diff --git a/apps/edr-freight-api/src/modules/train-scheduling/train-scheduling.service.ts b/apps/edr-freight-api/src/modules/train-scheduling/train-scheduling.service.ts
index e7727a467..f5d335efa 100644
--- a/apps/edr-freight-api/src/modules/train-scheduling/train-scheduling.service.ts
+++ b/apps/edr-freight-api/src/modules/train-scheduling/train-scheduling.service.ts
@@ -440,10 +440,14 @@ export class TrainSchedulingService {
    * caller then computes its own times as before — nothing changes for the
    * single-schedule case).
    *
-   * The anchor is preferably a still-PRE_WINDOW sibling (its times are the live
-   * group clock). If every sibling has already opened, we still copy the earliest
-   * sibling's frozen times so the new train lines up with the group the customer
-   * already sees rather than drifting onto its own `now`-based clock.
+   * The anchor is the sibling that best represents where the GROUP currently is
+   * on its shared clock, so a train created mid-cycle joins the group AT its
+   * current phase (with the group's exact doc-review / payment deadlines) instead
+   * of restarting the whole cycle on its own `now`. When the group has advanced
+   * past PRE_WINDOW we pick the MOST-ADVANCED live (non-DONE) sibling — that is
+   * the phase the joiner must adopt to see the same "N minutes left" the group
+   * already shows. When every sibling is still PRE_WINDOW we pick the
+   * earliest-opening one (the group's frozen open clock).
    */
   private async findGroupWindowAnchor(
     manager: EntityManager,
@@ -460,37 +464,67 @@ export class TrainSchedulingService {
     if (siblings.length === 0) return null;
     const withWindow = siblings.filter((s) => s.windowOpensAt != null);
     if (withWindow.length === 0) return null;
+
+    // A group whose window is live (some sibling has moved past PRE_WINDOW but is
+    // not yet DONE) — the joiner must land in that same phase on the same clock.
+    const PHASE_ORDER = ['PRE_WINDOW', 'OPEN', 'DOC_REVIEW', 'PAYMENT'];
+    const live = withWindow.filter(
+      (s) => s.windowPhase != null && PHASE_ORDER.includes(s.windowPhase) &&
+        s.windowPhase !== 'PRE_WINDOW',
+    );
+    if (live.length > 0) {
+      // Most-advanced phase leads; ties broken by earliest open for determinism.
+      return live.reduce((best, s) => {
+        const a = PHASE_ORDER.indexOf(s.windowPhase!);
+        const b = PHASE_ORDER.indexOf(best.windowPhase!);
+        if (a !== b) return a > b ? s : best;
+        return s.windowOpensAt!.getTime() < best.windowOpensAt!.getTime() ? s : best;
+      });
+    }
+
+    // Otherwise the whole group is still PRE_WINDOW — earliest-opening sibling
+    // defines the group clock (the one a customer would have seen first).
     const pending = withWindow.filter((s) => s.windowPhase === 'PRE_WINDOW');
     const pool = pending.length > 0 ? pending : withWindow;
-    // Earliest-opening sibling defines the group clock — deterministic and the
-    // one a customer would have seen first.
     return pool.reduce((earliest, s) =>
       s.windowOpensAt!.getTime() < earliest.windowOpensAt!.getTime() ? s : earliest,
     );
   }
 
   /**
-   * The window fields (open/close times + frozen rule snapshot) an anchor sibling
-   * hands down to the rest of its group. The shared open/close instants make every
-   * schedule in the group advance through the SAME open, doc-review, payment, and
-   * close instants on the shared 10s tick — doc-review/payment ends are derived
-   * live from these shared times during phase advance, so they fall in sync.
+   * The full window state an anchor sibling hands down to a schedule JOINING its
+   * group. Copies not just the open/close times + frozen rule snapshot but the
+   * anchor's LIVE PHASE and every phase-end timestamp (docReviewEndsAt,
+   * paymentPhaseEndsAt, bookingCycleNo, bookingWindowStatus). This is what makes a
+   * train created mid-cycle show the EXACT SAME "N minutes left" as the rest of
+   * the group: it enters directly at the group's current phase with the group's
+   * shared payment deadline, instead of restarting PRE_WINDOW→…→PAYMENT on its own
+   * `now` and stamping its own later `paymentPhaseEndsAt`.
    *
-   * `targetDeparture` is the JOINING schedule's own departure: the shared times
-   * are clamped to it so a group whose trains depart at different times of the
-   * same day never hands an earlier-departing train a window that outlives its
+   * `targetDeparture` is the JOINING schedule's own departure: every time is
+   * clamped to it so a group whose trains depart at different times of the same
+   * day never hands an earlier-departing train a deadline that outlives its
    * departure (computeImport/ExportWindowTimes clamp to departure at source; this
-   * preserves that invariant when the anchor departed later). A window that would
-   * be entirely after this train's departure collapses to a zero-length window at
-   * departure — truthful, not a window that never closes.
+   * preserves that invariant when the anchor departed later).
    */
   private groupWindowFieldsFrom(anchor: TrainSchedule, targetDeparture: Date) {
     const cap = targetDeparture.getTime();
     const clamp = (d: Date | null | undefined): Date | null =>
       d == null ? null : d.getTime() > cap ? targetDeparture : d;
     return {
+      // Live phase + its deadlines — a mid-cycle joiner lands here directly.
+      windowPhase: anchor.windowPhase,
+      bookingWindowStatus:
+        anchor.bookingWindowStatus === 'FULL'
+          ? 'OPEN'
+          : anchor.bookingWindowStatus,
+      bookingCycleNo: anchor.bookingCycleNo,
       windowOpensAt: clamp(anchor.windowOpensAt),
       windowClosesAt: clamp(anchor.windowClosesAt),
+      docReviewEndsAt: clamp(anchor.docReviewEndsAt),
+      docReviewCompletedAt: clamp(anchor.docReviewCompletedAt),
+      paymentPhaseEndsAt: clamp(anchor.paymentPhaseEndsAt),
+      // Frozen rule snapshot.
       ruleWindowOpenHour: anchor.ruleWindowOpenHour,
       ruleWindowCloseHour: anchor.ruleWindowCloseHour,
       ruleWindowDurationHours: anchor.ruleWindowDurationHours,