Train types and when to use them

[norrisbarrows]

There are four types of train, standard trains , electric, monorail and maglev. What types of trains are good for certain situations like short and long trips for freight and passengers so that money is not being wasted?

[jfs]

In the base game with no mods, they are straight faster/stronger in the order you listed them: Standard railway, Electrified railway, Monorail, Maglev.

The better traction systems are also more expensive to build and maintain, and the trains have higher running costs. So the faster/stronger trains tend to be better for longer routes, and worse for short routes. As the new technologies are introduced, the older ones also get obsoleted.

[odisseus]

It is worth mentioning that some rail types (namely unelectrified and monorail) offer engines that take some cargo. This allows running extremely short trains (though such trains are almost useless except for eye-candy).

When the intervals between your trains become very short, the balance between top speed and acceleration becomes important. For example, Lev3 performs better than Lev4 in some cases.

There are numerous add-ons that provide entirely new rail types (such as metro or vacuum tube) and a great variety of engine classes.

[CTarana45]

I start by putting the HQ in the biggest city! I run a passenger train from that city to another! Then I'll go to next city down in population and repeat the process! Occasionally, I'll run freight trains from the coal mines to the power plants! In 1955 I start building Airports!

Christopher Tarana

[Eddi]

technically, it's better to put the HQ in the second city. because it produces a steady stream of passengers, you can use it to make a more balanced back-and-forth usage.