CTA To Add Train Tracker Service
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The CTA will soon add a Train Tracker service similar to its popular Bus Tracker, the agency's president announced Thursday.
A pilot version of a new CTA Train Tracker service will be launched in early January, Chicago Transit Authority president Richard Rodriguez said.
The train tracker will show estimated times for 'L' train arrivals on all eight rail lines, via a dedicated website set up similarly to the Bus Tracker. Anyone with a computer or a Web-enabled mobile device such as smartphone will be able to track their trains.
But the CTA says the Train Tracker system will not be quite as accurate as the Bus Tracker. The Bus Tracker uses GPS technology, but the Train Tracker will gather its information from signaling systems and sensors on the tracks.
Some 'L' stops feature overhead electronic signs with estimated arrival times for trains from each line serving the stop, as has been done for years in the New York subway system, the Berlin U-Bahn, and other transit systems worldwide.
But, the CTA points out, the electronic arrival times signs are not uniform in age, size or character availability. The 47th Street, Sox-35th, and Addison Red Line stops, the Davis Purple Line stop, the Roosevelt Green-Orange Line stop, and the 18th Street Pink Line stop all feature a full-color digital display. But the Belmont Red-Brown-Purple line station, among several others, uses yellow LED-light sign.
Thus, the CTA has been seeking a consistent method of delivering arrival time data.
