Show HN: The Official National Train Map Sucked, So I Made My Own

[Pavlinbg]

Hi HN,

I’m a junior developer. I wanted to share a side project I’ve been working on.

The national railway carrier (BDZ) has no public API. They have an official map but the UI is quite dated, often lags, and doesn't show the full route context.

I wrote a short write-up about the process here: https://www.pavlinbg.com/posts/bg-train-tracker

I know it's still rough around the edges (I'm still working on it), but I’d love to hear your feedback or suggestions!

[NaOH]

BDZ is Balgarski Darzhavni Zheleznitsi, Bulgaria's national railway.

[HelloUsername]

Thank you; would be nice if the country would be clear from the post title

[Incipient]

Well done! The UI feels incredibly polished. Without really digging into the detail at I'm on mobile, at a glance you've done a great job.

[6510]

- The tool-tip feels wrong in how it covers up the highlighted route. Perhaps it should go at the left top of the screen.

- When opening the page the user should be prompted to pick the language and theme. Then you can collapse it in the interface under a settings icon. (put the icon to the left of the close button)

- Push "Train dashboard" all the way to the top. (next to the settings and close icons)

- Make the close button smaller.

- "Search trains" should sit as close to the top as possible.

- Lines around forms and buttons are visible when you look at them directly but are to faint for peripheral vision.

[Pavlinbg]

Valuable feedback, thank you.

Regarding the prompt for language and theme: I actually received similar feedback via email. Instead of adding a popup, I decided to make it seamless—I just updated(locally) the app to automatically detect your OS settings for the Theme (Light/Dark) and Time Format (12h/24h) and apply them by default. This way it should "just work" for most users without needing an extra click.

[throwaway89201]

A similar (unofficial) map, but for The Netherlands: https://spoorkaart.mwnn.nl/

[yoan9224]

Really polished UI. The real-time train positions are a nice touch.

One UX issue on desktop: the train detail panel being fixed to the bottom feels awkward. Consider making it a floating panel or sidebar that doesn't block the map.

Also the arrival/departure times showing "hundreds of minutes" is confusing. Anything over 90 minutes should probably display as hours:minutes instead.

Great work overall though. I've seen plenty of official government transit sites that look worse than this.

[trinix912]

> Also the arrival/departure times showing "hundreds of minutes" is confusing. Anything over 90 minutes should probably display as hours:minutes instead.

Would help with usability but overall seeing this is pretty normal in my part of Europe. I've seen 200+ min delays, written just like that, many times.

[gostsamo]

Congrats, it is heartwarming seeing the young doing their own things. :)

PS: Only BG comprehensible joke - be careful with showing BDZ looking bad, they might hide the data MVR style.

[Pavlinbg]

Thank you!

[executive]

- trains all look to be arriving/departing in hundreds of minutes when you click a random station, even near active trains. Assuming a bug. Regardless, consider changing this to hour/minute display if over 60|90m

- train icon looks like standard metro icon but is easily mistaken for a bus

- train detail panel fixed to bottom is awkward on desktop breakpoints. consider floating or integrating to a single sidebar

- consider having main sidebar fixed to bottom for mobile breakpoints

[Pavlinbg]

Thanks for the feedback!

Regarding the arrival times: Yes, that is definitely a bug I need to fix :D I will update it to format properly into hours/minutes.

As for the icons, I am actually using the official SVGs from the BDZ website. I stuck with those because I assume most users will be Bulgarian, and I wanted them to have that familiarity with the official symbols.

[adhznnhfa]

Nice job! I also made a similar website for hungarian trains: https://kozlekedesiklub.hu/vonatinfo/ (Since the state railway MÁV shut off its own one, as it visualized the delays too well :D) Keep up the good work.

[delitrem]

Great resource, many thanks for sharing. I've bookmarked it and will keep an eye on its development. Wish you good luck with it! (Not a Bulgarian, but live in your country for several years and really felt in love with it!)

[Pavlinbg]

Thanks.

[woodruffw]

Nice job! I took the train from Sofia to Plovdiv a few months ago, and this would have been a great resource to have.

(I wish someone would make a similar thing for Amtrak, which has a route/progress tracker that only marginally works IME.)

[rafram]

https://amtraker.com/map

[markus_zhang]

Thanks. I wish we had a map with freight trains too. I have always been a railroad fan and my favourite trains are those long freight trains. I also love watching the operations of marshalling stations too!

[jazzyjackson]

In case you haven't stumbled upon it

https://www.openrailwaymap.org/

I used it recently to find a land and sea route from Southampton to Marrakesh, along with Google maps faint representation of ferry lines, Google doesn't have public transit directions for the trains in Morocco shrug

[NooneAtAll3]

no zoom buttons :(

[Pavlinbg]

Fair point! I relied entirely on scroll/pinch-to-zoom to keep the interface clean, but I should add standard +/- buttons for accessibility and desktop usability