74 pointsby Flightmussy6 hours ago16 comments
  • Flightmussy4 hours ago
    I am going to sleep now because it is pretty late in Norway and I can sense that I will have a very long work day tomorrow. It is crazy to see that World Train Map is on the front page. Holy shit!

    Please give feedback meanwhile because it helps the site a lot. I want to add both many more routes and have a well functioning verification system. I hope that the map is giving all of you an enjoyable experience.

  • cwal372 hours ago
    The map is ok, but mostly I'm interested in the number of map apps people are cranking out with AI. The design elements pretty clearly mark them as such (and it's even more obvious once you poke around a bit). I love maps, so I get it, they tend to hook people, and the relative density of information can be very high.

    I work in the electricity space (and of course we have a map[0]), and it has been wild to see the number of "I was a PM at a B2B SaaS/AI company and now I'm here to solve the grid with this vibe-coded tool", which inevitably involves a map. Seems like an inflection point was hit sometime late last year where first SMEs could make little apps they couldn't before, and then it expanded further into people who truly don't know a space but the AI can make it look like they do to other people who also don't, and the cycle continues.

    [0] https://www.gridstatus.io/map?zoom=4.45&center=-95.70000,40....

  • noeltock2 hours ago
    Really nice, how does this compare to https://www.openrailwaymap.org/ ?
    • ks20482 hours ago
      One is AI slop, one is direct OSM data
      • ventana2 hours ago
        Besides the obvious fact you stated, I think they actually show different information: the thing we're discussing is a map of popular or famous or remarkable train routes, not the map of all the railways in the world.
  • ggerules2 hours ago
    This is missing just about all of the short lines in America. So by default the is NOT a world train map. This link and website is misleading to think it is the world of train maps. Disappointing.
    • tapland2 hours ago
      It's missing some weird ones for having others operating as part of the same public transport systems too.

      Old data? Where's the data from?

  • quietthrow3 hours ago
    Amazing. Also super interesting to see that when you filter for high speed rail it’s basically Japan, China and Europe. America (north and south), Africa - basically the rest of the world is in dark ages
  • xx__yy2 hours ago
    Nice work!

    But missing the iconic Ghan in Australia https://digital-classroom.nma.gov.au/images/route-taken-ghan

    • jaza30 minutes ago
      Also missing (a big chunk of) the Indian Pacific (east to west coast, has passenger services several times a week).
  • rjmunro3 hours ago
    https://www.openrailwaymap.org/ is much more comprehensive. It's open street map data, but filtered for railway infrastructure.
    • decimalenough3 hours ago
      World Train Map is, by design, a curated map of interesting passenger trains, not a comprehensive map.

      The problem with every comprehensive map I've seen is that they are way too comprehensive. If you look at Congo on https://www.openrailwaymap.org/, you might assume the country has a functional passenger railway network, when almost most lines shown were for bulk cargo only, fell into disrepair in the 1960s and certainly haven't had passenger services in decades if ever. Even for first world places like Australia there are tons of supposedly "main lines" listed that are nothing of the sort.

      • ks20482 hours ago
        How is it comprehensive? Did someone just say “be comprehensive” to their agent?

        Quick Look in Mexico and it’s not good.

    • xx__yy2 hours ago
      That's more like it, the Ghan (AU) track is shown
  • angry_octet2 hours ago
    This is a very dangerous site for train travel geeks. Like, what am I doing with my life? I should be catching the Nile Valley Sleeper, 879km "Overnight up the Nile past Luxor’s temples: wake to feluccas and the First Cataract at Aswan."
  • ks20482 hours ago
    AI lets people produce things that look authoritative, but are crap. Tiresome.

    At first glance, https://www.openrailwaymap.org seems much better

  • yklan hour ago
    This is super cool, but at least by a quick glance, I think the coverage for China is very incomplete.
  • RugnirViking4 hours ago
    Interesting! It's definitely not complete, quite a few reasonably common passenger routes in Europe I know are missing. But a fun idea, one I would love to play around with more were it more complete
    • Flightmussy4 hours ago
      The last few days I have been working on a new verification system. I hope to be able to add many more routes through this system, so that World Train Map can have high quality routes that are verified.
  • tw198424 minutes ago
    according to this "map", there is only HSR train route from Shanghai to Hangzhou. in fact, it shows there are literally just HSR rails in China.

    a highly inaccurate map is worse than not having such a "map".

  • throw-the-towel4 hours ago
    This is very cool! Out of curiosity, where are you getting the data from?
  • ks20482 hours ago
    Whatever this AI slop is.. the better way would be to use OSM data. If you want more “curated” - there should be corresponding metadata in OSM.
  • asios2 hours ago
    amazed and intrigued. great work.
  • ofcrpls4 hours ago
    India is so barren