9 months building FlightRadar24 for Indian Trains - mobile app & free API launched

[Omkar]

Hey guys,

Some of you might remember a prototype I posted here a while back. I took your feedback, scrapped the old version, and spent the last 9 months rebuilding the entire architecture from scratch (using PostgreSQL, Redis, Hono.js and Next.js).

It's basically FlightRadar24 but for Indian Railways. It plots 13,000+ active trains on a live interactive map. I even built a custom GIS system so the trains follow the exact physical curves of the tracks instead of snapping straight lines.

I know how hard it is to get good transit data in India, so I've opened up the API completely free for developers and hobbyists.

Live Map: https://railradar.in/railradar
Free API: https://railradar.in/docs
Android App: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=in.railradar.trainrunning

I'm a college student currently looking for freelance work to help cover the server costs for this. Let me know what you think of the app or if you have any questions about the architecture!

[Pankaj]

Wow, this looks great! I just gave it a quick look.

[Chetan]

This is awesome, could you share the full process?

[Basavaraj]

How do you get the live train location?
You should think about selling this to services like "Where is my Train"!

[Riya]

That's awesome, mate.

Could you add a donation link or something in the post?

[Amrita]

I've been using it since your first post 9 months ago - thanks, it helped me a lot.

[Anita]

Very, very well made!! You should promote this on X!

[Arjun]

Okay, this is crazy!
You really need to work on this more!!

[Arif]

Very good.
You should think about monetising it.
Just one suggestion: when I search a train number, it should automatically hide all other routes and show only that train. Right now I have to go to options and select 'hide all'.

[Manoj]

So how much money are you spending from your own pocket to keep the app running?

[Ayaan]

Bro, post this on Hacker News and Twitter - you'll probably land a decent internship with a US company. Asking for freelance gigs is a tiny ask for all this effort.