Huge Incoming Train Freight

[daBee]

Hi folks. I got a freight problem. Too many trains are coming into the city.

- incoming freight to the city.
- 4 cargo train terminals
- same lines handle passenger trains for incoming to a single station, not a problem
- passenger trains intermingle about 60% with outsider cargo trains
- most of my current cargo is going to the central cargo terminal, with a recently moved cargo station not seeing much if any traffic, with the other two doing well
- a severe lineup of incoming cargo trains apparently all going to this downtown cargo terminal which bungs the place up. The lineup is off the grid and further.
- it seems the processing speed of this one cargo station, is the bottleneck.
- alleviation of "processed" cargo trains, is fine, with roundabouts and clear outgoing paths.
- domestic passenger trains on their own network

Not sure how to approach this. Any insight appreciated how to keep this flowing. Can't grow the city without trains being efficient.

Cheers

 

[ASGeek2012]

Check the "outside connections" icon on the info view and see how much you're importing. If you're importing thousands of goods, you need more generic industry. If you're importing thousands of raw materials, you need more specialized industry. You can never completely eliminate imports due to the way the algorithm works for calling for goods or materials, but you can minimize it. Also, you make money off exports.

Also make sure that your industry has direct access to your highways so some of the freight goes that way as well.

Does your map have access to water-based shipping? If so, build some cargo ports and hubs, and some of the freight will be handled by them instead.

 

[daBee]

OK I moved it and let it run overnight. Cargo is good but my city is full of traffic now. Time to purchase another square and focus on industry and transport. There's a river and nothing else. No water transport can work.

Cheers

 

[Beer Fiend]

OK I moved it and let it run overnight. Cargo is good but my city is full of traffic now. Time to purchase another square and focus on industry and transport. There's a river and nothing else. No water transport can work.

Cheers

What platform are you running on out of interest?

 

[daBee]

Mac M1

 

[Beer Fiend]

Mac M1

Do you have access to Steam?

 

[daBee]

Yep. I launch the game through Steam.

 

[Beer Fiend]

Yep. I launch the game through Steam.

I suggest having a look through the Workshop. The Barges mod may be up your alley, as well as Optimised Outside Connections

 

[daBee]

OK, will have a look. Right now I'm going to focus on placing that questionable terminal somewhere optimal.

 

[MarkJohnson]

Hi folks. I got a freight problem. Too many trains are coming into the city.

- incoming freight to the city.
- 4 cargo train terminals
- same lines handle passenger trains for incoming to a single station, not a problem
- passenger trains intermingle about 60% with outsider cargo trains
- most of my current cargo is going to the central cargo terminal, with a recently moved cargo station not seeing much if any traffic, with the other two doing well
- a severe lineup of incoming cargo trains apparently all going to this downtown cargo terminal which bungs the place up. The lineup is off the grid and further.
- it seems the processing speed of this one cargo station, is the bottleneck.
- alleviation of "processed" cargo trains, is fine, with roundabouts and clear outgoing paths.
- domestic passenger trains on their own network

Not sure how to approach this. Any insight appreciated how to keep this flowing. Can't grow the city without trains being efficient.

Cheers

This is almost always excess exporting of freight. It usually means the track is over full. So trins start having partial loads, so it will send more and more trains.

For example, if a train is 50% full it is sending twice as many trains as it should. At 80% full they are sending an extra train every 5 trains. so 5-trains will become 6 trains.

It works similar to one lane backups. If the game thinks it is too busy, it will artificially put your vehicles into one lane and cause a backup.

There is a few ways around this. The simplest is to eliminate exp[orts by bulldozing districts with high volumes of exports., then you can add other cargo station type, such as ships and even cargo airplanes (if you own the Industries DLC).

also, you can segregate train tracks so they don't cross over to other outside connections. The game will allow 4 outside connections. just make sure to keep them from crossing over to each others' rail lines. Especially mixing cargo and passenger trains on the same line. That can double traffic.

There are many ither things you can do, but for now, this should get you going again.

If traffic is too bad, before loading your city, there is an option to reset traffic on load so traffic will be clear. Then you can watch and see which areas start clogging up first and figure out how to alleviate it.

 

[daBee]

Fixed it for the time being.

4x imports than exports, the latter being 100% Goods.

I've segregated outside to outside only. They have now 5 cargo transfers to highway traffic. Also one intercity passenger station. Internal passenger train system plus a questionable subway, but passenger service is regular and predictable for domestic. International gets sketchy with bunged cargo only. Or did. She seems good now, with full trains coming into the city.

A river with no bay, so no harbour.