Metra train number 2707 on the Milwaukee District West route departs Chicago from Union Station using engine number 418, an MP36PH-3 locomotive by Douglas Rahden, via Wikimedia Commons

Metra is the agency responsible for commuter rail service in the Chicago area. For real-time Metra train information, log onto metrarail.com, hit “maps and schedules,” select a line, enter its endpoints, hit the “line map” button, and the display shows the entire route overlaid on a regional Chicago-area map, along with an icon for the current position of every train, with its train number, on that line and whether it’s on time or not. This feature is probably more interesting to geeks than to average commuters, but either way, it’s really neat.

— Ed Perkins, editor

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