Cargo train line problems

[maggotmofo]

Hi all. I'm new to cargo trains and having trouble getting them to work. I have 1 cargo train terminal linked to an outside rail line which works fine.

I also created an inner city rail loop with several cargo train stations on it, but there are no trains appearing. I can't use the line tool to create a line - its blacked out... the cargo terminal description says I need to create a line? Do I need to connect this loop to an outside line? Any help much appreciated :)

[BonPadre]

Cargo trains do work by themselves, no need to create a line as it is with passenger, metro and trams.

Save yourself a lot of trouble and please DO NOT connect your inner line with the outside connection.

What you do need though, is a road loop, so trucks from the import/export connection can bring the goods and raw materials to the inner cargo station.... from there then, they will deliver to the best place based on needs

[Phoenix C64]

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=427471374

[Paikia]

Originally posted by BonPadre:

Save yourself a lot of trouble and please DO NOT connect your inner line with the outside connection.

I know many people think there should be two different and unconnected networks of rails - one for import/export and one for transportation within the city. While I agree it's a good idea concerning passenger trains, I believe that when it comes to cargo, having one network for both is at least as efficient as two different networks, if not more. At the very least, it saves the extra traffic required to move the cargo between the two networks.

Having that said, I believe it's important to separate the cargo network from the inner-city passenger network, and obviously, design the networks in a way that prevents deadlocks.

A good tip I read on one of the guides here on Steam, is to split the rails right at the connections to and from the stations, as those are the only intersections where the AI is smart enough to have trains stop before the intersection, and thus not blocking trains going diffrenet directions.

[Phoenix C64]

Originally posted by Paikia:

Originally posted by BonPadre:

Save yourself a lot of trouble and please DO NOT connect your inner line with the outside connection.

While I agree it's a good idea concerning passenger trains, I believe that when it comes to cargo, having one network for both is at least as efficient as two different networks, if not more.

no.
if you let outside trains into your inner city system, you won't have problems at first when you maybe have only 1 cargo stations, but as soon as your city grows, you will have hige queues and problems.
because AI likes to send 10% filled trains instead waiting to have 100% filled trains. your system will have gazillion of trains that are simply not needed or wanted in your city system.

by separating districts to different train tracks, you minimize the traffic on each of those tracks.

[Paikia]

Originally posted by Phoenix C64:

no.
if you let outside trains into your inner city system, you won't have problems at first when you maybe have only 1 cargo stations, but as soon as your city grows, you will have hige queues and problems.
because AI likes to send 10% filled trains instead waiting to have 100% filled trains. your system will have gazillion of trains that are simply not needed or wanted in your city system.

by separating districts to different train tracks, you minimize the traffic on each of those tracks.

In the circumstainces I've been dealing with (populations of up to 150k with relatively significant industrial and high density commercial zones to match that population), using one cargo network with an outside connection proved to work really well. That is, as soon as I learned how to design that network well enough to be efficient. I've been using 5-6 cargo stations, plus one or two cargo hubs (boats + trains). Sure, there's a lot of traffic, trains travel back and forth all the time, but they don't get stuck, deadlocks are extremely rare, and everything seems to work exactly like it should.