freight train not working*newbie*

[boardshorts 0]

HEY GUYS im a sim city 4 virgin, can anyone help me find a solution regarding my freight trains? seems like their not functioning, i put the rails at the back, the side, but still ZERO usage. please help :-)

[splur 0]

If you have other export routes available they'll go to that first. The freight train solution really is only good if you have industrial in the center of the city or if you don't have many other exit routes (same deal with the seaport). Overall I don't even suggest using the freight train, it's rather useless.

[boardshorts 0]

oh okay, i used the freight train because i thought its a demand cap relief for Industry, do u know demand other demand cap reliefs?

[xV.I.N.C.E.N.T.x 0]

YES I DO....if you have more than any one type of connection....power, water, roads (ave, road, street.....don't matter), connected to one particular neighbor...your city will suffer caps.

-Vin

[Darth Apple 54]

you have to build a relativily big district to get usage(for best results , try 60 x 60 tiles or so...)I dont build them anymore.

hope that helps

[frdrcklim 139]

you know what, my factories seem to not take the freight train as well. I have a station nearby and they still prefer to hit the road. The only time they use the freight train is when they want to get across the other side of the station to an adjacent road.

[landersims 0]

I realize this is an old thread but I have a question on the same vein...

My rail network is going completely unused. I have rail connected to neighboring regions, train stations, etc. There is no alternative means of transportation outside of my region. Still, rail usage remains at zero despite industry complaining of having no freight options.

If I build a road goig all over the map and eventually outside of the region, industry will ignore the direct, much shorter rail line and drive for days and days before leaving the region.

Why is it that my railway is seemingly going unnoticed by my sims? I am playing sim cit 4 deluxe.

So frustrating.

[landersims 0]

I would also add that the monthly cost of rail upkeep doesn't show up on my city expenses window, despite having a rather long rail line.

[Fatherted 129]

1. Using a station.

2. Freight dies at the city border.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

You clearly need a freight station near your industrial/agricultural groupings. The line must either have one or more or pass though the actual industrial pod, not just next to it.

[Briman 5]

When starting a new city you wont see much rail use unless you have another city in the region that is connected by rail or road. What I do whenI start a new region with one city is to just connect the rail to the next city. I fyou have roads connected the freight trucks will use the road instead of rail.

When you have an established region where demand is higher your trains will appear,both passenger and freight. Try cutting road connections and your passenger and freight trains will appear. Passenger will only appear when you have demand for it in another city or the city you are building has more than one passenger rail station and demand for it is high enough.

[CaptCity 4,918]

Freight will take tracks (or roads) to the edge of a city via the most direct route. Rail freight will usually appear almost as soon as industry develops provided 1.) rail is the most direct route and 2.) there is a freight station available on such a route or the industrial zones abut the tracks that reach the edge of the city. Freight traffic does not depend on facilities in a neighboring city - passenger, yes (they need a station) - but freight only goes to the edge of a city.

As mentioned, if rail freight is non-existent, it would probably be due to either no city-edge rail connection, no rail access (station or zones), or roads routes are more direct.

[landersims 0]

Here is a screenshot showing an industrial block ignoring the fright station right next door and driving to the other side of the map. Why?

  Edited September 23, 2012 by landersims  

[z1 566]

If I build a road goig all over the map and eventually outside of the region, industry will ignore the direct, much shorter rail line and drive for days and days before leaving the region.

This is characteristic of the Maxis traffic simulator, which comes with the game. I would venture to guess that if you install the (or the entire , which contains the traffic simulator), your problem will disappear.

[landersims 0]

NAM. Beautiful. Worked like a charm, thank you.

[sprawl2 2]

hello everybody,

 

I've had the same problem for a long time. For my part, I can only say heavy or manufacturing industry prefers to rely on rail rather than trucks. That is, I have never seen any increase of ridership with hi-tech industry.

 

It is, however, quite frustrating because our virtual citizens do not seem to rely on freight as much as they rely on commuter train even in spite of an excellent and detailed network. A little bit of satisfaction can come, I guess, from NAM (I used 30 so far and now I switched to 32) but I didn't see a dramatic improvement.

 

I still remember that I will never forget that city in which my freight station recorded a 14% of ridership: A MIRACLE!

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

hello everybody,

 

I've had the same problem for a long time. For my part, I can only say heavy or manufacturing industry prefers to rely on rail rather than trucks. That is, I have never seen any increase of ridership with hi-tech industry.

 

It is, however, quite frustrating because our virtual citizens do not seem to rely on freight as much as they rely on commuter train even in spite of an excellent and detailed network. A little bit of satisfaction can come, I guess, from NAM (I used 30 so far and now I switched to 32) but I didn't see a dramatic improvement.

 

I still remember that I will never forget that city in which my freight station recorded a 14% of ridership: A MIRACLE!

Welcome to the conversation

 

Freight trucks are a burden sent to try us.  If one doesn't arrange for them to quickly terminate at either a heavy rail freight station or a seaport, the just clutter up your traffic network and increase congestion.  I generally make rail available to all my industrial areas.

 

In fact, if you run tracks through the industrial area, all plants within four grids of the tracks will put their freight directly on the train.

 

Freight rail stations have a very high capacity, are cheap, and freight is not the goal of the game, just a distractor.  The developers thought so much of it that it all goes to the big bit bucket in the sky either at the border or at a seaport.  Freight does not cross city boundaries.

[spokelips 21]

I always to include at least 1 or 2 of these stations in my IND zones, but always had the same problem. What I do now is to use square grids of (usually) 6x6 IND with roads surrounding all of the tiles. Then once they develop, I delete the road tiles going through the zone(s) and replace them with my rail and adding a freight station in each "block". This ends up "forcing" the plants connected to the railway to use it by a need for an outlet for it's goods.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Sneaky, but why not just make the tracks grid initially with only a few roads?

[spokelips 21]

Nonny - I don't know exactly..but it seems to work well so I continue using it.

[Turjan 1,048]

Not really necessary. You can set it up in a way that freight train is used preferentially from the get-go. Just make the freight train the shortest exit:

 

 

As you can see, everyone is using the train here, even the workforce that comes from outside of the city.

 

Even near the center of the city in one of the early surviving industry spots that is still the case: