Train Speeds

[Billy]

I have a section of line that is dead straight (350 kph), trains that can do 120 kph, but they only do around 63 kph on this section, distance between the two stations here are over 9,000 meters. Screenshot [imgur.com]

In the line editor, I estimated times using 60 kph. Other sections are slower, locked in all the stations and then changed that back to 120 kph and confirmed it.

[mathstrains19]

The estimate doesn't change anything about the speed trains go at, it just allows you to work out how many trains you need to do a service.

[Billy]

Originally posted by mathstrains19:

The estimate doesn't change anything about the speed trains go at, it just allows you to work out how many trains you need to do a service.

Okay, thank you. Is there any reason they're only traveling half speed on a full speed section of track then?

[Swisspike]

Originally posted by Billy:

Originally posted by mathstrains19:

The estimate doesn't change anything about the speed trains go at, it just allows you to work out how many trains you need to do a service.

Okay, thank you. Is there any reason they're only traveling half speed on a full speed section of track then?

Big, long, heavy trains are VERY slow to accelerate. This could be part of the issue.

[Billy]

Originally posted by Swisspike:

Originally posted by Billy:

Okay, thank you. Is there any reason they're only traveling half speed on a full speed section of track then?

Big, long, heavy trains are VERY slow to accelerate. This could be part of the issue.

It could be... But they get to that speed just after the rear of the train has left the station. The actual weight of the train isn't stated anywhere (that I can see), so if it effects a train to this extent I hope it would be listed somewhere in specs. As 9km seems like a fairly long enough distant to go quicker than 60k's.

[Individoo]

In my case changing the ideal speed to higher (through Estimate Travel Times button) increased the actual speed of a train between the stations. I believe the train is trying to make it's schedule so the travel time is maintained. It will be limited by max speed of the train or the tracks. Should train was taking longer to load on the station, it might go a bit faster next time, within those limits, to make it's scheduled time.

[Billy]

Originally posted by Sziha:

In my case changing the ideal speed to higher (through Estimate Travel Times button) increased the actual speed of a train between the stations. I believe the train is trying to make it's schedule so the travel time is maintained. It will be limited by max speed of the train or the tracks. Should train was taking longer to load on the station, it might go a bit faster next time, within those limits, to make it's scheduled time.

Ah okay, so by increasing the 60 kph I originally it should run a bit quicker? Thanks so much!

[Sleeper C]

The 60 you type in there will be the average your train will attempt to travel your entire schedule at (provided you also click the calculate button(or whatever it is called)). So unless the train has been held back by train traffic congestion, it will not move faster than about 60.

If you type 120 on the other hand, and the max speed of the train is also max 120. The train will travel at or close to 120, but will not able to increase it's speed any further to catch with any delays, since it is already running at it's max speed.

[Swisspike]

Originally posted by claus_liberg:

The 60 you type in there will be the average your train will attempt to travel your entire schedule at (provided you also click the calculate button(or whatever it is called)). So unless the train has been held back by train traffic congestion, it will not move faster than about 60.

If you type 120 on the other hand, and the max speed of the train is also max 120. The train will travel at or close to 120, but will not able to increase it's speed any further to catch with any delays, since it is already running at it's max speed.

This. I time a train on its complete route. Say, over 100 km, it takes one hour. Easy peasy..it is averaging 60 kph.

Set the wanted time at 55 kph, and you should be set. If it is in the middle of its run, it will still run at the slower pace, then adjust as the train engineer gets his new orders.

Like you, if I see 350 kph on a line segment, I want the train to do 350 kph, dammit! Heh heh.

It is far more important to give the passengers a realistic time table on when they arrive.

Here's the key. If you set the train at max speed, and it STILL only averages 60 kph for the trip, you need to adjust the speed downward, re-compute elapsed time, until your estimated times are more closely aligned with reality.

[Individoo]

Originally posted by claus_liberg:

The 60 you type in there will be the average your train will attempt to travel your entire schedule at (provided you also click the calculate button(or whatever it is called)). So unless the train has been held back by train traffic congestion, it will not move faster than about 60.

If you type 120 on the other hand, and the max speed of the train is also max 120. The train will travel at or close to 120, but will not able to increase it's speed any further to catch with any delays, since it is already running at it's max speed.

I don't think you are fully correct. I have set Ideal Speed at 120km/h on my line and there are times that train goes faster than 120km/h.
This "ideal speed" is for us to provide the game with information what trains we will be running and how fast they can move, in players opinion. It is used to determine the time it takes to travel between stations, as in the schedule. The example:

The ideal speed was set at 120km/h. (That is 33.33m/s - for easier calculation). Distance between stations A and B is 3,405m. If I use 120km/h ideal speed the time on the schedule is set to 01:42 which is 102seconds. As you can see, 102s * 33.33 m/s = 3,399m. It is alsmost exactly 3,405.

Now the question is what game does with this information? Setting ideal speed at 120 does not limit train speed to 120km/h. It is an indication for the train how fast it needs to go to make it to the next station on time. It is to set that if the train leaves station A at 11:00:00 it will need to leave station B at 11:01:42. What happens though is that the train has to stop at the station and wait for passengers to be loaded. The time counter you can see when the train is stopped at the station might give you an idea how long the train is there. The train then figures out the distance to the next station and how fast it needs to go to get there on time.

One way to find it out is to set ideal speed limit much lower than actual maximum train speed or track speed. In my example I run trains capable of running 160km/h on the straight track with speed limit of over 300km/h. If I set Ideal speed to 50km/h the schedule with tell train that is has a lot of time to get from A to B, assuming 50km/h speed between stations. The train will wait a little to load on the first station and then think how fast it will need to go to B to make it's scheduled time. It will always be a bit more than 50km/h. (unless there is no passengers to be loaded).
I do not know if 'min stop time' is calculated in the schedule though. Maybe setting realistic min. stop time will allow for the time the train spends loading passengers be included in the total travel time? got to test it more.