Need help with multiple trains making traffic jams

[Carmageddon]

Hi!

I am so glad I found this game again! its so awesome especially now in Open Source

I do however need help, to figure out how to sort the trains signals, I've read all the Wiki pages regarding Signals and the various tips, and I am using a lot of signals (although it is confusing so many different types - I think I have combination of various one way and both way signals..).

I made many merges, parallel tracks, all the tricks I figured out, and still my trains managed to create a traffic jam and forcing me to constantly oversee that single project I have.

Screenshots are attached, please help me figure out what I do wrong, and how to make it better, I am out of ideas for that area...


Thanks!

[Zuu]

What you need to do is to reduce the number of signals there. You have a section where you cannot allow trains to meet because it has just a single track and that will cause dead-locks.

Below is a solution that removes all signals in the area infront of the station, depot etc. and only place signals where I've marked in green where to place them. The arrow shows the driving direction and should help you to face the signals in the correct direction. The dotted lines show signals that you might want to omit to enhance the robustness at the cost of lower throughput (when it is not jamming).

All signals except those infront of the station are one-way path signals. (the rightmost signal button in the GUI) In front of the station you place path signals (the button to the left of one-way path signals). These signals are not mandatory, but as you seem to have longer platforms than some of your trains, they can be useful if a train stops in the middle or far end of the station. Some players omit these signals as the trains will reserve a path before starting from where they stopped at the station even if there are no signals infront of the station.

The purple line in my edited screnshot is a suggestion for a bypass for trains from the south to north that do not need to enter the station. These could bypass the area quite easily. For trains in the other direction, that is also possible and not very hard for an experienced OpenTTD player, but I leave that up for you to explore.

[Carmageddon]

What you need to do is to reduce the number of signals there. You have a section where you cannot allow trains to meet because it has just a single track and that will cause dead-locks.

Below is a solution that removes all signals in the area infront of the station, depot etc. and only place signals where I've marked in green where to place them. The arrow shows the driving direction and should help you to face the signals in the correct direction. The dotted lines show signals that you might want to omit to enhance the robustness at the cost of lower throughput (when it is not jamming).

All signals except those infront of the station are one-way path signals. (the rightmost signal button in the GUI) In front of the station you place path signals (the button to the left of one-way path signals). These signals are not mandatory, but as you seem to have longer platforms than some of your trains, they can be useful if a train stops in the middle or far end of the station. Some players omit these signals as the trains will reserve a path before starting from where they stopped at the station even if there are no signals infront of the station.

The purple line in my edited screnshot is a suggestion for a bypass for trains from the south to north that do not need to enter the station. These could bypass the area quite easily. For trains in the other direction, that is also possible and not very hard for an experienced OpenTTD player, but I leave that up for you to explore.

Thank you so much! this looks very good I will try it soon, however one problem:
I can not find how to remove signals.. there is no button for doing it, I tried using Ctrl and I think Shift as well, and found no way to remove other than destroying the rail entirely and re-doing it.

[MarkyT]

I can not find how to remove signals.. there is no button for doing it, I tried using Ctrl and I think Shift as well, and found no way to remove other than destroying the rail entirely and re-doing it.

With the signal building toolbar selected, toggle the 'remove' button in the railway construction toolbar (2nd in from the right). Now the build signal tool becomes a remove signal tool until you toggle the 'remove' button again. Note it doesn't matter which type of signal the build tool is set to, when in remove mode it will remove any type. Control drag also works for removing a series of signals as far as the next junction, although be careful using this with trains moving!

When I'm using path signals through junctions I usually don't place signals immediately after each exit from the junction, Instead I place the first signal a typical train length beyond the junction, hence a train won't enter the junction (potentially blocking it) unless there's a clear way out.