Need advice: RCIO plus Freight, Cargo, and Trains.

[MarkJohnson]

My city is approaching 300k and past 10-tiles now. My train system is a wreak and clogged (no passenger trains at all, all cargo trains.) My offices are almost all abandoned. I'm losing money weekly (all 8% tax). Industry (freight) trucks are flooding my city. Keeping my commerce/Office buildings from receiving delivery trucks (cargo?).

I have a few questions

Do offices only supply jobs and need no freight/cargo?
I think these may be stealing jobs away from C & I.
No O jobs are abandoned. But almost all of mt C is abandoned.

Trains are at a stand still and I decided to segregate my entire railroad system. I have 4 main outside rail connection and they crisscross my region, but all trains want to go to the NE corner of my map, (the origin 9-tiles I started from)

I have chopped it into 4 sections. the NE, NW, SE, and SW rail lines and the 4 never meet.
Is this a bad idea?
It helps train traffic, but my city seems to be suffering worse than ever. although I'm now back in the green. Go figure?

Where should I place cargo terminals? Should they go in the middle of industry so they can ship out goods? Or should they go in the middle of C to distribute freight? Maybe in between C and I to act as a distributor?

What is the area of effect for Cargo terminals? If I place very many the rail system clogs up fast. With only 4 rail lines, I need one terminal to cover a 5km x 5km area corner. That's 2.5 tiles by 2.5 tiles.

I seem to have only one city tile that supports Harbors (I'm on the two-rivers map, iirc) so I won't have much shipping.

If you can offer any advice, I'd be greatly appreciative.
-=Mark=-

 

[sagimine1]

As for train rail you created just ensure both passenger and cargo train get along with each and you should not face any issue. Just a painfully reminder that the more you create export related transports; the more pain your roads and highways system will suffer.

 

[IVIaarten]

My city is approaching 300k and past 10-tiles now. My train system is a wreak and clogged (no passenger trains at all, all cargo trains.) My offices are almost all abandoned. I'm losing money weekly (all 8% tax). Industry (freight) trucks are flooding my city. Keeping my commerce/Office buildings from receiving delivery trucks (cargo?).

I have a few questions

Do offices only supply jobs and need no freight/cargo?

Offices neither require nor supply goods. They're just a 'job-sink'. Try to keep your generic and specialized industries going. You'll need some low educated cims for your specialized industry (make sure that education supply is BELOW demand), make sure you level up your generic industry by providing services, they'll require more educated cims then, and produce less pollution to boot.

I think these may be stealing jobs away from C & I.
No O jobs are abandoned. But almost all of mt C is abandoned.

Cims prefer jobs that are close to where they live, and match their education level. You're probably zoning (maybe too much) offices close to their homes, while commercial and industry are further away. Try to keep your unemployement between 4 and 8%, this makes sure all jobs get filled (even if the cims are overqualified).

Trains are at a stand still and I decided to segregate my entire railroad system. I have 4 main outside rail connection and they crisscross my region, but all trains want to go to the NE corner of my map, (the origin 9-tiles I started from)

This probably has to do with the fact that you prefer offices over other industries. Industry provide the goods for your commercial buildings. If you're not producing much yourself, everything has to get imported, resulting in LOADS of trucks spawning from your docks/cargo stations. Couple that with a couple of heavy traffic bans you've probably enacted results in loads of small vans, getting caught up in traffic and not supplying your commercial sectors.

If you notice a lot of traffic (either trains or trucks/vans) want to head into the NE direction, you probably don't have enough capacity there. Increase local production, or build a new outside connection there.

I have chopped it into 4 sections. the NE, NW, SE, and SW rail lines and the 4 never meet.
Is this a bad idea?

Not necessarily, as long as the ports/stations you have have enough capacity (and your road system is not clogged up, making sure that the goods actually reach the commercial zones)

It helps train traffic, but my city seems to be suffering worse than ever. although I'm now back in the green. Go figure?

Then it's most likely a capacity issue. Maybe get back to producing some goods in the region again. Or connect the rail stations internally, but keep them separated from outside connections (every station spawns its own external trains, even if they're only 5% loaded, quickly overloading your train system.
Also, make sure you keep at least 1 or 2 train lengths between rail connections, so that a single train can't lock up multiple joins/exits on the rail.

Where should I place cargo terminals? Should they go in the middle of industry so they can ship out goods? Or should they go in the middle of C to distribute freight? Maybe in between C and I to act as a distributor?

If you're suffering from traffic problems, it's likely smart to have a loading station at your industrial sectors, and an unloading station close to your commercial ones. That will keep some trucks of the road. Make sure they can still easily get to the commercial sector though without getting caught up in traffic.

What is the area of effect for Cargo terminals? If I place very many the rail system clogs up fast. With only 4 rail lines, I need one terminal to cover a 5km x 5km area corner. That's 2.5 tiles by 2.5 tiles.

When commercial zones (or generic industry zones for that matter) run out of stock, they order goods from off map. They will arrive in the most convenient/quick way possible, so most likely your cargo terminals. They still have to be distributed from there.
As mentioned above; every station you have will spawn off-map trains (a 5% filled train will still be a long train), so be selective in where you connect to the outside world. Also it might be smart to produce locally so not everything has to be ordered in.

The area of effect is endless, they will order from the nearest outside connector available to them, so if you only have 1 station, it's either that station or the outside highway connection. If you have multiple stations/docks, they'll likely order from the closest one.

Another good tip is to completely defund your rail network, causing less trains to spawn. Only increase funding if you notice the trains are at 100% load consistently in long term.

I seem to have only one city tile that supports Harbors (I'm on the two-rivers map, iirc) so I won't have much shipping.

If you can offer any advice, I'd be greatly appreciative.
-=Mark=-

Hope this helped. It is about as much as I can offer without seeing your city and infrastructure.