As a UK resident, I’d just about gotten used to the fact, over the last few years, that the ‘Kizoom’ system allowed phone and PDA users online access to train timetables. Need to know what time the trains are from A to B? No problem, there’s a ‘Kizoom’ application in the AppStore that does the job. MyRail Lite goes one further, thanks to the UK’s rail network finally getting itself full computerised, with real time access to live train information.

Starting off by asking permission to use your current location, MyRail Lite impresses first by showing you your closest rail stations and then by showing you the next departures from it, complete with timings of any live delays and even showing exact platform information. This is a staggering level of detail for a consumer-side application and it works really quickly, considering the sheer amount of information that needs to be ’scraped’ off the National Rail Enquiries system, sorted and presented. Tapping on a train time brings up the full route forthat train, complete with arrival times (and delays) at each stop along the way, and tapping on the little map icon launches Google Maps to show the station itself.

All of this means that you can be stranded somewhere, anywhere, with nothing but your iPhone to guide you. You need to get home. MyRail Lite will show you your closest train station, when the next train departure is, will navigate you to the station (in Google Maps) and will keep you informed as to any delays as you walk. Impressively, MyRail Lite remembers where you ‘were’ in its dialogs, so that if you switch away to Google Maps or to check a phone number (etc.), it pops you back in exactly the same place, for you to carry on exploring your intended route and timings. Any station can be set as a favourite, i.e. one you travel through often, making it very quick to look up the status of your train to work, for example. There’s even an ‘Arrivals’ option for each station, should you be meeting someone off a train. You’ll be able to keep an eye on delays to their train and arrive at exactly the right time.

A staggering piece of Web 2.0 integration and a utility that has massive real world usefulness.