MTA maps real-time train info

The MTA on Tuesday launched a new digital subway map that will let people track trains as they move real-time through the subway system.

Officials hope the online map will help straphangers avoid the city’s never-ending barrage of track closures. The new wayfinding tool also provides real-time updates on construction-related service changes and train arrival times.

Straphangers who head to the new map page on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s website can zoom in to watch trains as they move through tunnels and on open-air tracks.

Tip: Zoom in to see the moving trains — they don’t show up when you zoom out to see the whole map. The app is only viewable on a phone, laptop or desktop web browser like Chrome, Safari or Microsoft Edge. It isn’t available yet on the MyMTA app.

The new design — only available online — combines elements of a famed 1970s subway map that’s no longer in use with the current map.

The new map has a look similar to a map designed by Italian cartographer Massimo Vignelli that the MTA rolled out in 1972. Vignelli’s map was praised by graphic design critics but was abandoned in 1979 because riders found it did not align with the city’s geography.

That year, designer Michael Hertz unveiled the subway map New Yorkers know today. Subway routes that share a set of tracks are represented by a single line instead of several.

A version of Hertz’s design is visible on the MTA’s new digital map when viewers zoom out — a feature its creators said will help riders better understand the city’s complicated subway network.

Felipe Memoria, founder of Work & Co., which created the online design, said the MTA for decades was unable to combine the elements of the Vignelli and Hertz maps because the agency was confined by print design. “Now with digital we could actually get the best of both worlds,” Memoria said.

When riders click on a station on the new map website, they’ll be told the expected wait time for their next train — a feature that’s already in place on digital signs across the city’s subway platforms.

The new map will also replace the MTA’s confusing “Weekender” app, which breaks down planned track closures but is barely used by riders.

MTA officials said the new digital map is merely a beta version and is still being tested. It’s unclear when it will be added to the MyMTA app.