counts reduce the attention available for other tasks.

Install

One-Click Install

Add this to your `claude_desktop_config.json` file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "crossings": {
      "url": "https://mindthegates.uk/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Remote endpoints

https://mindthegates.uk/mcpstreamable-http

What it can do

Tool inventory

Tools (4)

🟢 Read-only🟡 Write🔴 Delete⚪ Unknown
🟢list_crossings(query, limit)

Search UK level crossings by name, URL word or region name (substring, case-insensitive). Returns one line per match — name, crossing type, region, and a status URL ending .md that returns that crossing's live markdown status. Reports the total match count and returns the first `limit`; there is no pagination, so narrow the query to see different matches. Names starting with the query sort first.

Input Schema

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "query": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Substring of a crossing name, its URL word, or a region name, e.g. 'thatcham' or 'kent'."
    },
    "limit": {
      "type": "integer",
      "minimum": 1,
      "maximum": 50,
      "default": 10,
      "description": "Maximum matches to return; clamped to 1-50. The total match count is reported regardless."
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "query"
  ]
}
🟢crossing_status(crossing)

Live barrier status, the next-30-minute closure timeline and approaching trains for ONE crossing, as markdown. Forecasts are rebuilt per request from the live train feeds, so the answer changes minute to minute. Informational only — never a substitute for the signals and barriers at the crossing itself. An ambiguous name returns the candidate URL words to choose between; an unknown one asks you to call list_crossings first.

Input Schema

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "crossing": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "The crossing's URL word as returned by list_crossings (e.g. 'thatcham'), or its name — spaces are accepted and hyphenated internally."
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "crossing"
  ]
}
🟢crossings_near(lat, lon, limit)

Nearest listed level crossings to a point, closest first. Returns one line per crossing — distance in MILES, then name, type, region and a status URL ending .md. Distance is straight-line (great circle) between the point and the crossing, NOT distance by road or along the railway: it answers 'which crossings are near this place', not 'which will this train reach next'.

Input Schema

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "lat": {
      "type": "number",
      "minimum": -90,
      "maximum": 90,
      "description": "Latitude in WGS84 decimal degrees, e.g. 51.3958. Positive is north."
    },
    "lon": {
      "type": "number",
      "minimum": -180,
      "maximum": 180,
      "description": "Longitude in WGS84 decimal degrees, e.g. -1.2637. NEGATIVE is west, which is most of Great Britain."
    },
    "limit": {
      "type": "integer",
      "minimum": 1,
      "maximum": 25,
      "default": 5,
      "description": "How many crossings to return, nearest first; clamped to 1-25."
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "lat",
    "lon"
  ]
}
🟢busiest_today

The ten UK level crossings with the most predicted road-closed time today. Takes no arguments. Each line gives the rank, crossing name, predicted minutes closed across the whole day, and a status URL ending .md. The ranking is computed from today's timetable once per day, shortly after UK midnight, and the build timestamp is included in the reply — it is a whole-day total, not a live reading, so use crossing_status for what a barrier is doing now. Briefly unavailable right after a restart while the first build runs.

Input Schema

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {},
  "additionalProperties": false
}

Recommended Prompts

list_items
List all [items] available in Mind the Gates — UK level crossings
Expected tools: list_crossings
browse_collection
Show me the [collection] from Mind the Gates — UK level crossings
Expected tools: list_crossings

Community

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Evidence

Recent observations

verifiedversion not recorded4 tools
verifiedversion not recorded4 tools