Help

Quick start#

1. Type where you’re going in Where are you going?
2. At the station or already on the train? Tap Travel now. RailPilot uses your location to find your train. If it can’t be sure, it shows a short list for you to choose from.
3. Follow the journey screen. It shows live times, your platform, your connections and anything that changes.
4. Travelling later? Tap Travel later to pick a date and a train and save it. Make the same trip most days? Turn it into a regular journey.

No account is needed. You can use RailPilot in any phone browser, or add it to your home screen.

What RailPilot does#

RailPilot is an in-journey companion. Tell it where you’re going. It uses your phone’s location to work out which train you’re on, or about to board. Then it travels with you, with live times at every stop, platform confirmations and changes, how much time you have for each connection, and delays explained in plain English. If your route stops working, it finds you a new one.

You can also plan ahead: pick a date and a train and save it. The date picker shows how far ahead we can plan. RailPilot keeps an eye on it and tells you if it’s cancelled or changed before you travel.

Reading the times#

Every time on the journey screen tells you two things. How bold it is tells you where the time came from, and its colour tells you what it claims. Bold means live information exists for it. Light grey means we only have the timetable.

• 14:32Timetabled. The scheduled time, with no live report yet. A grey time makes no claim about how the train is running.
• 14:35+3Estimated from the timetable. No live forecast exists for this stop yet, so we add the train’s current lateness to the scheduled time. It stays grey because no live source has confirmed it. The +3 is the lateness we added.
• 14:32Live forecast, on time. A live prediction that the train is running to plan. A time is only green when a live source backs it, never from the timetable alone.
• 14:36Live forecast, running late. A live prediction that the train will be a minute or more late.
• 14:36+4Actual. This has happened. The train was reported here. The small +4 beside it is how late it was (amber for late, green for early).
• DelayedDelayed, no confirmed time. The station boards are showing “Delayed” without a time. We show the word too, instead of guessing a time nobody is advertising.
• 14:32Cancelled stop. The train no longer stops here, so the row is crossed out and says “cancelled — no longer stops here”. The scheduled time stays so you can find the row, but it has no live time or platform.

The “On time” or “N min late” at the top of the screen follows the same rule. It is measured against the arrival you were originally promised, and it is only shown when live data supports it. If your journey is rerouted, it shows the real delay against your original plan, not “on time” against the new one.

Platforms#

On the timeline, each stop’s platform is a small grey tag. It turns red if the platform changes. The live card for the station you’re at, or changing at, shows how sure we are about your platform:

• 2Scheduled. The timetabled platform. It’s the usual one, but it’s not yet confirmed for today.
• 2Expected. Our best current information, but not yet showing on the station boards. The card says “Expected platform, check the boards to confirm”.
• 2Confirmed. The platform is showing on the boards, or the train has been reported there. The card says “Platform confirmed”.
• 4Changed. The platform has changed. The chip turns red and the card says which platform it was, for example “Platform changed, was P2”.

The journey screen#

The timeline

Your whole journey is one vertical line. It shows every station your trains call at, every change, any Underground ride or walk, and your destination. The line is teal where you’ve already travelled and grey ahead of you. The moving dot is your train’s position. It moves between stops based on live reports and stays put while the train is reported standing at a station. It never moves past the next stop until the train is reported there.

Places your train passes without stopping are hidden to keep the screen simple. Tap the line itself to show them, and tap again to hide them. Every station where you can board or get off is always shown.

The live card

The dark teal card moves down the timeline with your position and changes with the moment. It shows what platform to board from, what’s coming next, how your connection is looking, and why the train is being held. Other messages, such as a faster route, a backup train or a National Rail notice, appear as separate cards below the timeline. Questions that need an answer before we can carry on appear over it. See When RailPilot asks you something.

Changes

A change is one row with two lines, the arrival off your incoming train and the onward departure. The onward train is named by its final destination, the way the station boards list it. The card above it keeps a live count of your connection time. Where a change involves crossing a station, the row shows how long to allow (“allow about 6 min”) and we subtract it from your connection time.

Waiting for a connecting train? Tap it on the change row to see where it is now and how it’s running.

The live status

The label at the top right shows the live connection itself. Live means fresh data that is seconds old. Updating means we’re waiting for the next update. Offline means the live feed has stopped reaching you. The screen then keeps the last information it had and shows the time it arrived (“last 14:32”), so you know how old it is. The label disappears once you’ve arrived, because nothing more is coming.

Stopping or leaving a journey

To stop tracking, tap the × at the top right of the journey screen. When you arrive, tap Close this journey. If you go back to the front page without closing it, your journey keeps running. A Journey in progress strip at the bottom of the front page takes you back to it.

If the live feeds stop reporting near the end of your trip, RailPilot can also end the journey when your location shows you’ve reached your destination.

How RailPilot finds your train#

When you tap Travel now, RailPilot reads your phone’s location and compares it with where every nearby train actually is right now, using live position reports from the railway, not only the timetable. It compares over several minutes, not just one moment. It asks where each train was at the time of each of your recent positions. That way two trains a few minutes apart on the same line look completely different, even though both pass close to you.

If the evidence is clear, because you’re moving with one particular train, or you’re at the station and there’s only one sensible train, then tracking starts straight away. The first time this happens, a short note explains why that train was chosen. Otherwise you pick from a list. Being near a train is never treated as being on it. If you’re standing on a platform and more than one train could be yours, you choose.

Each option in the list shows its departure and arrival times, how long it takes and how many changes it has. Below that is its live status, such as a green “On time” or a red “Expected 17:11” when it’s running late, and how long until it leaves. Then come the platform and operator, and short notes where they matter: a walk to the station that could be tight, where you change, how reliably the service usually runs, and how many coaches it has, with a warning when today’s train is shorter than usual. The best options come first. Departures that get you there no sooner than a later train are tucked away under “more departures”, each saying which train beats it. They are not deleted, so the choice is still yours.

No location, or no signal indoors? Type the station you’re at instead. Everything else works the same. If you’re not near a station, RailPilot lists the nearest ones for you to depart from.

Delays, connections and rerouting#

RailPilot watches every connection in your journey against live forecasts. If there’s plenty of time, it stays quiet. If the time gets shorter, it tells you. When a change gets tight, we show a backup: the next train that still works from that station, before you need it.

• Cancellations reroute automatically. If your train, or a train you were due to change onto, is cancelled or terminates short of your stop, the journey is re-planned straight away and the screen tells you what changed and why.
• Certain misses are re-planned early. If your incoming train is forecast to arrive well after your connection has left, and you’re still well away from the change, we switch you to the next route while there’s time to plan it. You don’t find out on the platform.
• Close calls are checked, not guessed. If it’s unclear whether you made a tight connection, your movement usually answers it within a minute or two. Only when it can’t do we ask you directly.
• Faster routes are offered. If a faster option opens up mid-journey, for example because a delayed connection recovers or staying on your train becomes quicker than changing, we offer it to you, or switch you automatically when the change is still far away and tell you so.
• Earlier connections are pointed out. If there’s an earlier connection you might just make, a “Tight change” card names it and its platform. If you catch it, RailPilot switches your journey to it.
• Delays are explained. When the operator publishes a reason, we show it in plain English (“a points failure”, “a late-running train in front of this one”). If there’s no published reason, we don’t make one up.
• Station notices are shown. National Rail messages and incidents for your stations or train company appear as cards. Each one is shown once: the next time you open the app it stays hidden unless the message or its dates change. Tap the × to hide one straight away.

When RailPilot asks you something

Sometimes your location and the train’s position disagree. Then RailPilot asks rather than guesses. You might see:

• “Are you on the 14:05 to …?” Your movement matches a different train from the one being tracked. Tap Yes, switch to it to re-plan from that train, or No, keep tracking.
• “Did you get on the train?” or “Are you still on the train?” Your train has moved on but you seem to be at a station. If you missed it or got off, RailPilot finds you a new route from there.
• “Did you catch the …?” Your location couldn’t tell us whether you made a connection.
• “Looks like you’re at …” You came up from the Underground somewhere the plan didn’t expect. You can re-plan from there, keep your plan, or tap End my journey here.
• “We can’t tell if you’re on this train.” This appears on the live card, without interrupting you, when we can’t confirm you boarded. Tap I’m on board or I missed it.

Closing one of these with the × hides it, but doesn’t answer it. RailPilot keeps checking in the background.

Held at a red signal? Why trains stop at red signals explains what is happening and what you are entitled to if it makes you late.

Missed a connection? What happens if you miss a connection sets out which train your ticket lets you take and what you can claim.

Arrived late? Delay Repay: what you’re owed and how to claim explains how much you can claim and how.

Wondering how long you need to change? How long do I need to change trains? explains minimum connection times.

Planning ahead and saving a journey#

Travel later on the front page opens the planner. Choose Depart at or Arrive by, set a time, and pick today or tomorrow. The list starts from where you are. Tap From to choose a different station. The options use the same live information as the main list.

If the train leaves within about two hours, tapping it starts tracking straight away. Further out, you’ll be offered Review & save. This shows a full preview of the journey, on the same timeline you’ll track later, with every time shown as scheduled. Tap Save this journey to keep it. No account is needed. The plan is stored on your phone. You can save one journey by hand at a time, and a regular journey’s train can sit beside it.

A saved journey appears as a Your next journey strip at the bottom of the front page. Tap it for details, to change it, or to remove it. RailPilot checks it each time you open the front page. If the service is cancelled, retimed or altered before you travel, the strip says so, so you find out early, not at the platform. When departure approaches, Track it re-checks the live service instead of relying on the saved plan, so a train that was re-timed or replaced is caught then too. If RailPilot is open on the front page, location access is allowed, and you arrive at the station within about two hours of departure, tracking starts by itself.

Alerts for a saved train

In the saved journey’s details, switch on Alert me if it changes. Your browser asks for permission to show notifications. After that, RailPilot sends a notification if the train is cancelled, retimed or no longer stops at your station, or if its departure is running 10 minutes or more late (or shows as Delayed), with the reason when the railway gives one. If the delay gets 10 minutes worse, you hear again; it does not send an all-clear. Delay alerts stop once the train has left your station or you start tracking it, because the journey screen takes over from there. Switch alerts off in the same place.

Alerts also cover wider disruption on the journey: the National Rail incidents and planned engineering work shown in the saved journey’s details, one notification each, up until the train leaves. In the Android app, alerts for a saved journey are on without asking; switch them off for one journey with Alert me if it changes in its details. Tracking can still start by itself.

On iPhone, alerts only work once RailPilot is added to your Home Screen (tap Share, then Add to Home Screen) and opened from there.

The RailPilot app for Android keeps following your journey with the phone locked or in your pocket. On Android 16 the journey shows as a Live Update on the lock screen and status bar; on earlier versions it is an ongoing notification with the same details.

Regular journeys#

Make the same trip most days? Save it once as a regular journey, and each travel day RailPilot has that day’s train ready when you open the app.

Setting one up

Save a journey as above, open its details from the Your next journey strip, and tap Repeat this journey. Pick the days you travel (Monday to Friday unless you change them) and which part of the UK’s bank holidays should pause it, then tap Save regular journey. Your usual time is the departure time of the train you saved, so there is nothing to type.

You can also do it when a journey you tracked arrives: tap Make this a regular journey above End this journey. Your usual time is then the departure you set out for. A journey that starts on the Underground or DLR can be a regular journey too: RailPilot then looks for the tube from the station you boarded at.

You can have two, for example there and back. After you save the first, its details offer to add the return from your destination at a time you choose: tap Add return.

On a travel day

When you open RailPilot, it looks for the train nearest your usual time, up to 30 minutes either side, and puts it in the strip at the bottom of the front page, just like a journey you saved yourself. From there it works the same way: tap Track it when you set off, or let tracking start by itself at the station, as described above.

• If nothing runs within 30 minutes of your usual time, the strip says so (“No train near your usual 07:42”) rather than offering a train an hour away. Tap See trains to choose one yourself.
• If the train it finds leaves at a different time from usual, for example after a timetable change, you can tap Make … my usual time to move your usual time to it.
• A journey you save by hand for the same day takes the regular journey’s place on that day only.

Pausing and stopping

In the regular journey’s details you can skip the next travel day, or pause it until a date. Resume starts it again. It also pauses itself on bank holidays in the part of the UK you chose, and See trains lets you travel anyway. Choose Don’t pause on bank holidays if you work them. To stop a regular journey for good, tap Stop beside it.

Regular journeys are kept on your phone, not on our servers. See Privacy.

Sharing your journey#

The Share button at the top right of the journey screen creates a live link for whoever is meeting you or following along. They see the same journey: the timeline, the live position and the arrival time. They can watch, but nothing they do can affect your journey.

While you’re sharing, the Share button is highlighted. Tap it and choose Stop sharing to end it. The link is switched off, anyone watching is told within seconds that sharing has ended, and the old link never works again. Sharing again creates a new link. A shared link also stops working when your journey ends.

The Underground, buses and ferries#

London Underground and DLR journeys are a full part of your journey. Each ride starts with a band in the line’s own colour. Every stop is listed, and stations where you can change show the connecting lines. A departure board shows the next trains for your line and direction. It starts from the timetable and switches to live departures as you get closer.

There’s no signal underground, so live tracking pauses while you’re on the Tube. The screen shows a line-by-line guide (“take the Bakerloo to Embankment, then the Northern to Bank”) and picks up again automatically when you come back above ground.

Timetabled buses and ferries can appear in a journey where the railway schedules them, but we can’t track them live. Their times are always scheduled, and the row says so.

Common questions#

Why is it asking me to choose a train?

RailPilot only picks for you when it’s sure. It picks when you’re moving with one train, or when you’re at the station and only one train makes sense. Otherwise it shows the options, best first.

Why are some times grey?

Grey means we only have the timetable for that stop so far. Times turn bold when live information arrives. See Reading the times.

Does it work without location access?

Yes. Type the station you’re starting from and everything else works. Without location, RailPilot can’t tell automatically whether you made a connection, so it asks you instead.

Do I need an account?

No. A saved journey is kept on your phone. See Privacy for what we do and don’t store.

How far ahead can I plan?

Today and tomorrow. For later dates, use National Rail Enquiries.

What RailPilot will never show you#

RailPilot will never show you a live-looking time with nothing behind it. A time is only green when live data backs it. A scheduled time stays grey, and “Delayed” with no confirmed time stays as the word, not a guess. Where we don’t know, the screen says less. It never shows something confident and wrong.