Passenger trains in motion
Explore passenger services across Great Britain, open their calling points and compare scheduled times with confirmed movement reports or the latest predictions.
The railway, as it happens
Live UK train tracking, timetables and station boards
MapRail brings passenger trains, freight movements, station information and detailed schedules together on one interactive map. Follow activity across Great Britain, inspect an individual service, or look up what is arriving and departing at your station.
Explore Britain’s railways in real time
Use one connected view to move from the national railway network to a specific train, station or timetable. MapRail presents operational detail in a format designed to remain approachable whether you are checking a journey, following an unusual working or simply exploring the railway.
Freight and special services
See freight workings and other operational railway movements when signalling, location and timetable information allow them to be identified.
Live station boards
Search by station name or code to view arrivals, departures, destinations, platforms, operators, service links and the latest recorded delays.
More than dots on a map
A clearer view of how each train is running
MapRail connects the live map to detailed railway information, so a marker is the beginning of the story rather than the end. Select a passenger train to see its operator, route, calling points and current delay. Where sufficient data is available, the route is highlighted across the map so you can follow the service beyond the small area visible on screen.
Follow a complete railway service
Every service page brings the planned timetable and live progress together. The standard timetable concentrates on the places passengers are most likely to recognise, while the detailed timetable includes operational timing points used across the railway. Scheduled and actual columns remain separate, helping you see what was planned and what has happened.
Predictions are carried forward when a train is late, but an early arrival does not imply that the train will leave before its advertised departure. Delay badges use departure performance at intermediate stations and the expected arrival at the next calling point.
Understand passenger and freight movements
Passenger locations can be refreshed frequently enough to support smooth movement between reported points. Freight information is more cautious: markers move only when a recognised signalling berth supplies a confirmed location. MapRail does not animate freight trains along a guessed path because an inferred position could suggest a level of accuracy the available data does not provide.
Passenger and freight markers use different colours, while selected trains are emphasised so they remain easy to identify as you pan around the network. Railway lines remain visible beneath the markers to provide geographic context.
Start exploring
Three ways to use the live railway map
You can begin with the national picture or go directly to a train or station. The map, search tools and station directory all lead to the same connected service information.
Explore the live map
Zoom into an area of Great Britain and select a train marker for its journey details, or choose a station marker for the next five arrivals and departures. Hold Ctrl while using the mouse wheel when you want to zoom without preventing normal page scrolling.
Search for a station or headcode
Enter a three-letter station code, a full or partial station name, or a train headcode in the search box. An exact station match opens its information page, while broader searches help distinguish similarly named stations and repeated services.
Open the detailed timetable
Follow a service link to compare scheduled and actual times along the route. Human-readable location names are used wherever possible, with operational abbreviations expanded to make sidings, junctions, loops and reception lines easier to understand.
At the station
Arrivals, departures and local railway information
Live station boards without the clutter
Station pages show the next arrivals and departures using MapRail’s internal timetable, enriched with live information where it is available. Each row can include the scheduled time, actual or predicted time, destination or origin, platform, operator, service identity and an easy-to-scan delay badge.
For a wider view, dedicated arrival and departure boards show trains in pages of fifteen. Earlier and later controls let you move through the day without loading an entire major terminus timetable at once. This keeps busy stations responsive while retaining access to the services around the time you need.
Disruption information in context
When station-level notices or service alerts are available, they appear alongside the relevant station information. The separate service disruptions page provides a broader overview of current incidents, affected routes and available advice without requiring you to check stations one by one.
Live railway information can change quickly. MapRail is useful for exploring operations and checking progress, but it is not a safety-critical system or a replacement for official journey-planning and operator advice. Confirm important journeys with the relevant train operator before travelling.
Timetables with identity
Explore today’s railway and dated services
Railway headcodes are reused, so a headcode by itself does not always identify one particular journey. MapRail combines the service date with its timetable identity, allowing links to refer to the correct working rather than whichever train happens to use the same headcode later.
Daily timetable updates introduce alterations and cancellations while preserving the underlying service history. Confirmed movement reports are displayed in bold, predictions are shown separately, and cancellation indicators appear when the timetable feed identifies a service as cancelled. This makes the timetable useful both while a train is running and when reviewing what was expected on a particular date.
The network includes places that are not passenger stations, especially on freight routes. Operational locations such as junctions, loops, sidings and depots are retained in detailed timetables because they explain the path and timing of a train. Their names are expanded where reliable mappings are available without disguising the operational nature of the data.
Choose where to begin
Browse every station from A to Z, find live arrivals and departures, read current disruption information, or learn more about the data and display choices in the FAQ.
Live railway