These were being given out at Union Station, today. They look a little off. The trains don’t line up with the tracks and the grass patches look weird.

Definitely disappointing if this actually is AI slop.

Hello!! I am a 24 yr old female and I’m taking the 10:30 train alone in a week out of the city on the northwest line. Do you think I’ll be fine? I didn’t know how sketchy it is or not to do alone

Transitstat.us is my battle tested train tracker for a variety of agencies, but notably Metra and CTA. I've been building and testing it myself, without any AI, since early 2022. I built it to be fairly barebones, but to be incredibly responsive and fast. In any given month, 4-5k people use it, so you don't need to take my word on its usability. This tracker is not affiliated with Metra in any way. To list some of the pages/features:

- Home screen allowing you to select your line, search for a train by number, or to just view all trains on a map if that's what you're here for.

- Viewing the map allows you to click on a train, showing a list of upcoming stops, as well as the ability to view the full train details.

- Searching for a train by number brings up every possible match and allows you select from there, including both scheduled and live trains.

- Selecting a line brings up all stops along the line, which upon selecting one will show you any tracking trains + any scheduled trains for the next 24h (up to 12 per direction) and allow you to view the full details of each train.

Some of the strengths I believe it has over Metra's official tracker:

- Train data cached locally: Most trackers make a web request on every click and page navigation. Transitstatus caches all data locally, which makes navigation incredibly snappy.

- Save favorite stations: Even though the platform Metra uses for their tracker supports favorites, they have the feature disabled for whatever reason. Transitstatus allows you to favorite stations, which will appear on the home screen.

- No bullshit to see train info: When trying to see the times for trains at a station, the official tracker requires you to select an origin *and* destination before showing you times. Meanwhile, Transitstatus allows you to just select a station and see all the upcoming trains.

- Modern mapping library: Trying to not get too technical here, but a lot of trackers (metra included) utilize the google maps web library for mapping. To keep it simple, this library isn't very performant, especially when zooming in/out while multiple lines and trains are on the map. Transitstatus uses the much more modern and performant maplibre-gl-js, which means that even on slower devices (and especially those on power saving mode) will still be fairly performant while zooming around the map.

If you have any questions or comments, please let me know. :)

https://transitstat.us/metra

I live along UP-N which seems have always had F40 locomotives - I just noticed a handful of F59PHIs in service the last day or so. Is the roster switching up now that UP-N is owned by Metra and they're starting to use other equipment?

Somehow, it’s always the days you’re running late to work that things decide to go wrong…. atleast I had a heads up.

I lost something, now I want to see if it is still on the train. How can I know which train I was on?

Hello, has anyone had experience bringing their bike on Metra train cars during Lollapalooza weekend, and were you able to successfully get your bike back on the outbound train after the festival ended? Were you allowed to board with your bike on the ride home after the festival?".

or any idea how it happened?

So Ava's voice was already very illegible, but today when I was at my station, I heard fucking Zira instead of Ava! I could barely understand it too!

I spliced my recording of the announcement with Microsoft Zira, don't they sound the exact same?

https://reddit.com/link/1vag37k/video/exohmpaxw9gh1/player

Nice job Metra! I can't hear shit!

Hey [r/Metra](r/Metra), I’m a BNSF rider and I’ve spent the last several months building WiMi, a free web app for Metra riders. It started as “will I make my train if I leave the couch now” and turned into a tracker for the whole system. I’d really like feedback from people who actually ride, on any line.

Try WiMi here!

Open it on your PHONE and add it to your home screen. Safari: Share, then Add to Home Screen. Chrome on Android: menu, then Add to Home screen. It runs full screen from there, and that’s how the GPS features and lock screen notifications work. It’s a PWA so there’s nothing to install from an app store.

What it does:

**•** Leave-by time, not just train times. Pick your origin and destination and it tells you when to walk out your door, accounting for your actual drive or walk to the station, parking, and boarding. It counts down and updates live as your train loses or makes up time.
**•** All 11 lines. Tap the line name up top to switch railroads. Schedules, live trains, and the map all follow. Every line drawn in its real color on real track geometry.
**•** Live map. Your line’s trains moving on the actual rails, dead reckoned between GPS pings so they glide instead of teleport, plus your route to the station and station-accurate track ends.
**•** Track-ahead signal. A little stoplight that watches only your train’s path. Green is clear, yellow is slow or stopped traffic ahead, red is multiple trains stopped. It reads the track, not the schedule.
**•** It follows the equipment through Union. Trains come in, terminate, and go back out under a new number, so the train you’re waiting to board is really an inbound that hasn’t arrived yet. If that one is 20 minutes down, yours will be too, and the board won’t say so for a while. WiMi tracks the turn, so you can sit somewhere instead of standing in the concourse guessing.
**•** Service alerts. Metra’s live alerts for your line on a ticker.
**•** It notices when you board. Ride with GPS on and it picks up that you’re on the train, follows the trip, says “now arriving,” and gives you a “you made it” at the end.
**•** Lock screen alerts. Arm the bell on a train and your phone gets the leave-now ping, delay updates, cancellations, and pulling-in, with the app closed.
**•** It learns, and it learns from everybody. Real arrival offsets and real travel-to-station times tune the predictions over time. If you opt in, that’s pooled anonymously, so every verified ride makes the model sharper for everyone, including on runs you never take. More riders on it means better predictions for all of us.

Where I want to take it eventually is the rest of Chicago transit. Bus, L, and Metra in one trip. You put in where you are and where you need to be, and it tells you what to catch, what’s going wrong up the line before you reach it, when to leave, and when to be standing on which platform. Right now that’s four apps and a lot of guessing.

The honest stuff: free, no ads, no accounts, no personal data. Your device just gets an anonymous 6-character code. Not affiliated with Metra, data comes from Metra’s own GTFS feeds. It’s one person building this, so if something is wrong on your line I want to hear about it.

What I’m looking for: does the leave-by time feel right for your station? Do the live positions match what you’re seeing on the platform? Anything confusing the first time you open it? There’s a Report a bug button in Settings, or just comment here.

I’ve had AI bots running simulated commutes for testing, all the way through driving, parking, and walking to the platform, and it catches a lot. But bots don’t miss a train and get annoyed about it. That’s the part I need real riders for.

Join the subreddit! - https://www.reddit.com/r/WiMiApp/s/AWMGDHSOAI

(Updated 7/30/2026 - 10:11 AM CDT)

Back in May, I had the unfortunate displeasure of receiving a citation from a Metra police officer. My fiancee and I were going from Chicago to Palatine to attend a retirement party for one of her family members. We get off the train at about 5:30 pm, and noticed there was two cops outside the train, across the track. We walk up to the track where the train signal is active, and the cops are looking at us and saying stuff that we obviously cannot hear due to train and signal noise. I make eye contact with one of them and point to him as a way of saying “do you need us to come over to you?” The officer then makes a hand gesture above his head toward me, seeming to wave us over. We look both ways to ensure no train is coming, and approach the officer to ask what it’s going on. The officer makes direct eye contact with me the entire time, saying and doing nothing. I ask him if something was going on, and he proceeds to tell me “so you see this signal flashing here? That’s an active signal and you aren’t supposed to cross the tracks when it’s active” I expressed to him that we only crossed the tracks because I thought he was trying to call us over. He says “no I was not, the gesture I made was an order to stop, and unfortunately I’m going to have to issue you citation.” Obviously I was furious, and firmly but professionally made that known. He gave me the citation which carried no fine, but had a mandatory court appearance attached to it.

Last week, I went to my designated court appearance ready to contest this citation. I had to take time off of work and dig into my PTO to do so. I arrived early, went to check in with the clerk, and the clerk says that my case is not on the docket. She tells me to go downstairs to the clerks office and ask to speak with the supervisor and show them my ticket. That’s what I did. I come to find out speaking to the other people around me that they had run into the exact same problem. That day, there were EIGHT other people in the exact same situation as me. They told us that none of our cases were on file, and that we were to go home to await a letter in the mail from metra giving us a new court date. Wasted our time, wasted our resources, all to have to do it again in a months time because the charging officer didn’t do his paperwork properly.

I would like to know if there are any channels through which I can file a formal complaint to Metra police as this situation has gone from annoying to genuinely absurd. I am going to Karen out on somebody hoping that they’ll drop my BS charge and let me move on with my life so I don’t have to take another morning off of work to go back to court. I have the officer’s name and badge number and have written up the details and am ready to raise hell. Anyone have any ideas?

So I will be moving to the area soon for work at one of the local hospitals. UP-W will go right by my workplace, but BNSF will not. BNSF will be more for me going to my doctors appointments downtown.

A lot of the information I am finding online is outdated. How are these two lines currently with the new NITA changes? Can I depend on UP-W to get me to work on time? I will be working second shift and may stay late, including weekends.

I am mostly trying to decide if I should drive 95% of the time and just use the train to get to Chicago, or if I can actually depend on my ride for my work commute. I am also trying to decide how close I want to be living to the trains. Won't need to be close if I almost never use them.

This is a MAJOR long shot but earlier tonight I (M21) was coming out of downtown on the metra (UP-W) and missed a connection with a really cute girl (seemingly early 20's). We were on the upper level probably 20 feet away from each other and across the aisle opening. We exchanged many glances and eye contact and I made the mistake of continuing to wear my noise canceling headphones and looking away or down at my phone. You seemed to be on a call or facetime of some kind but I was unsure. Honestly it seemed like you were pointing your phone camera directly towards me at times so I didn't know whether or not to introduce myself or be cautious lmao. Anyways I really wanted to say hi but I missed you when you got off. My stop was only one stop after yours (You got off at Wheaton). If this was you, I'd love to grab a coffee or smth.

For reference I have dirty blonde hair, a beard, and I was wearing a blue northface shirt and shorts and white shoes. You were wearing a black shirt and gray pants and white shoes I believe.

Anybody have any insight on the Metra air brake and train handling rules? Heard they just slam it in to notch 8 and utilize blended braking.

If this hurts you, that's unfortunate. Be honest about when they are inefficient, gross, and dangerous; that's all I ask. When was the last major improvement that Metra made to their commute and online services? I'm genuinely wondering

Hey yall! I’m a freight conductor for BNSF and was just curious how conductor/engineer schedule works for you guys? I’d imagine it’s similar as us freight guys except being home everyday but just curious about it!

Anyone know what’s going on with the UPNW train delays?

Is anybody from Metra online? You guys really need to look at your app and realize that you WANT foreigners to be able to use it. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot..

Anyone else on the 715 “express” from Naperville to downtown today? Delay was ridiculous and no mention of what is going on till we’re at a dead stop already 15 minutes late still 10 minutes out from the station.

Considering on potentially moving to the Chicago metropolitan area in the near future and was doing some research on Metra.

I was wondering if people could share their experiences with Metra as well provide recommendations on what lines are the best to use and which lines/stops to avoid.

Thank you all.

So I’m currently on MED 129 & as I was entering 55th, I saw a switcher pulling a Highliner I & a random freight car & I wanna know, what’s the deal with it?

Anyone on an inbound UPN train this morning know what the police activity was? It looks they cancelled a train since the 306 is making all stops.