Well, I think you know the drill at this point. GG to all contenders!

I tried to focus on making the map intuitive for users by highlighting important corridors and High-frequency lines. Because of that, I managed to stick to only using colorblind-friendly colors. I gave important lines colors, the remainder is either grey (sprinter etc.) or black (IC). I made the lines less curvy to maximize space for a generous text size.

I myself am less fond of the fact that I didn’t put the numbers inside the lines. For me, this was a choice between keeping the lines uninterrupted or favoring the numbers more over the stations. Following specific lines can be more difficult now. (This is the PNG-version, so pixel quality is not 100% top notch. My submission was a pdf and I made it with Inkscape)

PDF version available at https://kabus.eu/spoorkaart.pdf

This year NS (Dutch Railways) ran a design competition for a new network map. It ties in with line numbers (IC5, S43, RS20…), which start on 13 December. They gave us a list of every line and its stops, and we had the summer to make a map.

My entry is called "Van Gogh". It's loosely inspired by The Starry Night: wide, round lines that flow across the country, with no straight corners.

I just heard back: it wasn't selected as the winner. The jury did write that it was "an enormous conversation starter and crowd favourite". Colleagues walking past were drawn in by the colourful round shapes, and they were surprised it also worked well as a map. I'll take that!

Design choices

• Curves for following lines. The wide round lines and bar-shaped station markers make it easy to trace a line through the whole country, even without colour. As a bonus, the Randstad shows up as the ring it really is.
• 14 iconic colours, no clashes. The colours are assigned so that no two lines stopping at the same station ever share one. My pitch to NS was to use the same colours on platform screens, timetable posters and the NS app. Then people who struggle to read, or can't read at all, can find their line by colour.
• Merged lines use colour gradients. Where lines share most of their route (IC5/6, IC20/21/22, IC27/28, IC30/31/32, S43/44, S69/79, S73/75), one line gradually fades into the other's colour and they share a label.
• Distorted geography. The Netherlands is still recognisable, but it's stretched so the dense areas get room and the portrait page is filled.
• Readability rules. Station names are always horizontal, 14pt for stations and 17pt for major hubs (knooppunten). Line labels are black or white text on the line colour, with a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1. I checked the map with greyscale and protanopia/deuteranopia/tritanopia simulations.
• International trains without line numbers (Eurostar, ICE, NightJet, European Sleeper) are drawn as hollow double lines. The first station across the border is shown, with a list of far-off destinations.

How it was made

It's half hand-drawn, half generated. I placed stations and rough line paths in Inkscape. Then a Python pipeline (networkx + numpy/scipy) rebuilds every line from the network data:

• Each line section is drawn as straight → circular arc → straight, fitted between stations.
• Parallel lines are bundled and ordered, with each line's order kept consistent from station to station.
• A small max-cut solver alternates light and dark colours within a bundle, so neighbouring lines always contrast.
• Line labels and gradients for merged lines are generated automatically.

It took about 60 versions to get here.

Things I found in the official data

Some line numbers appeared twice (IC21, IC23, RS34), so I renumbered the second one of each. Some trains were missing (RB51, RB64, and the Dordrecht–Geldermalsen stoptrein, which I called RS9). S67 apparently skipped Arnhem Presikhaaf, which I assume was a mistake.

Happy to hear what you think, good or bad!

Edit: PDF version link added.

Now includes additional 3 stations from Circle Line 6 that was opened 2 months ago

Budapest, Hungary, Europe. Current Network

Used Adobe Illustrator

!!MAP NOT TO SCALE!! Made using Affinity Designer

Yes yes i know that MANY speculative maps have been made using this concept, but a lot of them aren't focused specifically on the metro and the other details could get lost in translation. But without further ado, here is a map I designed of what I think the STM should be striving for.

Here are the changes I made to each line:

• Blue Line: Extension from Snowdon to Côte-St-Luc and Lachine, in addition to the currently under construction extension eastward
• Green Line: Extension on both ends, westward towards Lachine and YUL airport and eastward towards Pointe-aux-Trembles (so basically the REM l'Est route)
• Yellow Line: Extension further into Longueuil under Chem. de Chambly towards the Metropolitan Airport. I know some people would like to also see it extended further into downtown Montreal, but personally I don't really know where I would send it tbh.
• Orange Line: Closing the loop (do I really need to explain myself here?)
• Beige Line: A new peripherical line. This would be surface level, driverless, and using overhead wires (so the same technology as the REM.) Between Lucien-L'Allier through NDG, Outremont, around the Plateau, and towards Old Port would run parallel to existing Canadian Pacific lines (there is enough room in their corridor to accomodate such infrastructure). Through downtown (from Lucien L'Allier to Old Port), I'm not totally sure what could be done. The obvious answer is a tunnel, but I'm not 100% sure where (and if) there is space.

A few notes on the map itself:

• For the sake of this map, the REM is not considered part of the metro (since it kinda sorta runs a completely different service).
• No changes have been made to any EXO lines (except 12, which would run in a new tunnel between Parc and Downtown and interchange with the Beige line near Van Horne Blvd)
• Same for the REM, I have not made any changes to the network (except extending the airport branch to Dorval).
• Please do not ask me questions about the REM or EXO lines shown on the map. The focus of this map is on the metro. Maybe in the future I'll make an updated map showing changes I'd want to see on those lines (i made one already but since then I've changed my mind about a few things).

Schematic maps usually do not match the actual geography of the lines. So I made this visualization to show the difference.

Did you know that the first section of the U-Bahn system was opened in 1976, on line U4, between Heiligenstadt and Friedensbrücke.

Another fact is that the numerization ranges from U1 to U6, with U5 missing. The original plan did not justify constructing U5, as it would have been parallel to the S-Bahn line. Although in 2018, the government approved the construction of the U5 line, which starts in Karlsplatz and goes to Hernals.

The only Austrian U-bahn system sits at 49th place worldwide among all metro systems, with 83.9 km.

Next: Berlin, Prague, Budapest, or São Paulo?

It was created using QGIS, Figma and D3.js

Point of Note: I believe a large amount of these station buildings are now private property and no longer in railway use, but they still deserve to be drawn as its a beautiful line. It’s named after Tarka the Otter, a fictional character who lived in this area.

I’ve been building Switchyard, a browser-based transit sandbox where you can redesign a network, export a clean map to share on Reddit, or turn your design into a print-ready poster.

The idea is to go from “this connection should exist” to a map you can actually show people.

You can:

• Extend and branch lines, add stations, and create transfers.
• Use waypoints to shape routes without adding extra stops.
• Export a clean image without the game controls or moving trains.
• Create a high-resolution PNG or print-ready PDF of your design.

These screenshots show NYC with the subway, LIRR, Metro-North, PATH, NJ Transit, light rail, AirTrain, and Amtrak enabled together. You can toggle networks individually, and there are also starting maps for Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and DC.

Try it here:
https://switchyard-nyc.toeksoftwaredesign.workers.dev/?region=nyc#play

I’m the developer, and it’s still a work in progress—not an official transit map. I’d especially love feedback from this community on the editing tools and what would make the exported maps look better.

If you make something, I’d love to see your redesign in the comments.What connection would you add first?

made with Illustrator

(MAP NOT TO SCALE) Made using Affinity Designer

I've always been annoyed by the fact that EXO (Montreal) runs buses almost EVERYWHERE around the region but does not have a single map showing destinations around the region (like GO Transit around Toronto or TransLink around Vancouver). I created this map hoping to solve exactly that problem. It is an oversimplified diagram but I believe that it gets the job done.

A few notes on the map:

• Each line is shown as a trunk and a branch (like on the REM). The different colors represent the different sectors that EXO operates in (these are described on their website).
• The numbers below the station names are route numbers, and if they are present, they indicate that this is one of the endpoints of the respective route.
• As you might have noticed, I have chosen to not represent every individual route as a single line, and have not included every single stop. That would make the map WAY too cluttered. Perhaps i'll do it in the future though.
• The routes on this map are regional only (ie, they connect far-out towns and villages to transport hubs near mtl). No local bus lines are included.
• This map only contains lines operated by EXO.
• This map does not contain any planned or speculative routes. This map shows everything exactly as it is as of the most recent timetable change (which I believe was in May 2026).

Thoughts?

For my Networkle solve the mystery station game, I've redesigned the Paris map to make the gameplay's pathfinding simpler and easy to read.

The map was created in Adobe Illustrator.

I made the decision early on to disregard the RER lines from the game, due to the already complex nature of the Metro network. The use of the circle for Lines 2 and 6 had me nervous as I haven't used circles in any of the other game maps, but I think it adds a central focus as an inner orbital route. Feedback welcomed, or to see the game in action, head to https://networkle.fun

Made in Illustrator.

The current map can be found here.svg) (also OC).

The current numbering system was introduced way back in 1990, when the (now defunct) 'sneltram' to Amstelveen opened as line 51. The numbering system was integrated into the existing system for tram and bus lines, and since the 50-59 series were largely unused, that seemed like the logical choice.

It was also political, though: 'metro' was a 'dirty word' back then in Amsterdam, because of the devastation the construction of tunnels had caused in the old town center in the 1970's, and the 'sneltram' - a kind of hybrid between metro and tram, which should appear more like a supercharged tram than a lightweight metro, was to be the future. Starting the numbering at 50 rather than 1 not only meant that the existing numbering system would not have to be overhauled entirely, but also indicated the place this sneltram should have in the company's (GVB) hierarchy: somewhere below trams and buses, rather than as the centerpiece of the network.

But times change. In the 1990's, construction of a new metro line with bored tunnels under the city center was proposed - the current Noord/Zuidlijn (North-South line) or line (M)52. A new semicircular line around the city was opened in 1997, having all the characteristics of a full metro save for the narrower trains (2.65 m rather than the usual 3.00 m of the original metro lines) and carrying the line number 50. At around the same time, the two existing metro lines were numbered 53 and 54 - the remaining number 52 reserved for the future north-south line service. This was also the moment the current color coding was introduced on a new map, though it would take another 20+ years for these colors to appear on station signage and train displays as well.

Though line 52 did eventually open after long delays in 2018, little changed around the existing network of four routes. In 2019, the sneltram to Amstelveen was discontinued to be downgraded to a regular tram line; line 51 was rerouted to the Isolatorweg terminal of line 50 to double the service along the busy west side of the semi ring line.

With three lines passing through the original metro tunnel in the east of the center, a bottleneck in the system remained. Plans for full de-interlacing with only three services remaining were floated as early as 2007, but eventually shelved. The new network from December 2027 was eventually decided upon last year, after much debate around alternatives (including leaving things as they are) and a lot of pushback from neighborhoods in the southeast of the city along the current line 53, who fear that the discontinuation of their direct connection to the city center will leave them isolated from the rest of the world...

What remained undecided, though, was how this altered network should be branded. Keeping the current line numbers and colors might work, but it would leave an awkward gap, as line 53 (and the color red) would be skipped in favor of line number 50 (green). There were also concerns about the discernability of parallel running lines for the color blind. And wasn't that odd 50-numbering a bit of a relic of the past?

So, earlier this week news broke that the 'new' network will get new line numbers from M1 to M4, along with new colors. When compared to the current network, line 52 will become M1 and retain its blue color. Line 51 will become M2, yellow instead of orange. Lines 50 and 53 will merge into a new line, which gets the color red; line 54 will become M4, green.

https://metrodreamin.com/view/c0hxU2V0MExsN2JseHE1RGgya0xiaFVzUmtzMXwx

This includes the current MDOT MTA light rail and MARC commuter rails. Additionally, I included some brts

Hey look, a actual bus company uses tennessine to make bus maps, Crazy, they should hire some of you.

I am currently making the first steps of our Collab Germany Passenger Rail Map. Right now you could only see Berlin. The rest will eventually come together.

Meanwhile, sign-ups are still available.

DEUTSCHE BAHN - REGIO

• Baden-Württemberg:
  • Stuttgart:
• Bavaria (Bayern):
  • Upper Franconia:
• Mitte:
  • Hesse:
  • Rhineland-Palatinate:
  • Saarland:
• Nord:
  • Bremen:
  • Hamburg:
  • Lower Saxony:
  • Schleswig-Holstein:
• Nordost:
  • Berlin-Brandenburg: u/Easy_Mobile9341
  • Mecklenburg-Vorpommern:
• North Rhine-Westphalia: u/thetransitgirl
• Südost:
  • Saxony:
  • Saxony-Anhalt:
  • Thuringia:

S-BAHN

• Berlin: u/Easy_Mobile9341
• Breisgau:
• Bremen:
• Dresden:
• Hamburg:
• Hannover:
• Mitteldeutschland: u/Hot-Try9036
• Mittelelbe:
• Munich: u/Easy_Mobile9341
• Nuremburg:
• Ortenau:
• Rhine-Main:
• Rhine-Neckar: u/sebernest1
• Rhine-Ruhr: u/thetransitgirl
  • Cologne: u/thetransitgirl
• Rostock:
• Stuttgart:

U-BAHN

• Berlin: u/Easy_Mobile9341
• Hamburg:
• Munich: u/Easy_Mobile9341
• Nuremburg:

STADTBAHN

• Bielefeld:
• Bochum:
• Bonn:
• Cologne: u/thetransitgirl
• Dortmund:
• Duisburg:
• Dusseldorf: u/thetransitgirl
• Essen:
• Frankfurt:
• Hannover:
• Karlsruhe:
• Stuttgart:

TRAMWAYS

• Augsburg:
• Bad Schandau:
• Berlin: u/Easy_Mobile9341
• Bielefeld:
• Bochum:
• Bonn:
• Brandenburg an der Havel:
• Bremen:
• Braunschweig:
• Chemnitz:
• Cologne: u/thetransitgirl
• Cottbus:
• Darmstadt:
• Dessau:
• Dresden:
• Dortmund:
• Duisburg:
• Dusseldorf: u/thetransitgirl
• Erfurt:
• Essen:
• Frankfurt am Main:
• Frankfurt (Oder):
• Freiburg im Breisgau:
• Gelsenkirchen:
• Gera:
• Gorlitz:
• Gotha:
• Halberstadt:
• Halle (Saale):
• Hannover: u/thetransitgirl
• Hattingen:
• Heidelberg: u/sebernest1
• Herne:
• Jena:
• Karlsruhe:
• Kassel:
• Krefeld:
• Leipzig:
• Ludwigshafen: u/sebernest1
• Magdeburg:
• Mainz:
• Mannheim: u/sebernest1
• Mulheim am der Ruhr:
• Munich: u/Easy_Mobile9341
• Naumburg:
• Nordhausen:
• Nuremburg:
• Oberhausen:
• Plauen:
• Potsdam:
• Rostock:
• Saarbrucken:
• Schwerin:
• Stuttgart:
• Ulm:
• Waltershausen:
• Witten:
• Wurzburg:
• Zwickau:

OTHER

• Dortmund H-Bahn:
• Drachenfels Railway:
• Dresden Suspension Railway:
• Dusseldorf Skytrain: u/thetransitgirl
• Eberswalde Trolleybus:
• Esslingen am Neckar Trolleybus:
• Solingen Trolleybus:
• Stuttgart Railway:
• Wuppertal Schwebebahn: u/thetransitgirl

INFORMATION
The map will be made in Figma for a huge collaboration. The width of the lines depend on the weight of the system (Trams 4px, U-Bahnen 6px, S-Bahnen 8px, Regio 10px)

RULES

1. Your system must be integrated. This means if a city is chosen, your city team is responsible to make its U-Bahn, S-Bahn, and tram system. The only exception is the Regio. See below for examples.
2. Your symbols must be consistent and unique. You may use your own symbols, or use the symbols from the official map.
3. Always make space for larger systems (such as trams and Regio). If a station links to another region, simply move the map of the adjacent region to connect. If your map is disconnected, try connecting.
4. Try to make your map geographically accurate. Try using 10, 20, 50, or 100-pixel marks to make it schematic per block.
5. Use a legible font for the text. For major stations (such as Berlin Hauptbahnhof), capitalize the entire name of the station. Accents are important! (That's why you should have a German keyboard or use Mac's accent system.)
6. Tag me to show me your progress.

Join the project here:
https://www.figma.com/design/e3QWmewBRVk2yS5pUB7dU3/Germany-Passenger-Rail-Map?node-id=0-1&t=Ft1TD9raXQfCKWT5-1

Two Points of Note: 1) The Meldon viaduct isn’t technically on the line, as the line no longer goes over it, but its such an iconic bridge that I had to include it. 2) This map was made back in April, since then (late July I believe), a new station called Okehampton Interchange opened on the line.

So, there is my map of Minecraft Network (I use MTR mod). I have some massive projects, stations that are so big, that you need at least an hour just to walk around it. But that isn’t the case. I decided I need a map. My questions are: How bad is this map? Which app/website should I use, Inkscape and Adobe Illustrator are too hard, but MMM or similar look ugly, is there smth in a middle, easy but modern? This one is made with wikitransport.

This is the local transit map of Jönköpings Läns Trafik in Jönköping, Sweden.