Questions on Cargo Rail

[icedude94]

How much do you guys rely on cargo rail?

Do you set up multiple tracks?

Do you hook yours up to external rail for imports/exports or do you keep them only local or a mix?

Do you keep all your freight on one large network or break them up into smaller networks?

Do you use one way rails and how often?

[db48x]

It varies; all of those can be made to work. Cargo can take multiple hops, so it can arrive by ship, be loaded onto a train, unloaded onto a barge to be moved up the river, then put on trucks to go to the shops. It can be as simple or as complicated as you want. I suspect that most people just keep it simple though.

[John]

80% to outside for exporting no direct imports
One system multiple bypasses and exits one internal loop
Everything one way only

No delays, No Jams, No Issues

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2529045479

[OneJasonBradly]

I use separated local and national lines. I build industrial cities and rely on rail a great deal to move materials from specialised industries to generic for goods manufacturing. As well as taking materials and goods to the rail yard. Where my industry transfer exports to the national line via the yard. I have not ever used a one-way rail (just saying). The yard reduces the amount of cargo trains used from 36 to 16 trains that connect with the off map connections.
My local network is one big loop-ish kind of thing. The rail yard is the connection/ exchange to the national line.

[OneJasonBradly]

Originally posted by db48x:

It varies; all of those can be made to work. Cargo can take multiple hops, so it can arrive by ship, be loaded onto a train, unloaded onto a barge to be moved up the river, then put on trucks to go to the shops. It can be as simple or as complicated as you want.

+1
A great amount of possibilities.

[icedude94]

Originally posted by OneJasonBradly:

I use separated local and national lines. I build industrial cities and rely on rail a great deal to move materials from specialised industries to generic for goods manufacturing. As well as taking materials and goods to the rail yard. Where my industry transfer exports to the national line via the yard. I have not ever used a one-way rail (just saying). The yard reduces the amount of cargo trains used from 36 to 16 trains that connect with the off map connections.
My local network is one big loop-ish kind of thing. The rail yard is the connection/ exchange to the national line.

Great info! I started this thread because I've been experimenting with cargo rail to find out what is the best system for a large city. I think you answered some of the questions I've been wondering.

In my own city, I first started with a big closed network. I didn't want cargo trains from the outside congesting my rail lines or my own cargo trains congesting the outside rail line which also brings in tourists.

As highway truck traffic started to get backed up for exports, I added in a cargo/air transport hub which great relieved the pressure.

Eventually though, this started to get backed up with cargo trains, some carrying very little cargo. I tried adding more locations for cargo trains to drop off goods for other methods of transport. I added in a couple rail/port hubs and 3 more rail/air hubs in my major industrial areas.

Now as my city has grown all these hubs just get backed up with trains and almost my entire network is gridlocked with cargo trains.

I spent some time reducing the size of my specialized industry zones and increasing my commercial zones to try to reduce the number of exports which has helped a little, but was wondering what people do in large cities to control cargo rail traffic.

I'm considering trying out one way rail to prevent those cases for when trains have to cross the tracks of trains moving in the opposite directions in areas where lines merge as well as at stations.

[OneJasonBradly]

I do have a few video clips on the system I built for my city I could share here.
I found that when building or placing my terminals (for my local line) I needed to keep in mind the possibility of local commercial deliveries. Originally I place them(terminals) to serve local industries or Specialised industrial areas to better serve generic with materials and or export. Then noticed that generic would send part trains back to those terminals to release goods for the local commercial areas. This caused me to rethink placement of the terminals so commercial deliveries could exit the industrial terminals better. Now these terminals are better suited to serve industry and commercial around that area at the same time. Reducing again the amount of terminals used.

[WhiteKnight77]

I often build rail networks for just inside my city with at least one connection going to a cargo hub if one can be built. This is an example of a cargo terminal going to a cargo hub. You can see that in the bridge video I posted earlier.

https://youtu.be/oK7efGehTC0

[LeonardMT]

I use them a lot at least 1 for every industry area and I may use some for my commercial areas (yes they will unload cargo to stores)

[DramaticKey96]

Originally posted by icedude94:

Originally posted by OneJasonBradly:

I use separated local and national lines. I build industrial cities and rely on rail a great deal to move materials from specialised industries to generic for goods manufacturing. As well as taking materials and goods to the rail yard. Where my industry transfer exports to the national line via the yard. I have not ever used a one-way rail (just saying). The yard reduces the amount of cargo trains used from 36 to 16 trains that connect with the off map connections.
My local network is one big loop-ish kind of thing. The rail yard is the connection/ exchange to the national line.

Great info! I started this thread because I've been experimenting with cargo rail to find out what is the best system for a large city. I think you answered some of the questions I've been wondering.

In my own city, I first started with a big closed network. I didn't want cargo trains from the outside congesting my rail lines or my own cargo trains congesting the outside rail line which also brings in tourists.

As highway truck traffic started to get backed up for exports, I added in a cargo/air transport hub which great relieved the pressure.

Eventually though, this started to get backed up with cargo trains, some carrying very little cargo. I tried adding more locations for cargo trains to drop off goods for other methods of transport. I added in a couple rail/port hubs and 3 more rail/air hubs in my major industrial areas.

Now as my city has grown all these hubs just get backed up with trains and almost my entire network is gridlocked with cargo trains.

I spent some time reducing the size of my specialized industry zones and increasing my commercial zones to try to reduce the number of exports which has helped a little, but was wondering what people do in large cities to control cargo rail traffic.

I'm considering trying out one way rail to prevent those cases for when trains have to cross the tracks of trains moving in the opposite directions in areas where lines merge as well as at stations.

I kinda have the same issue as you!

Every time my city hits 100.000 citizen traffic becomes a nightmare. I will have cargo train stations for each industrial/commecrial area, and the thing that creates the most caos are the ship cargo. If i had 3 along the coast all the trucks (about80%) will skip the first 2 and all queue for the 3th as it is closer to the spawning/despawning spot in the water. Does that happens with you as well? because if so its a bug in the game to be fixed tbh :)

[icedude94]

My problem could be solved very easily if I could control local cargo train routes and assign stops and adjust the number of trains on the route like I could with commuter trains. My problem seems to be that the high amount of cargo going into my rail network is causing so many trains to spawn that it's creating congestion.

I also have 3 harbors in my city. They mostly get used for import/export but I have witnessed a few times where there was local shipping from harbor to harbor.

I've even seen my cargo airports fly planes to each other.

I think my problem is just that my industries are overproducing raw materials. My plan right now is to start reducing the processed goods producers until my generic goods industries start importing again and then start reducing the raw material producers. If I cut back on the cargo, I hope I can cut back on the congestion.

[db48x]

Good plan. I find that this mod helps, since shows you the actual import/export numbers:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2368396560

[MessengerOfRage]

Originally posted by icedude94:

My problem could be solved very easily if I could control local cargo train routes and assign stops and adjust the number of trains on the route like I could with commuter trains. My problem seems to be that the high amount of cargo going into my rail network is causing so many trains to spawn that it's creating congestion.

there is no game mechanic to do that but you can do it on the train track level.
don't combine all your tracks, they can't send trains to unvanted destinations if they can't reach them.
yes this probably means doubling up on tracks that you want to use with multiple "cargo lines"

the game tends to spawn lots of partially filled trains if given to much options.
it's like every station and every outside connection tries to send seperate trains to every station/outside connection it can reach.

to many stations and outside connections on a combined network will overload it with trains.
segregate your train networks into smaller ones, do the handover between networks with double track stations or cargo hubs.

if you still want the looks of a combined network use TM:PE to ban trains on certain tracks to prevent them crossing over.

all advice mentioned above is at the track level to restrict train movement because if you let every single cargo station communicate with all other cargo stations you will get a train gridlock.

get free of the "I want an intuitive tool" there sadly is none, we need to get creative and do it at the track level...get creative it's a solvable riddle. :)

[icedude94]

Originally posted by Coookyman:

Originally posted by icedude94:

My problem could be solved very easily if I could control local cargo train routes and assign stops and adjust the number of trains on the route like I could with commuter trains. My problem seems to be that the high amount of cargo going into my rail network is causing so many trains to spawn that it's creating congestion.

there is no game mechanic to do that but you can do it on the train track level.
don't combine all your tracks, they can't send trains to unvanted destinations if they can't reach them.
yes this probably means doubling up on tracks that you want to use with multiple "cargo lines"

the game tends to spawn lots of partially filled trains if given to much options.
it's like every station and every outside connection tries to send seperate trains to every station/outside connection it can reach.

to many stations and outside connections on a combined network will overload it with trains.
segregate your train networks into smaller ones, do the handover between networks with double track stations or cargo hubs.

if you still want the looks of a combined network use TM:PE to ban trains on certain tracks to prevent them crossing over.

all advice mentioned above is at the track level to restrict train movement because if you let every single cargo station communicate with all other cargo stations you will get a train gridlock.

get free of the "I want an intuitive tool" there sadly is none, we need to get creative and do it at the track level...get creative it's a solvable riddle. :)

I've reduced my city export volume by half and as you predicted, I have lots of partially filled trains at 7% and 13% capacity so the congestion hasn't changed. It looks like I'm going to have to split the network up and remove the large loop entirely.

On the plus size, traffic flow in the city has gone up considerably with fewer trucks on the road.

Update: I added a highway that ran parallel to the most congested rail lines then I waited a bit longer and my rail traffic congestion cleared up.

[BettyB]

Take a closer look at the screenshot Doc left. Goods always take the quickest and shortest route. In the example there is no road access to local or out side consumers. The only way the goods can exit the industrial complex is by rail water or air and the quickest way to the most of those is via the cargo hub. If you look close you'll see that in addition to the air port and the city (across the river to the right) all the industrial harbor hubs offer overproduced items immediate access to a dedicated rail line leaving for outside exportation. This has the effect of separating all outbound rail traffic (exports) from all inter city traffic right at the industrial source before it gets a chance to jam up. The way you control where your goods go is by making it easy for them to get there.

[m4gic]

If you're asking about cargo rail the answer is Yes.