Rail Intersections

[IronDogg 0]

I was wondering how rail intersections work? If you cross a train track with another train track at a 90 degree perpendicular fashion, will the trains (both passenger and freight) still make that corner to get to their destination station? What about monorails?

Or do you have to build "cut-corner" angular pieces of track to join up the two tracks that are perpendicular to each other?

If trains could make 90 degree corners it would sure save a lot of valuable real estate, so that is why I ask...

[DCMetro34 576]

No, trains cannot cut 90 degree angles, they have to switch along slants or cut corners unfortunately.

-dcmetro34

[IronDogg 0]

Ok, thanks, unfortunately, that is more realistic and it should be that way, although it sure takes up a lot of extra space. So what then does a proper rail intersection look like? Is what I have in the pic about as good as it gets for utilizing space?

[Rionescu 14]

You do need to make corners for them, but if you make them as close as possible to the centre it will turn into a circle.

[specializedguy 193]

Good question! I think SC4 improved the real factor here as no train does make those 90-degree turns in real life. As far as I have discovered, the only 90-degree turns that can be made on a rail system are GLR rail tracks-this includes both Tram-in-road and regular GLR.

[Lukfi 3]

Well, it still isn't very realistic. Have you ever seen a railway take a 90-degree turn in an area smaller than a highway cloverleaf? In my latest city I decided to use only the long curves from NAM, now that's a challenge

[Rady 94]

It depends on wheter you're trying to just put in a railroad or you're trying to put in a realistic railroad. If you're headed for the second (like me), you need to stick to the NAM rail puzzle pieces. They make the railroad look much more realistic, but of course are much more space consuming. But if you look at real life rail lines, they are just that - space consuming. However, they do improve your cities look-a-like, at least in my opinion.

[Lukfi 3]

Right you are. Considering how strictly grid-based SC4 is, the puzzle pieces look wonderful.