Passenger Services

TRAINTRACKER™ TEXT: 8 49 50

TrainTracker™ Text is our easy to use journey planner, available directly to your mobile phone by text message.

How does it work?

TrainTracker™ Text uses the same information that is available on our web-based Journey Planner and our telephone TrainTracker™ service. Simply text your journey details to 8 49 50.To get up-to-the-minute information for trains running in the next 21 or past 3 hours, including delay and cancellation information where available. Why not give it a try on our simulator.

How do I use TrainTracker™ Text?

Using the service is easy - just text a few simple requests to 8 49 50 and within seconds you'll have a response. You can receive information about a specific journey, or about departures or arrivals at a specific station.

Below are a couple of examples of what you could text:

Live Departure and Arrival Information:

In this example, we'll ask for information at Oxford (OXF) and London Kings Cross (KGX) stations. You can use the stations code if it's easier.

Oxford	Next few departures from Oxford at the time of your text message (including only showing departures which call at a specific station)
OXF to Banbury
dep OXF 1900	Departures from Oxford at around 1900.
depart Oxford 1900	Departures from Oxford at around 1900.
arrive London Kings Cross	Arrivals at London Kings Cross (including only showing arrivals from a specific station)
arr KGX 1900
arr KGX from Doncaster
arr KGX from York 2.30pm

Try combining the different parts of these example with your own stations, to make the results more specific.

Journey Planning, with real time information:

Working with the same principles as shown above, simply enter the origin and destination names or stations codes to get the journey information. In this example, we'll ask for information at London Euston (EUS) and Manchester Piccadilly stations.

Manchester to Euston	The next few departures at the time of the sending the text message
EUS to MAN 1300	For journey options between the two stations, using times to make results more specific.
arr eus from man 2100
dep Manchester to London 2100

Give it a try!!

Try our text message simulator free before you try it on your mobile phone

What else can TrainTracker™ do?

TrainTracker™ Text can remember your previous request - so its even easier to get further information:

update	For an update on your previous message, taking into account any delays or cancellations.
return	For details of appropriate return journeys. If you don't add a time, we'll tell you the next few departures.
return 2000

What will the messages I receive say?

The table below provides examples of messages you can get back from TrainTrackerTM Text 8 49 50

arr wat 2200 nationalrail.co.uk arr WAT @22:00: 2157 (OK) frm Alton 2201 frm Hampton Court CAN 2202 (OK) frm London Waterloo 2204 (-2m) frm Exeter St Davids	arr edinburgh from durham 2100 nationalrail.co.uk arr EDB @21:00: 2108 OK frm Plymth dep Durhm 1916 OK 2214 frm Londn Kngs Crss dep Durhm 2010 2224 +3m frm Bristl Tmpl Mds dep Durhm 2021 OK
edinburgh to aberdeen 1620 nationalrail.co.uk dep EDB @16:20: 16:30 (OK) Plt:19 Aberdeen arr19:00 (OK) 17:04 Dyce arr Aberdeen 19:38 18:10 Inverurie arr Aberdeen 20:44	Notes: (OK) = On Time (-2m) = Early (2 mins) (+3m) = Late (3 mins) CAN = Cancelled Plt19 or P19 = Platform Number (19) If no bracket shown, the train is as timetabled (or may not yet have departed the origin station).

How much does it cost?

Messages sent to 8 49 50 cost the standard network rate. Our reply to you will cost 25p including VAT, and will be charged to you by your operator. You are only charged for replies containing departure/arrival information. You will not be charged for error or usage messages.

Comments or Suggestions?

We are interested to hear your thoughts on our TrainTracker™ Text service. Simply drop us a line, using our online Feedback area.