Delay alerts for your usual trains
Railhop learns the trains you usually catch and watches each one from about 3 hours before it leaves. If it's cancelled or retimed, or there's disruption on your line, the Railhop iPhone app tells you straight away. Delays are sent in the last hour, when the estimates mean something. Alerts come only through the app, never by email.
- In the iPhone app
- Railhop decides the timing
- Never by email
How it works
Nothing to set up. Railhop decides when to watch and when to tell you.
It learns your trains
From your journeys in the app, Railhop spots the trains you catch most. Or add one yourself.
Turn on alerts
Sign in and allow notifications. Regular trains can be added to your alerts for you.
Watched before you go
From about 3 hours before. Cancellations and disruption at once, delays in the last hour.
Told in time
What changed and, if it's cancelled, the next train. If the delay may be enough to claim, it says so.
Get delay alerts in the Railhop app
Alerts come only as notifications from the iPhone app. The website never sends alerts, by email or in your browser.
What an alert says
- Train cancelled. "07:42 to Moorgate is cancelled. Next: 07:48, on time."
- Leaves 4 min earlier. "07:42 to Moorgate now leaves at 07:38, 4 min earlier than planned (retimed by the train company)."
- Running late. "07:42 to Moorgate: expected 07:49, 7 min late."
- Possible Delay Repay. "07:42 to Moorgate: expected 07:56, 14 min late arriving. Delay Repay starts at 15 min."
- Disruption on your line. What the train company says, then "Your 07:42 to Moorgate is running so far; we'll tell you if it's affected."
- Tomorrow: your usual train isn't running. Sent the evening before, when a planned change (usually engineering works) takes it out of the timetable, with another train if there is one.
What you can change
- Quiet hours. Alerts still come in them unless you turn that off, because they're for trains you chose.
- Pause. All alerts off for a day or a week, for a holiday or a day working from home.
- Bank holidays. No alerts on bank holidays in England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, or alerts on them too.
- Your usual trains. Turn alerts off for one train, or remove it. A train you remove isn't added again.
Example messages, in the words the app sends. Checked 12 October 2026.
What it costs
Delay alerts come with the app.
Your data stays with you
Your usual trains are worked out on your phone. Railhop's server only hears about one when you turn alerts on for it.
- Learned on your phone. From the journeys in the app. Nothing is sent until you turn alerts on for a train.
- Only what's needed to watch it. The stations, departure time and days, the train company if known, your alert settings and your phone's notification address.
- Not your location. Alerts come from how the trains are running, not from where you are.
- Stop at any time. Pause alerts, turn one train off, or delete your account. Privacy policy
Questions
How do Railhop's delay alerts work?
Railhop learns the trains you usually catch from your journeys in the app, or you add them yourself. It watches each one from about 3 hours before it leaves. The iPhone app sends a notification when the train is cancelled, leaves earlier than planned or is running late, or when there's disruption on your line.
When does Railhop send an alert?
Cancellations, earlier departures and line disruption as soon as Railhop knows, from about 3 hours before your train (never before 5am). Delays from an hour before, when the estimates mean something: from 5 minutes late, or sooner if the delay may be enough for Delay Repay. You get one alert, and one update only if the train is then cancelled or 15 minutes later still. Never an "on time" message.
Do I choose when I'm alerted?
No. Railhop decides when to watch your train and when to tell you, so there's nothing to set up. In the app's alert settings you can set quiet hours, pause all alerts for a day or a week, and choose whose bank holidays to stay quiet on.
What happens if my train is cancelled?
The alert names the next direct train and says whether it's on time, for example "07:42 to Moorgate is cancelled. Next: 07:48, on time." If there's no direct train in the next 90 minutes, it says so.
Can I get delay alerts by email or on the website?
No. Delay alerts come only as notifications from the Railhop iPhone app. The website doesn't send alerts, by email or in your browser. Get the app, sign in and allow notifications.
Do I need an account?
Yes, for alerts. Your usual trains are worked out on your phone, and Railhop's server only hears about one when you turn alerts on for it, so it can watch that train for you. With "Add my regular trains automatically" on, regular trains Railhop is sure about are added to your alerts for you.
Related guides
More from Railhop
Know before you leave the house.
Get the Railhop app and turn on alerts for your usual trains.