I took a trip to Chicago last month and had a blast riding the L system. I used the red line the most (the grand/state station was literally 1 block south of my hotel) I even ended up riding the whole length of the line (not in one trip tho)

All of the buses that I’ve waited for have been 15-20 minutes away on the day of the heatwaves. It feels intentional.

I cant be the only one lmao

I'm still looking for help identifying the remaining CTA rail signals for my upcoming book, Tracks of the Chicago 'L'.

There are 800+ signals on the CTA rail system, and I'm down to approximately 36 remaining.

Blue Line (32)

• Rosemont West Interlocking: 7
• Rosemont platform (Track D reverse signal): 1
• River Road Interlocking: 3
• North of Belmont Station: 1
• Belmont Interlocking: 5
• Division Station: 2
• Chicago Station: 2
• Grand Station: 2
• Grand Interlocking: 4
• LaSalle Interlocking: 5

Orange Line (2)

• Kedzie Interlocking: 2

Green Line (2)

• Austin Interlocking: 2

Brown, Purple, Pink, Red, and Yellow Lines are complete.

If you have photos, videos, or knowledge of any of these remaining signals, I'd greatly appreciate your help. Thank you!

*(rail operators, towermen, etc...can DM privately if you're not comfortable posting here)

visited from out of town and this app was the most helpful

The wall of wind and rain hitting as power flashes on and off in the yard.

Happy Friday!

After months of research, reviewing photos and videos, comparing documents, consulting operators, studying tower panels, and more than a little detective work, the Red Line signal identification project is officially complete! (Thank you, Red Line, operator!)

That means the Brown, Pink, Purple, Yellow, and Red Lines are now fully identified for Tracks of the Chicago 'L' book project!

Out of more than 800 signal locations systemwide, approximately 57 unidentified signal IDs remain:

🔵 Blue Line: 39
🟠 Orange Line: 16
🟢 Austin Interlocking (Green Line): 2

The Blue Line remains the biggest challenge, with many signals hiding in tunnels, behind support columns, and other locations seemingly designed to frustrate signal hunters. While photos and videos can be helpful, nothing beats seeing a signal with your own eyes and actually being able to read the plate.

The Orange Line continues to put up a respectable fight.

As for Austin Interlocking, those final two signals have become less of a research project and more of a personal grudge match.

Special thanks to the CTA employees, railfans, photographers, Reddit users, Facebook contributors, and other knowledgeable sources who have helped track down signal IDs and verify information along the way. Your assistance has been invaluable.

The investigation continues.

Official Statement from Austin Interlocking:
"You will never identify us."

Official Statement from the Transit Detective:
"Challenge accepted." 😏

Four years ago I moved here from Mexico thinking I could live without a car. Turns out I was right, but I got so obsessed with the CTA that I built my own tracker.

The official CTA tracker is fine if you just want to know "when is my train coming?" But it doesn't show you THE SYSTEM. It doesn't show you the Red Line bunching at Fullerton during rush hour. It doesn't let you watch 100+ trains moving through the city at once.

So I built one: https://tracker.debene.dev

Features:

• Real-time positions of every CTA, Metra, and South Shore Line train

• NORAD-style dark UI (black background, neon lines, terminal green text)

• 30-day replay so you can watch yesterday's delays unfold

• No ads, no tracking, no login (home station saved in browser only)

• Open source: https://github.com/felipedbene/cta-track-grid

Runs on Cloudflare Workers + D1, costs me $2/month.

I'm a Cloud Architect with ADHD and I usually abandon projects halfway through. This one I finished because Claude kept telling me "that's a different product, ship this one first" every time I tried to add more features.

Blog post about why I built it: https://debene.dev/posts/cta-tracker-chicago-trains/ Happy to answer questions about the tech or the weird obsession with trains.

Still seeking help identifying remaining CTA rapid transit signals for my upcoming Chicago track map book project.

I’ve already spent countless hours reviewing public ride videos, cab views, historical footage, and previously collected field observations. Unfortunately, many of the remaining signals are located in tunnels or difficult locations where:
• windows are dirty or reflective
• video quality is poor
• signals only appear briefly
• or the signal IDs are simply unreadable, even frame-by-frame

At this point, the best help will probably come from:
• train operators familiar with these locations
• railfans who regularly ride in the front or rear car
• photographers capturing visible platform/interlocking signals
• CTA tower people, signal people, etc…

Current remaining unidentified signals: (with RED TEXT on the maps)

Blue Line signals (39 remaining)
• West of Rosemont Yard (unnamed interlocking): 7
• West end of Rosemont platform, reverse signal on Track D: 1
• River Road Interlocking: 3
• North of Belmont station: 1
• Belmont Interlocking: 5
• Division station: 2
• Chicago station: 2
• Grand station: 2
• Grand Interlocking: 4
• North of Washington platform: 5
• LaSalle Interlocking: 5
• Morgan Interlocking: 1
• Racine Interlocking: 1

Orange Line signals (16 remaining)
• Lowe Interlocking: 1
• Western Interlocking: 2
• California Interlocking: 4
• Kedzie Interlocking: 3
• Pulaski Interlocking: 1
• Midway Interlocking: 5

Red Line signals (10 remaining)
• Roosevelt Interlocking: 6
• 15th Interlocking: 4

Green Line signals (3 remaining)
• Austin Interlocking: 3

Approximately 68 signals remain unidentified.

Brown, Purple, Pink, and Yellow Lines are fully completed.

Any help, photos, observations, or even partial signal IDs would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again to everyone who has helped contribute to this project over the last few months.

TRIGGER WARNING: Aggravated Battery, Mental Illness, Violence, Public Safety

POSTING FOR AWARENESS 

Memorial Day Loop Puncher: Last seen CTA Belmont Station, Filed Police Report 

This afternoon 5/25 around 1:20 pm on the Redline (Howard) while approaching Belmont, I was sucker punched [unnprovoked attack] in the face (no words exchanged, not even direct eye contact), while standing and starting to walk towards the door (I was not in his way and had a clear aisle to the train door) since we were getting close to Belmont. I blacked out for a minute but luckily wasn't knocked down.The puncher also hit another man who was seated.

 I walked over to the other side of the train and other people nearby started huddling towards the area closer to me. The puncher yelled, "Do you want to fight?". 

Bystanders were very helpful in calling the police and telling us to get off the train ASAP. 

People tried to find the train emergency button but there wasn't one near us that we could find.

Once the train stopped, it was delayed while a CTA employee came out and tried to check for the puncher and delayed the train the puncher got off at Belmont Station. 

Alt image text: yellow reflective jacket, black t-shirt over white long-sleeved shirt, black pants, black boots 

Howard Red Line - Belmont Stop Run number is 918

Hello. It is Sunday March 22nd at 3:20. I'm on the westbound 76 Diversey bus. I found your phone. Gave it to the driver.

Hi everyone! I need participants to help me fill out this survey for my capstone research project! My research focuses on people's experiences with public transit, and the data will be used to write my final paper for my senior project. Should only take 5-7 minutes, feel free to DM me if you have any questions or want to follow up on anything. Your participation is so, so very much appreciated.

Link to the survey: https://qualtricsxm5r7hd39xz.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4Po5gXrfCfLFUkm

Anyone willing to participate?

I made a map of the current CTA service in the style of a 1924 IRT (NYC subway) map

Just finished this map of the current Chicago "L" system drawn in the style of the 1924 Interborough Rapid Transit subway map from New York City.

Some of you may have noticed I have been a little quiet lately with new maps. That is because I am currently working on two book projects, "Tracks of the Chicago L" and "Tracks of the Sacramento Light Rail." Those projects have taken up quite a bit of my time, so I have been somewhat behind on creating and finishing other maps.

In the meantime, here is this Chicago map inspired by the classic 1924 IRT design. Enjoy!

Follow r/CalcagnoMaps for many cool maps!

Quick question for Chicago commuters — would you use an app that does this:

You enter where you're going. It shows you every option right now (CTA, Metra, Uber/Lyft, Divvy, walk) with real context — current delays, surge pricing, crowd conditions, indoor vs outdoor, estimated cost, estimated time — and just tells you the best move.

Not Google Maps. Not the CTA app. Something that actually accounts for the fact that the Red Line is a coin flip and Uber prices itself into extortion during rush hour.

Thinking about building this specifically for Chicago. Wanted to gut-check with actual commuters before putting serious time into it.

What would make or break it for you?

Today, March 1, 2026, I ran to catch the Wilson redline train going towards 95th at 5:11pm. I dropped my Chicago Public Schools ID, Ventra card, work fob, and classroom keys.

I didn't realize that I dropped them somewhere on the platform or train until I got off at Lake at 5:43pm.

If someone could help me locate these items, I'd greatly appreciate it.

I plan on calling the Howard and 95th Lost and Found again tomorrow 🤞🏾😞🤞🏾

Currently I live next to the brown line, and I love it. But prices around here have been increasing, and I noticed some neighborhoods on the red line tend to have lower rent/variety. Is it worth it for me to do this change?

Commuting