How to Check Live Train Departures and Arrivals on National Rail

Updated

To check live train information on nationalrail.co.uk, use the Plan Your Journey panel on the homepage: enter a departure station, optionally add a destination, choose Departures or Arrivals, and select Show live trains. The results give real-time departure and arrival information for any National Rail station in Great Britain. The destination field is optional, so you can see all live services from a station rather than only trains to one place.

Step by step

  1. Open the Plan Your Journey panel. It sits on the National Rail homepage and is headed "Plan Your Journey".
  2. Enter the station you are travelling from in the "Departing from" field. Use the swap control next to the fields if you need to reverse the from/to stations.
  3. Choose the query type. Select the Departures radio button to see trains leaving the station, or Arrivals to see trains arriving there.
  4. Add a destination if you want to filter. The "Going to" field is marked optional. Leave it blank to see live trains across the station; fill it in to narrow results to services toward that station.
  5. Select "Show live trains". The site returns real-time departure and arrival information for the station you entered.

Expected result: a live board for your chosen station in the mode you selected, showing real-time information rather than a static timetable.

What the live results cover

The site states that the live departures tool provides real-time departure and arrival information for any National Rail station in Great Britain. That makes it suitable for checking what is leaving or arriving at a specific station now, whether or not you have a final destination in mind.

Checking disruption before you travel

Live times only tell part of the story, so check the Disruptions section as well. National Rail has updated this area of the website and app:

  • A red dot appears on the Disruptions menu item when there is new travel disruption information.
  • You can filter disruption information to what is relevant to you: live disruptions happening now, planned improvement work up to 12 weeks in advance, or your Station Alerts, all in one place.
  • Real-time train company Status Updates and planned Engineering Works are also available in the menu.

If planned engineering work affects your route, you may need a different route or a rail replacement service, so check this before relying on a departure time.

Common sticking points

  • Leaving "Going to" blank is allowed. If you are unsure which service you need, run a departures query without a destination first.
  • Departures and arrivals are separate modes. If you see the wrong board, switch the radio button rather than re-entering stations.
  • A live time is not a guarantee. Disruption information and status updates can change the picture, so check both before setting out.