Metro-North gives real-time train status on smart phones, computers

Since mid-January, when MTA Metro-North railroad launched its new service, Train Time, more than 71,000 "hits" show it's a real hit with customers. And live demonstrations are now going to hit the following stations: Hastings on Tuesday, February 9; 
Brewster on Tuesday, February 16; Port Chester on Tuesday, February 23. From 7 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., Metro-North Customer Service representatives will demonstrate how this convenient, real-time train status and schedule information is easily accessible via smart phones and computers. They will show how, by using a web-enabled smart phone or computer, a customer can select a station from the user-friendly drop-down menu and simply click. So far, 67 stations across all three lines are on-line, including Grand Central and Harlem-125th Street, and more will be added this spring. "This new service allows customers to check the status of train service in real time at their home stations or wherever they are traveling," said Metro-North President Howard Permut. "It gives people the freedom to plan a trip and get up-to-the-minute information to make necessary adjustments while they are out and about. We think it's a technology whose time has come." Smart phones and computers will show whether a train is On Time, Late, Canceled or Delayed, including the number of minutes it is late, also what track it will arrive on and what stops it makes.