Wiki / Building
Trains & vehicles
There are two ways to carry more people: more vehicles, or longer ones. They cost differently, and the game models the difference.
Four kinds of line
Every line in trainsworld has a mode, and the mode decides what can run on it.
| Mode | Runs on | Vehicle | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Train | Track | Cars, including high-speed cars | The backbone. High-speed cars need high-speed track. |
| Tram | Tram track, including on streets | Tram cars | Cheaper, slower, easier to thread through a city |
| Bus | Roads, as a drawn route | Buses | No track at all — a route, drawn point by point |
| Ferry | Water, as a route between ports | Boats | Slow but unrestricted by the road network |
Bus and ferry lines are drawn as routes rather than built as track: the game quotes a construction cost for the route and a price per vehicle. Ferry routes are free to draw; the ports and boats are not.
What a car carries
A vehicle's capacity is quoted two ways in the game: the rated load it is designed for, and the crush load it can physically take. The difference is not cosmetic — it is the whole crowding system.
A train at 100% of its rated capacity is full. It will still take riders up to crush capacity, but each one of them is having a worse time, and the model knows it. The trip inspector states the rule directly: once a vehicle is 70% full, each minute on board counts as more than a minute — three at capacity, and 5.4× at 120%. Riders left behind at the platform wait longer, and that counts too.
Crowding is a demand problem, not just a comfort problem
A line running at 120% does not simply carry 120% of the riders — it loses some of them. People who could have taken the train drive instead, and the transit share stops growing. That is why the game's own advice is to lengthen trains when they are crowded: it is the cheapest way to make the line attractive again.
Longer or more frequent?
Both increase capacity, and the game charges for them differently:
- More cars — a one-off purchase per car, plus running cost per car per day. Trains get longer, which costs platform length and might exceed the platform you built.
- More trains — another full vehicle from the depot, plus running cost, plus a slot on the track. This is where the capacity list comes back: a busy junction, a single-track section or a terminal can make the extra train impossible no matter how much money you have.
The rule of thumb:
| Symptom | Fix |
|---|---|
| Crowded all day, track has room | More cars |
| Crowded at peak only | More trains in the peak period (see schedules) |
| Crowded and the track is at capacity | More track, a terminal, or a different route |
| Half empty all day | Fewer cars; the money is better spent elsewhere |
Owning vehicles
Vehicles are owned, not rented. The finances tab lists, for each kind, how many you own, how many the lines need, and how many are spare. Spares still cost you — they are bought and they sit there — so a large "spare" count is a sign to either use them or stop buying.
The schedules panel shows each line's draw on the depot: how many of its vehicles are in use and where they come from. Adding a train to a line in one demand period can leave another period short, so the period steppers are best read together.
High-speed
High-speed is a different vehicle class, not an upgrade. High-speed cars run only on lines built with high-speed track, and high-speed track costs a multiple of regular track. In exchange the line runs much faster, which is decisive on long intercity routes where the car would otherwise win on time.
Because the whole route has to be high-speed, the sensible way to do it is to build the corridor once, at that standard, and not to mix. A line that is high-speed for 80% of its length and regular for the rest runs at the slow standard.
Match the vehicle to the job
A tram or bus is often the right answer for a short urban link that feeds a main line. The game does not reward using trains everywhere — it rewards moving people. A cheap feeder that runs every few minutes can beat an expensive rail branch that runs twice an hour.
Buying and scrapping
Vehicles are bought when you add them to a line, and the cost is charged then. Selling capacity back is not free money: the finances tab reports what was bought and what is running, and the difference is your fleet. If a line is not worth its cars, the honest move is to cut the service (fewer trains in the period), not to keep buying vehicles for a route that does not work.
The one thing to avoid is buying capacity you cannot use: a train that cannot get a path because the junction ahead is full is a train you are paying for every day to stand still.