Driving to Helena airport last year for a flight, East Helena resident Keara Fairclough neared the Carter Drive railroad crossing just as the black-and-white-striped gates descended. Forced to stop, she idled for what felt like an eternity as the freight train rattled past.
“I’d left with what I thought was plenty of extra time, but the train ended up blocking the crossing way longer than expected,” said the 26-year-old insurance risk manager, who barely made her flight. “Sitting there watching the clock made me realize how much we all just guess when it comes to train delays — and how stressful that can be.”
The experience inspired her to take action, hoping to build an online application that could inform users of delays at Helena-area train crossings in real-time.
“I don’t have a background in app development, so this was definitely a learning experience,” Fairclough recalled. “I built it with the mindset of a regular Helena driver, not a tech person — something simple, practical, and easy to check before driving into or through town.”
It took Fairclough a few months, but she figured it out and brought her vision to fruition. Launched in mid-January, the Helena Train Tracker covers all 10 Capitol-area crossings, including two in East Helena along Highway 12.
The tracker is available online and as a mobile app for Android and iOS platforms. The app does not actually track trains as they chug toward Helena, enabling it to inform users in advance of blocked crossings. Rather, like the directions app Waze, it relies on community reporting.
Once someone stopped by a train updates the app, all users are made aware of the blocked crossing. It’s an approach that seems to be working. Two months after launch, the app is being used an average of 500 times every day, according to its creator.
“The feedback so far has been really positive,” said Fairclough. “People have told me they’re checking it before leaving the house, taking alternate routes, and feeling less frustrated when trains stop because they have some real-time info instead of just waiting and hoping.
In the coming months, Fairclough hopes to make the app more reliable and add features including alerts and favorite crossings.
“The app works best when the community contributes,” she said, “so future updates are focused on keeping it accurate, useful, and very Helena-specific.”
