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

Rate this Server

Evidence

Recent observations

verifiedversion not recorded4 tools
verifiedversion not recorded4 tools
verifiedversion not recorded4 tools
verifiedversion not recorded4 tools
verifiedversion not recorded4 tools
verifiedversion not recorded4 tools