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Show HN: Trains.fyi – a live map of passenger trains in the US and Canada

trains.fyi

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Re: Show HN: Trains.fyi – a live map of passenger trains in the US and Canada

#241

Post by bjord »

condiment wrote: post #45
kylecazar wrote: post #27

Wow, I don't know why I thought there would be... Way, way more trains active at a given time. I suppose I overestimated passenger rail popularity in this country.. I knew it wasn't relatively huge, but there's several hundred miles in some cases between trains.

The site is incomplete, and there are way, way more trains active at a given time. For instance the Tri-Rail and Brightline (high-speed rail) in Florida each have 5-6 trains running simultaneously. Brightline is notable as the US's first credible foray into high-speed rail. Similarly most major cities in the US have either light rail, rapid transit, or both, which is maybe not included in this map. "Passenger rail" m…

NJTransit is also a notable omission.

Re: Show HN: Trains.fyi – a live map of passenger trains in the US and Canada

#242

Post by shiroiuma »

Ichthypresbyter wrote: post #224
jantissler wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is actually a problem in Germany that high-speed trains too often share tracks with slower passenger and freight trains. Other countries like Japan put their high-speed trains on completely separate tracks.

I think Japan only does that for weird legacy reasons- freight and slower passenger trains run on 1067 mm gauge tracks, while the Shinkansen network is standard (1435 mm) gauge.

I don't think so. There's simply too much traffic on the shinkansen lines to be able to mix slower and/or freight trains on the same lines. On the Tokaido line between Tokyo and Osaka, trains run every 7 minutes (IIRC); you can't have a freight train sharing a track with a bullet train service that has trains that close together.

Re: Show HN: Trains.fyi – a live map of passenger trains in the US and Canada

#244

Post by dumbo-octopus »

bjord wrote: post #241
condiment wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The site is incomplete, and there are way, way more trains active at a given time. For instance the Tri-Rail and Brightline (high-speed rail) in Florida each have 5-6 trains running simultaneously. Brightline is notable as the US's first credible foray into high-speed rail. Similarly most major cities in the US have either light rail, rapid transit, or both, which is maybe not included in this map. "Passenger rail" m…

NJTransit is also a notable omission.

As is the LA Metro (the rail, not Metrolink, the subway)

Re: Show HN: Trains.fyi – a live map of passenger trains in the US and Canada

#245

Post by eskibars »

I love it! I made a mashup of video feeds and live train locations to show you video feeds from trains that are about to show up: https://train.api.connelly.casa/

This gives me lots of ideas of additional agencies to include! Maybe we should join forces :)

Re: Show HN: Trains.fyi – a live map of passenger trains in the US and Canada

#246

Post by eskibars »

dhosek wrote: post #229

I’d kind of like real-time tracking of freight trains. There’s a BNSF grade crossing between my home and my parents’ and it would be nice to know whether I should take the 1 mile detour to get to the tunnel beneath the rail yard if there’s a train going to be blocking (I suppose it would also help to have info on the length of the trains so I’d know if the train in front of me is almost clear or if there’s another mi…

It'd be great. My understanding is that there's basically no live data for freight trains unfortunately

Re: Show HN: Trains.fyi – a live map of passenger trains in the US and Canada

#247

Post by Reason077 »

jcranmer wrote: post #112
paddy_m wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Acela isn't HSR, and Metroliner which came before had travel times from NYC to DC as low as 2.5 hours. Acela does the same trip in 3.5 hours. Metroliner lowered trip times primarily through faster acceleration.

> Acela does the same trip in 3.5 hours. I just rode it last week, and it actually took 3 hours, not 3.5. Most of the NEC corridor from DC to NYC has a speed limit of 125mph; from NYC to New Haven, it's generally 70mph (!), from New Haven thence to about Kingston generally 90mph, and from there to Boston it's mostly 150mph. Given the density of the corridor, Amtrak should be trying for 150-220mph speed limits, but ev…

> “Given the density of the corridor, Amtrak should be trying for 150-220mph speed limits, but even 125mph is generally agreed upon to be the lowest end of HSR.”

In the UK and Europe, 125mph (~200 km/h) is considered the top speed limit of conventional rail. Legally, operating speeds beyond that require full in-cab signalling, positive train control, upgraded safety and structural requirements, and whatever else is required for HSR. Further, all the trains operating on a section of line need to be upgraded to those standards if any of them are to run at speeds > 125mph.

The UK does have some sections of conventional line that are capable of > 125 mph running, and even have done so in the past, but this is no longer allowed.

I’m not sure if the US has similar rules, but it wouldn’t surprise me if so!

> ”A surprisingly easy way to make the train go faster would be to redesign the switching sections…”

Yes, generally speaking, fixing the low-speed bottlenecks will typically yield the biggest benefits for the cost in terms of overall journey time.

Re: Show HN: Trains.fyi – a live map of passenger trains in the US and Canada

#248

Post by djvdq »

Reason077 wrote: post #247
jcranmer wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Acela does the same trip in 3.5 hours. I just rode it last week, and it actually took 3 hours, not 3.5. Most of the NEC corridor from DC to NYC has a speed limit of 125mph; from NYC to New Haven, it's generally 70mph (!), from New Haven thence to about Kingston generally 90mph, and from there to Boston it's mostly 150mph. Given the density of the corridor, Amtrak should be trying for 150-220mph speed limits, but ev…

> “Given the density of the corridor, Amtrak should be trying for 150-220mph speed limits, but even 125mph is generally agreed upon to be the lowest end of HSR.” In the UK and Europe, 125mph (~200 km/h) is considered the top speed limit of conventional rail. Legally, operating speeds beyond that require full in-cab signalling, positive train control, upgraded safety and structural requirements, and whatever else is r…

> In the UK and Europe

UK is part of Europe. It's like writing "In California and the USA", or "In Mexico and North America".

Re: Show HN: Trains.fyi – a live map of passenger trains in the US and Canada

#250

Post by Reason077 »

djvdq wrote: post #248
Reason077 wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> “Given the density of the corridor, Amtrak should be trying for 150-220mph speed limits, but even 125mph is generally agreed upon to be the lowest end of HSR.” In the UK and Europe, 125mph (~200 km/h) is considered the top speed limit of conventional rail. Legally, operating speeds beyond that require full in-cab signalling, positive train control, upgraded safety and structural requirements, and whatever else is r…

> In the UK and Europe UK is part of Europe. It's like writing "In California and the USA", or "In Mexico and North America".

Quite right. I should have said “UK and continental Europe” to satisfy both the pedants and the politically sensitive ;)
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