Any apps / web sites to see arrival time of a train that's already left departure station?

[freetaxi]

I frequently have to pick up members of my family from our local station. I'll get a call along the lines of "I've caught the 21:45 from Kings Cross, can you pick me up from Peterborough".

However nowhere can I seem to find out what time, for example, the 21:45 from Kings cross is expected to arrive at Peterborough if it has already left Kings Cross. All the Internet 'live arrival' type sites only seem to show trains departing in the future, not those that have already departed. Either that or you need to already know the arrival time in order to see where the train is now.

I don't want anything fancy and don't need the screen covered in ways to buy tickets. I just want to be able to enter something like '21:45 from Kings Cross to Peterborough' when its already 22:05 and be shown the expected (or actual) arrival time for every station on it's route, ideally with some indication of where the train is now so that I know when to leave for the pick up.

Is there such a thing on the net or for Android?

 

[The_Train]

Realtime Trains is your friend. Easiest way would be to type London Kings Cross as your location and scroll through to find the correct service against its departure time from there. Then click on said service and it will list all calling points and the expected time of arrival.....just scroll until you find Peterborough

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/advanced

 

[Strat-tastic]

It follows the train live, as it were, so when you refresh the screen it updates where it currently is and how late or early it is running.

 

[Highlandspring]

Or enter Peterborough as the location and London Kings Cross in the “Calling at earlier” box.

 

[The_Train]

Or enter Peterborough as the location and London Kings Cross in the “Calling at earlier” box.

I didn't know you could do that (probably because I tend to use the mobile version)...there is my learn something new every day completed for today

 

[rich r]

The National Rail Enquiries app also shows the expected arrival times. You just need to press the 'Earlier' button to show earlier trains to show ones that departed in the past. The expect arrival time at each station (with current delays) is shown in red next to the timetabled time in black.

I use it most days at the moment to see when I'm likely to arrive. My TPE train home from Leeds is always delayed (this week generally by 26 or 27 minutes), and it's pitch black outside so I've no idea where we are or how fast we're going.

 

[DelW]

Alternatively, on the National Rail website, choose the 'stations and on train' tab, put in the station you're collecting people from, click to search for it, then select 'live arrivals' and it will give you expected arrival times of all services for the next hour or so

 

[freetaxi]

on the National Rail website, ... select 'live arrivals' and it will give you expected arrival times of all services for the next hour or so

Tried it just now (at 13:20) by selecting arrivals. It gave 8 trains expected to arrive between 13:48 and 15:17 but did not say when they left Kings Cross so you don't know which arrival time is the one you want.

The only way to find out is to repetitively select each one in turn and click 'details' to see if that train is the one you are interested in.

Also tried selecting 'departures' from kings cross to Peterborough. The earliest train shown was leaving in the future at 14:03. There is no option to view earlier trains on either arrivals or departures.

The website I was looking at was http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/ldbboard/arr/PBO/KGX/From and the same one but /To at the end

 

[freetaxi]

Realtime Trains is your friend. Easiest way would be to type London Kings Cross as your location and scroll through to find the correct service against its departure time from there. Then click on said service and it will list all calling points and the expected time of arrival.....just scroll until you find Peterborough

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/advanced

Ah, that's more like it. That seems to be what I was after even if its a little convoluted to get what you need. I don't know why the National Rail Enquiries site doesn't simply add one more column saying what time it left the station you chose. That would solve everthing.

 

[The_Train]

Ah, that's more like it. That seems to be what I was after even if its a little convoluted to get what you need. I don't know why the National Rail Enquiries site doesn't simply add one more column saying what time it left the station you chose. That would solve everthing.

I thought that when I first started to use it but as you use it more you'll find it pretty simplistic. There are ways to narrow your search down as well so that you're not faced with everything that comes and goes from Kings Cross. If using the mobile version of the site, you click on 'show extra search options' and you can put Peterborough into the 'later' box in the 'Calling At' section and it will show all services due to call at Peterborough after the departure time from Kings Cross.

 

[Essexman]

I use the National Rail one a lot. What I have noticed is that if a train is running late they assume that it will pick up time during the journey, whereas more often, unless they have a scheduled long stop somewhere, they tend to get later - until the last stop where they claw back a bit of the extra recovery time.

 

[Ethano92]

I frequently have to pick up members of my family from our local station. I'll get a call along the lines of "I've caught the 21:45 from Kings Cross, can you pick me up from Peterborough".

However nowhere can I seem to find out what time, for example, the 21:45 from Kings cross is expected to arrive at Peterborough if it has already left Kings Cross. All the Internet 'live arrival' type sites only seem to show trains departing in the future, not those that have already departed. Either that or you need to already know the arrival time in order to see where the train is now.

I don't want anything fancy and don't need the screen covered in ways to buy tickets. I just want to be able to enter something like '21:45 from Kings Cross to Peterborough' when its already 22:05 and be shown the expected (or actual) arrival time for every station on it's route, ideally with some indication of where the train is now so that I know when to leave for the pick up.

Is there such a thing on the net or for Android?

Although it may not be as good as others, I always use google maps for train departures as it loads very fast for me without having to search much. If you know the destination of their train, you could in this example click on the national rail logo for Peterborough station, then click where they list all the different train operators. It will then show you the next 20 or so arrivals. Click on a train to said destination and it has live train tracking showing you at what time it was due to depart each station . You could look through until you find one that departed kings cross at 21:45.

Real time trains is probably better

 

[Metal_gee_man]

RTT is a must for me, it allows me to annoy Se_railway on Twitter when they regularly can't run a service on time! Also being able to find out which platform at a terminus station a service that makes the return service is pulling into is great, it allows me to pass through the barriers before the departure boards announce the train, find my position on the platform and get a seat rather than join the scrum! In addition it helps to know how we are running in real time through various landmarks/junctions on the route rather than trying to work it out when you're non-stop for 30mins or more before your next stop

 

[cuccir]

Agree about RealTimeTrains - it's not always the most intuitive but it's also not difficult. Once you've used it half a dozen times it becomes familiar and is of real value.

I always cross-check it and Natioanl Rail Eniquiries though. RTT seems to be slightly less reliable than NRE in certain disruptions eg it seems to struggle with trains cancelled for part of their route

 

[button_boxer]

RTT is a must for me, it allows me to annoy Se_railway on Twitter when they regularly can't run a service on time! Also being able to find out which platform at a terminus station a service that makes the return service is pulling into is great, it allows me to pass through the barriers before the departure boards announce the train, find my position on the platform and get a seat rather than join the scrum! In addition it helps to know how we are running in real time through various landmarks/junctions on the route rather than trying to work it out when you're non-stop for 30mins or more before your next stop

Though it’s only as good as the data feed and won’t necessarily get the platform right in the case of a short notice set swap.

 

[Metal_gee_man]

It's more reliable than most platform staff, and unless there's a massive problem on the line it still shows more info than NRE

 

[thecrofter]

Try this one:

http://iris2.rail.co.uk/tiger/

Bit of a pain it not using the three letter station codes but once you've selected your station you can see various views including the staff CIS.

 

[AM9]

It's more reliable than most platform staff, and unless there's a massive problem on the line it still shows more info than NRE

If you are at a station that is included on the Open Train Times map pages, it's possible, armed with the headcode number to check the signalled path onto a platforms. I've done this at Euston and Paddington. When the other platforms have trains sitting in them, a vacant one can give a clue especially if the signal aspects look like they have been set to route the train of interest.
In addition, the Open Train Times signal maps update in real time.

 

[Hartington]

All of the systems have their quirks, many of which are a result of the way the railway runs itself. For instance, I live near Castle Cary. Just occasionally a train that is scheduled to go straight down the Frome avoiding/main line actually goes into Frome. It is now "off route" and most of the systems simply lose it until it reappears on the main line (almost always running late by then). Then there are points in the schedule where trains are booked to wait. A late running train may not reflect the delay at stations beyond the wait point until it passes the wait point.

All of the systems take their feed from Network Rail. Then they apply their own interpretation to that data. As you use the systems you'll discover how each one applies a slightly different set of rules to the data Network Rail supplies. None of them is wrong, just different.

 

[nuts & bolts]

Either “My Trains” or “Realtime Trains” both available from the App Store. Incidentally I use both of these, the latter will show (historic) platform numbers in advance of departure time!

 

[dmkc]

Either “My Trains” or “Realtime Trains” both available from the App Store. Incidentally I use both of these, the latter will show (historic) platform numbers in advance of departure time!

I'm struggling to find the latter app. Any chance of a link to either app store please? Thanks

 

[adamello]

I'm struggling to find the latter app. Any chance of a link to either app store please? Thanks

Apple - https://itunes.apple.com/uk/app/realtime-trains/id808408876?ls=1&mt=8
Android - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.swlines.rtt

Or you can have a mobile view of the website

 

[theironroad]

Try this one:

http://iris2.rail.co.uk/tiger/

Bit of a pain it not using the three letter station codes but once you've selected your station you can see various views including the staff CIS.

More than a bit of a pain to use and doesn't seem to have all stations loaded either.

 

[tago]

The ‘UK Train Times’ app has lost its journey planner functionality for the last week or so - annoying, as it was by far the most comprehensive app for everyday use. Is it being discontinued?

 

[Metal_gee_man]

Traksy showed headcodes but not the schedule last week, its a daft situation when using opensource data that could all of a sudden lose its compatibility with any website set up to display it at the drop of a hat

 

[takno]

Traksy showed headcodes but not the schedule last week, its a daft situation when using opensource data that could all of a sudden lose its compatibility with any website set up to display it at the drop of a hat

We switched Traksy over to new servers last week which has been causing some issues on and off since. The changes we made today should sort the schedules issue and the 1-2 minute periods of downtime we've been having every day or so.

There have been some separate issues creeping back into the Network Rail feed in the last month or so, which they believe they have a fix for, but either way that wasn't the cause of the schedules disappearing.

 

[theironroad]

We switched Traksy over to new servers last week which has been causing some issues on and off since. The changes we made today should sort the schedules issue and the 1-2 minute periods of downtime we've been having every day or so.

There have been some separate issues creeping back into the Network Rail feed in the last month or so, which they believe they have a fix for, but either way that wasn't the cause of the schedules disappearing.

Hi,

Out of interest, sometimes I've cicked a headcode and instead of getting the live schedule it brings up yesterday's and yesterday is printed at the top, albeit in small print. Any ideas?

 

[takno]

Hi,

Out of interest, sometimes I've cicked a headcode and instead of getting the live schedule it brings up yesterday's and yesterday is printed at the top, albeit in small print. Any ideas?

That's a pretty longstanding bug. Unfortunately paid work got a bit in the way last year and the server-side code got to a point where we didn't know what was deployed and couldn't safely make any changes. The main reason for shifting servers was to get onto a known and tested version of the software so we can start getting some fixes out for that kind of issue.

 

[theironroad]

That's a pretty longstanding bug. Unfortunately paid work got a bit in the way last year and the server-side code got to a point where we didn't know what was deployed and couldn't safely make any changes. The main reason for shifting servers was to get onto a known and tested version of the software so we can start getting some fixes out for that kind of issue.

Cool, thanks for the explanation and also the work behind traksy.

 

[SteveOfTheStow]

The ‘UK Train Times’ app has lost its journey planner functionality for the last week or so - annoying, as it was by far the most comprehensive app for everyday use. Is it being discontinued?

It's not had an update in about 2 years according to the App Store, so I'd say it's been abandoned. It's never shown Whitechapel on the ELL correctly, though it did have a couple of station database updates over the years. A shame, as it was was very quick and used iOS native design (the current official NRE app is a thing of horror, is slow, and what's more it's not been updated for iPhone X so has black bars at the top and bottom).

Of the others I've looked at, Railboard has a nice design and is free to use. UK Live Trains by Dorada Software is probably the closest thing to the old UK Train Times app - though it has ads (fair enough, got to put food on the table somehow) and you pay £0.79 per month to remove them and get some push notifications for delayed trains. I may yet pony up for it. It's just frustrating that NRE isn't providing that kind of functionality given how much the railway gets spent on it - their app is a scandal.
Ones I discounted include Trainline (which is more a push to get you to buy tickets, I always buy through NRE so that's superfluous and annoying functionality I don't want) and others that IMO had poor UI/UX.