What the Vande Bharat live location tool shows
Most people searching for "Vande Bharat live location" or "where is my Vande Bharat train" want one of two things: to know when to leave for the station, or to tell someone waiting at the other end when the train will get in. This tool answers both from the timetable. Pick a train and its journey date, and it works out where that Vande Bharat Express should be at this minute: still waiting to leave, standing at a station, between two stations with a percentage of the way covered, or already at its destination. It also gives the next station with its scheduled time, the time left to the end of the run and roughly how many kilometres the train has covered.
It is a scheduled position, not live GPS. We do not receive any signal from the train, and nothing on this page knows about delays. For the train's actual position and how late it is, use the official National Train Enquiry System, NTES, run by Indian Railways' Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS). The navy button under the tool opens the NTES running status page. Use the two together: this page tells you where the train ought to be, and NTES tells you where it actually is.
The tool covers all 170 Vande Bharat trains in our data, 164 Chair Car and 6 Sleeper, on 85 routes, with 1,390 scheduled stops at 415 stations, each timetable checked stop by stop against two independent sources.
How to use it
- Choose your train. Type the five-digit number, such as 22436, or part of a station name, and pick from the list. Each direction has its own number.
- Check the date. This is the date the train left its first station. It starts on today in India time. For an overnight Vande Bharat Sleeper that left yesterday and has not yet arrived, it starts on yesterday's run instead.
- Read the result. The headline says where the train should be. The logo train on the stop line sits at that point, and filled dots are stations it should already have passed.
- Leave the page open. It recalculates every 30 seconds, so the train moves along the line as the clock runs.
- Check NTES before you leave home for the real position and any delay.
How the scheduled position is worked out
Every stop in a Vande Bharat time table has an arrival time, a departure time, a day number and a distance from the first station. The tool turns each time into minutes from midnight on the journey date in India Standard Time, adding 24 hours for day 2, so a Sleeper that reaches Varanasi at 07:10 on day 2 counts as 31 hours and 10 minutes after midnight on the date it left New Delhi. It then compares the current time in India with that list.
- Before the departure from the first station, the train has not started.
- Between a station's arrival and departure times, the train is at that station.
- Between one station's departure and the next station's arrival, the train is between them. The percentage is the share of that scheduled running time already gone: on a 100-minute run, 40 minutes after departure shows 40%.
- After the arrival time at the last station, the train has arrived.
The distance covered is an estimate: the same percentage applied to the kilometres between the two stations. Real trains do not run at one steady speed. They pull away slowly, run at up to 130 or 160 km/h where the track allows, and slow down for curves, yards and the approach to the next stop, so the true point at any minute can be a few kilometres either side. On the stop line, the stations are spaced evenly rather than to scale, so that short gaps between busy stations remain readable on a phone.
The tool also checks the running days. Vande Bharat timetables are written either as "Daily except Thu" or, for trains that run only some days, as "Runs Wed Fri Sun". If your date is the train's day off, the tool says so and gives the next date it runs, instead of showing a position for a train that is not running.
Worked example: 22436 New Delhi to Varanasi
22436 leaves New Delhi at 06:00, reaches Kanpur Central at 10:08 (441 km), leaves at 10:10, reaches Prayagraj Jn at 12:08 (636 km), leaves at 12:10 and reaches Varanasi Jn at 14:00 (771 km). It runs daily except Thursday. At 10:00 IST on a running day, the tool shows the train between New Delhi and Kanpur, 97% of the way, about 427 km from Delhi, with Kanpur Central next at 10:08 and 4 hours left to Varanasi. At 11:00 it shows the train between Kanpur and Prayagraj, 42% of the way, about 524 km covered and 3 hours to go. On a Thursday it shows that 22436 does not run, and gives Friday as the next date.
Limits: what a timetable position cannot tell you
Vande Bharat trains do run late, like any train on a busy network. Winter fog in north India, maintenance blocks, a late incoming rake, signal problems or a train ahead can all hold one up, and once a train is behind time it often loses more on a busy section. A scheduled position does not see any of that. If 22436 is 50 minutes late, this page still shows it a few minutes from Kanpur at 10:00 when the real train may be 80 km or more short of it.
The tool also cannot know about cancellations, diversions, short terminations, a changed platform or a one-off change of timings. It uses the timetable in our data, checked on the date shown at the top of the page; if Indian Railways revises a schedule, the result is wrong until we update it. Treat what you see here as the answer to "where should it be?" and NTES as the answer to "where is it?"
How to read the live running status on NTES
- Open the NTES website or the NTES app and choose the live train status option.
- Enter the train number, for example 22436.
- Choose the start date: the date the train left its first station. On an overnight Sleeper you board after midnight, this is the day before you board.
- Read the last station the train passed or left and the time it did so. That is the latest reported position, not necessarily the exact point now.
- Look at the delay against each station, shown in minutes, and the expected arrival time at your station. Expected times further down the line are estimates and can change.
If NTES shows a delay, add it to the times on this page for a rough idea. A train 30 minutes late at Kanpur is likely to reach Prayagraj and Varanasi around 30 minutes late too, though it can make up a little time or lose more. Our PNR and running status guide covers NTES and PNR status in more detail.
What to do if your Vande Bharat is late
If you are boarding at an intermediate station, check NTES again shortly before you leave home and use the expected arrival time at your station, not the departure from the first station. Reach the station a little before the expected time, because a late train can make up a few minutes and halts at intermediate stops are short, often only two minutes.
If the train is running more than three hours late and you decide not to travel, you can get the full fare back with no cancellation charge. Under IRCTC's published rules you file a TDR (Ticket Deposit Receipt) online before the train actually leaves your boarding station; the Ministry of Railways said in March 2026 that TDR filing for e-tickets has been removed and refunds come on cancellation, so follow what the IRCTC screen offers you. Either way, act before the train departs. Our guide to Vande Bharat TDR and late train refund explains the steps and deadlines. If someone is meeting you, share the NTES expected arrival rather than the timetable time.
Overnight Vande Bharat Sleeper trains
8 trains in our data, including all 6 Vande Bharat Sleeper services, have stops on the day after they leave. For these, the journey date matters. The New Delhi–Varanasi Sleeper 27422 leaves New Delhi at 21:40 and reaches Varanasi at 07:10 the next morning. At 05:00 the tool shows it on the way to Prayagraj on the run that started the previous evening, which is why the date box starts on yesterday when an overnight train is still running. Change the date if you want a different run.
Vande Bharat live location FAQs
Can I see the live location of a Vande Bharat train here? You can see where the train should be by its timetable, updated every 30 seconds. For the actual position and delay, use NTES, the official Indian Railways running status service.
How do I check Vande Bharat running status today? Open NTES, enter the train number and choose today as the start date (or yesterday for an overnight Sleeper that left last night). NTES shows the last station passed and the delay. This page shows the scheduled position to compare against.
Why does this page show my train at a station it has not reached? Because the train is late. The page follows the timetable only. The gap between this page and NTES is the delay.
Are Vande Bharat trains always on time? No. They are often close to time, but delays from fog, maintenance work, a late incoming train or congestion do happen. Check NTES on the day.
Which date should I choose? The date the train left its first station. For a daytime Chair Car train this is your travel date. For a Sleeper you board after midnight, it is the day before.
Does this tool use my location? No. It works only from the train timetable and the clock. Nothing you choose is sent to us or anyone else. If you are on board and want your speed, use the Vande Bharat speed checker, which reads your phone's GPS on the phone only.
Related tools and guides
See every stop with the Vande Bharat train time table, check a date with the running days checker, and find more Vande Bharat trains on your route with trains between stations. Every train also has its own page, such as the 22436 New Delhi–Varanasi page.
Sources: stop times, days and distances from timetables checked stop by stop against ConfirmTkt and erail.in, 11 November 2026. Live running status from NTES (Indian Railways / CRIS). TDR rule from IRCTC's published refund rules.