Express Tracks and Mainline Discussion

[Fortune Calls]

Flexible Train Station is a Transport Fever train station mod. I am looking at using its express track capabilities to make my train routing more efficient. An express track is marked with "x", where the track goes through a train station without stopping. A pausing track is marked with "P", where the track can stop at a train station's terminal.

A neighboring pair of "Px" or "xP" tracks can be grouped as a typical 2 track circular route, or separated as 2 individual shuttling routes.

I show a simple passenger station setup below.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1526058106

I generally ban excessive rail switchings; no switching a train over 8 rail tracks. I switch cargo instead. An incoming train dumps its cargo at a cargo train station's outside terminal. Then a different train picks up the cargo on an inner terminal and continues its route.

Here I introduce my mainline, where passenger trains or cargo trains with final products can visit any stations alone the mainline or bypass a train station if needed. My mainline take up an "xPPx" allocation, with 2 express tracks on the outside, and 2 pausing terminals on the inside.

Trains with raw or intermediate cargo can go through a passenger train station using an "x" express track.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1526059901

Here I add a second mainline to the train station. I fill out to the maximum the inward curving and outward curving destinations.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1526566227

There are different versions of mainlines out there. Feel free to share your mainline configurations. Colnoel Failure is starting a "mainline" Youtube series, so this could be a good time to talk about mainlines.

[Mr Felidae]

Interesting how in the early game planning makes mid to late game infrastructure placement a lot easier. But that is self-explanatory.

I myself use different kind of station configurations concerning stopping services vs. express services. Depending on the location's geography and placement efficiency (= time and money budget) of railway infrastructure, I use either a large station with double the amount of tracks vs. lines servicing that station or simply a few tracks with two one-directional lines making use of the same platform.
In the video I posted earlier one can observe different station configurations. The part in the video between Lübz Ostbahnhof station and Tangermünde Zentrum station show how two stopping services and one express service make use of a crowded section of the railway line.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX5APQizog8&t=

[theSeb]

A simple main line station with through tracks. The bottom tracks are for a branch line that I haven't put in yet. Blue line is a regional line. Yellow is an express line and only stops at some stations. There is a free track at the top which is reserved for the ICE liine (not put in yet)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1528967043



A far more interesting through station (for me anyway). I get bored of perfect stations, so these days I build things that are less efficient where trains have to wait for each other. The express line does not stop here and takes the fastest tracks. The blue line crosses over the through tracks, where freight trains will go. Because I'll have pretty low frequency on this map I am not bothered about having lines crossing over and trains holding each other occasionally.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1528967064



The exact same idea as above, but this time using the ultimate station with offset platforms.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1528967099

[SoftwareSimian]

For a mixed-use mainline, on some maps I have put cargo and passenger stations sequentially with just enough space between them to allow crossover from outer platform track to inner transit track, plus of course the option to continue through express if the train stops at neither station.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1529009892
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1529012090

[Enzojz]

I have got a great idea from a screenshot in this topic!

[theSeb]

On the subject of passenger and freight stations sequentially... here is a screenshot of such a setup based on real life, apart from the fact that I have a few more platforms in the passenger stations to keep things flowing. I am using the bottom through tracks of the ultimate station for freight trains to get in and out.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1529398685