Overview
This guide is a stand alone, themed guide. It is however part of the guides on the railway system of Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic. This is a guide on how to setup the railway system for a two track train station. A train station that is accessible from two sides by train. Especially the train station that transport people. The used practise to design the layout of the tracks works also if you have just on side access. This guide is based on layout designs that are shared in screenshots throughout the community. I claim no originality in track layout designs shown in this guide. Somebody else in the community already made me (partly) aware of this possibility. I have build on this sharing.The purpose of the guide is to take away some headaches regarding track layout and signal placing. Implementing the station(s) in your republic will be entirely your task. As with any great leader, we, the Comrades are all, united, standing behind you.
Introduction
This guide is aimed at creating a comprehensive walkthrough on train track layout. Track layout that will enable the trains coming from one side of the station to use both the platforms. Using both the platforms makes the throughput of the station bigger.
Within the discussions of Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic there are a fair bit of entries about the frustration with the track layout and the use of signals. It is an intricate system within the game logic, engine. The Comrades of the Development Office (CoDO) done serious work, made a serious effort to make it work flawless. Without saying that the track and signaling system is bugless, it mostly works beautifully. I, myself, really enjoy the game whoozing by trains in and out stations, moving through complex track layouts.
So, in this guide I will put in the effort to increase that fun for other players as well.
Getting started
When placing track keeping the direct build OFF is a money saver. Even if you work with the direct build mode in the game. I sometimes forget to do so. Even if I have a clear picture in my head of what and how I want the track layout to be I always end up deleting and redoing stuff.
NOTE: this track layout is done in direct build mode. When you want the railway office to build this layout it will present you with additional challenges to make all the tracks available to the construction trains. These (additional) challenges will be unaddressed in this guide.
So, on this happy disclaimer, let’s do this.
The station is set up the way I usually do this. A station near the concentration of comrades living spaces. A busstation nearby to transport even more comrades to and from the station. The railway system is the best way to transport large quantaties of comrades or goods fast to various locations. So having the station occupied as much as possible, is in your favour.
On the picture you see the planned track. To make sure your station can handle longer trains, have some extra track outside your station before you start your switching section.
IMPORTANT! Your switching section is fully and solely dependent on signals. Signals need space. Therefore make space. On the picture below you can see why that is needed.
The picture above is the end result. We will get there.
To make the space within the switching section I use the cheapest track possible as spacers. If you accidently press ‘lay tracks’ it will be a less expensive action.
The cheap track is on the eyeballed straight line of your stations track trajectory. A double line gives you the most space. Important because otherwise your signals will lack the space to be placed. For that same space reason the cheap track section should be of considerable size.
NOTE: This switching section is unable to fit trains on free track between signals. You can decide to enable the switching section to be able to do that. It makes for a very long switching section.
NOTE:As you can see in the picture I leave some space between the stations extended tracks and the spaceholder tracks. In essence you can connect your cheap non-electrified track to your stations electrified track. How ever, when you create the outside lines, those tracks start out as a switched track. If by any chance your outside electrified track starts on a non-electrified track the track laying utility will work fine. The switch is created. Tracks layed. You might how ever have a hard time identifying the hellish problem of your trains telling you there is no path towards the station. (Been there, done that and I sure as …. declined on the video, kept the pictures) Or you should switch to only diesel locomotives. Naaahhh!
Leave so much space that the track laying utility is able to make a nice stretch of S-shaped track when you connect the station track to the outside of the spaceholding track. In essence, during construction, you have a short period in which you will create 4 adjacent tracks.
On the exit/entry side of the spaceholding track also leave some space. For me it works best if I eyeball the electrified track in the trajectory of the spaceholding track first with some straight track. Then connect the outside tracks with some nice S-shaped track to the standard track.
The first part of the switching section is put in place. At this moment you can remove the spaceholding tracks. This is the most practical moment to do it. The switching tracks can be placed over the placeholding track smoothly. No problem there. The removal of the placeholding tracks becomes more difficult because the removal tool might select the wrong track section if your selecting is a bit ‘generic’ like mine.
Laying the X-shaped track
This is a short section. Laying the x-shaped track is rather easy. The track laying tool is doing most of the work.
You start out with the empty section of track with space in between.
Next step: select the type of track you’re laying. In my case that will be electrified track.
As I said, the tool is doing the work. Important to be aware of is that you start your switch on the straight piece of the track. As far as I could figure out, the tool accepts your decision to start on the curved track. What happens is that the direction of the curved tracks trajectory is calculated in with the S-curving the new track will get. This can result in a situation that your cross-over track ends up in a curve that goes outside the track that has been already established and comes back in. This will create a section of track with multiple track crossings that influence the pathfinding and especially the signal handling.
Any crossing of a track is regarded as a possible collision site. Therefore any trains that are destined to use that section of track will be halted at the nearest signal to prevent collision. This also could mean, since in this very close nitted tracks there is no signal placing possible, that the train destined for using the cross-over track, will block a train that can use the track on the other side in a straight line. The changes of it happening are slim. The track laying tool is rather smart. If it happens you could end up redoing more than just the tracks. Especially if you’re cramped for space to begin with.
You have the choice between the shortest possible cross-over tracks and the longest. I tend to choose the longest. It keeps trains that just pass through the station to keep their speed as high as possible. Tight curves slow down the trains considerably. Also when trains need to start moving again after being given the green light, they are very slow in accelerating. Which makes for longer time spend for the train to get in front of the platform. This effects the throughput of your station negatively. Which cascades into slower trains when the station is also part of a track section the has heavy traffic because the other trains will be backed up before signals further down the line.
Placing the signals
This section is about the last part of the switching section of the tracks leading into a station with two tracks. It is about the placing of the signals.
NOTE:This signal configuration is based on right hand driving which is the case in most European countries. For lefthand driving the signal configuration needs to be mirrored. The reason for the configuration of the signals as shown stays the same.
The end result this guide is working towards is the track layout in the picture below.
Below you can watch the game figure out how to put trains on the right track. It is allowing trains to get to an empty platform as best as it can.
To get to this end result the signals need to be placed on the cross-over sections in the following way.
It starts out with the track you layed, without the signals yet.
When placing the signals there are two directions that need to be regulated by the signals. The light green arrows indicate the trains coming from the outside into the station. The red arrows indicate the trains coming from the station on their way out of the station. The red arrow on the right side of the picture symbolishes the trains on their primairy track that were able to stay on their primairy track while stopping at the stations platform.
The tracks on the side of the station will be utilized as two way tracks. This has implications for the placing of the signals and the type of signal. Each of the two way tracks should be part of their own block section of signals. Below the picture of the first set of signals. It separates the top and bottom track into a independent signal block.
Signals are divided into two kinds. The single signal or block (separator) signal and the chain signal. The chain signal connect to the next signals that can be found traveling along the track it is placed next to. A chain signal is connecting the current location to the situation, to the status of the single signal up ahead.
So why are the signals set to this configuration? The single signals, the block separation signals, close off the incoming track from the connected track in the station and the track on the other side. Once a train has passed this signal coming into the station at the free platform at the bottom, it is separated from all the other track. So the track at the top, when it is free, is able to accept the next train coming in from the left. If a train from the other side that is coming into the station has passed its block signal, the block signal for entering the top track section will stay or turn red.
The outgoing tracks are configured with chain signals. They need to be chain signals since they need to connect to the track ahead. If the section ahead is blocked the train should also keep the section of track with the tracks that are crossing each other free. This ensures that an incoming train which is able to use the top section of the station still can pull into the station.
In the signal configuration so far the incoming and outgoing track of the station after the cross-over section are connected into one block. This configuration stalls the traffic largely. An incoming train blocks an outgoing train till the incoming train is passed the block signal on the incoming track of the station. An outgoing train does the same to an incoming train. The moment the outgoing train enters the currently as purple shown section of tracks, it blocks the incoming train. That might be way down the line. If trains are blocked from entering section of track that encompasses a large distance, the flow of the train traffic is interrupted to soon. This will decrease the throughput on a section of track dramatically. Since tracks are most likely divided into consecutive sections the overall throughput of the railsystem is impacted negatively.
So the outgoing and incoming tracks should be divided into two separate signalling blocks. The problem is the section with the X-shaped tracks. It is circled in the picture with the yellow circle. The same configuration arguments can be used to separate the top outgoing track from the bottom incoming track. The next set of signals is shown in the picture below.
In a clean view of the various blocks and signals. Notice the center block section.
Due to the fact that the section with the X-shaped tracks is now a completely indendent section of tracks, the top and bottom track are separated from each other. Trains on both tracks will move independent from each other.
The short section of track on the outgoing part of the station tracks passed the cross-over section is something that is optional. In essence only one block separation signal is needed. The next one can be (way) down the line. The chain signals on the outgoing tracks within the cross-over section will remain red till the first single signal turns green. When that signal turns green, they will turn green. If the second single signal is at a (great) distance of the first single signal, it will take considerable time before the signals within the cross-over section indicate ‘section save to enter’. Creating a short section as exit of the cross-over section will result in a faster handling of the trains. As soon as a train leaves the short section the enterance signal of the short section will signal ‘section save to enter’. This results in the chain signals turning green. Which in turn allows a waiting train to accelerate. Since the train that is on the outgoing track is gaining speed the accelarating train will smoothly enter the next section after the short section. It greatly improves the throughput of trains through the cross-over section.
In the picture below the cross-over section at work within an active train system. Both the trains in the station are on their secondairy track, at their secondary platform. Both are moving out of the station separately. The incoming train from the left side of the station at the bottom of the picture is blocked from entering the cross-over section since both platforms are still taken at this moment.
Some additional pictures of the signal configuration. The short pieces of track shown as light blue are indicators for the direction the trains are allowed to move on that part of the track.
That’s all folks!
This guide is concluded with these last pictures. My intention with this guide is providing a comprehensive explanation and example of the track layout design and the subsequent placement of the signals. When placed incorrectly the game will refrain from sending trains over the tracks. In the discussions there are more than enough complaints that the rail system might be broken. It is hair raising frustrating when your track layout design is working to your estimate but is incomplete or unuseable according to the game track and train pathfinding logic.
I hope I succeeded in writing a guide that will help you create a part of the rail system that utilizes a station that can accept trains on both platforms coming from either direction. This cross-over section will also work on a station that can only be accessed from one side.
So now, comrade Leader, you can focus on keeping us comrades from fleeing your country because of the (numerous) other things in your country that are broken. Because, of course, if it is broken it is your country, not ours.
If you wish to recieve clarification on the contents of this guide you can address the Publication Office with your request in trifold. It will be processed with our well and widely known socialist expediance. Of course in this free socialist country you are welcome to comment at any time.