How to get live train times at home

There are four ways to get live train times at home: the National Rail Enquiries website or app, the apps from train companies and ticket sellers, a live departure board running in a browser on a spare screen, or a dedicated LED departure board on a shelf. The first two are free and do the most. The last two are about convenience: the times are already showing when you walk past, so nobody has to go and look them up.

Which one's right depends on how often you travel, and whether it's always from the same station.

What are your options?

Phone apps: free and thorough

For most people most of the time, an app is fine. The National Rail Enquiries app covers every station in Great Britain, shows platforms and delays, and plans journeys. Train company apps usually do the same for their own trains and let you buy tickets too. If you travel to lots of different places, nothing beats them.

The weak spot is the routine trip. Checking the same train every morning means unlocking your phone, opening the app and finding your station again. That's fine on a calm day. On a frantic one it's exactly the step that gets skipped, or it gets done and then you're reading messages for five minutes. And it only helps whoever's holding the phone. A teenager who needs the 07:48 to school won't necessarily be checking yours. We've compared the two approaches properly in TrainTicker vs train times apps.

What about smart speakers?

Some people ask a smart speaker. What's available changes over time and depends on the speaker, so it's worth searching its skills or apps for a train times option and trying it. The obvious limit is that you have to ask, and you get the answer once. It won't sit there showing you the platform while you find your keys.

A browser board on a spare screen

If you've got an old tablet in a drawer, this is a nice middle ground. Open a live departure board page in the browser, go full screen and prop it up in the hallway. The departures stay on show and nobody has to pick up a phone.

TrainTicker's free live demo runs in any browser with no signup, so you can try this tonight: type your station and leave it running. TrainTicker owners also get a full-screen board and a shareable link from the dashboard, which works on a TV with a browser, a tablet on the wall or an office screen. There's a full walkthrough in putting a live departure board on any screen.

The downsides are practical ones. Tablets want charging, screens want to go to sleep, and a big bright TV showing train times in the corner of the living room isn't everyone's idea of decor.

A dedicated departure board

This is the always-on option. A small LED board, laid out like the one on the platform, showing the next trains from your station whenever you walk past.

TrainTicker is one of these. It's 320 by 80 mm, about the length of a ruler, with amber LEDs at 128 by 32 pixels. It shows the next train's time, destination, platform and status, with the calling points scrolling underneath, then the next two trains in turn, and a clock with seconds along the bottom. The times come from Darwin, National Rail's live train information system, and it checks for changes every 10 seconds. You can filter it to trains that call at the station you travel to, pick your platforms, or tell it how long your walk takes so it hides the trains you'd miss.

It costs £199.99 once, with no subscription, and dims itself to 15% between 10pm and 7am so it isn't lighting up the hall all night. More on what these boards are in what is a home train departure board.

Where do all these times come from?

Mostly the same place. Darwin is National Rail's live train information system and it sits behind National Rail Enquiries, many station screens and a lot of apps. That's why the expected time on your phone, the screen at the station and a home board should broadly agree. If one's a few seconds behind, it's usually down to how often it refreshes. Our explainer on what Darwin is goes into it.

Which should you pick?

If you travel to different places each week, stick with the National Rail Enquiries app. It's free and covers everything. If you've got a spare tablet and a regular train, try a browser board first, it costs nothing. And if the same station matters to everyone in the house every morning, a board by the door is the one you'll actually look at. You can order TrainTicker when you're ready, or start with the demo and see if the habit sticks.