Rail or El rail

[N G T 3]

When I build cities, the types of public transport i normally use are buses, rail, subway.

I read the Sc4 booklet, it sais that el rail is faster than rail and will get people to work quicker. But rAil is cheaper. Shall I build rail at first the replace with el rail when I have more dough?

Or shall I have both???

[Zodicus 34]

Take a look at some peoples rail systems here and you will find most well constructed systems are a combination of both.

[mertzigzag 48]

I use both pretty extensively, and I'd say if you're worried about capacity, standard rail is the way to go--stations, particularly custom add on stations like the many available here, tend to have way larger capacity and the rail lines seem to carry much greater traffic levels than el-rail before they're considered congested.

That said, el-rail still has some advantages--smaller footprint, particularly for most stations, and you can switch it between elevated and subway routes without even the need for custom add-ons (the same can be done with standard rail but requires various plugin lots).

I've ended up using a mix of pretty much everything... el-rail is the visible workhorse of my central city transport systems, but the real movers are the standard rail and subway systems.

[N G T 3]

Thx

[nycsc4 5,250]

I use a combination of Light Rail (streetcars), Communter Rail (heavy rail), Elevated Rail (streetcars, without streets), Ferries, and Buses. My light rail (both elevated and streetcar based) is used extensively in the urban core while commuter trains spread out to other sections of the Metro. Best way to do it is use a combination of all of them. Though I don't use subways, I have considered it recently. I am quite partial to streetcars though. Very nostalgic!

[Moskva 75]

It's not much e. rail vs rail, it is more likely metro world vs rail. I'd go with both. I have 2 rail lines in Lenin'sk, one drives east-west and the other one from the center to north (there's the sea towards south). Meanwhile the e. rail is everywhere in the suburbia, meanwhile it stays underground in the city core. Of course these are realism tips.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

The two systems are complimentary. Heavy rail is a lot cheaper for stations and the stations have parking. Elevated rail has no parking so you have to make arrangements for that, and connect it to your bus routes.

However, El also interfaces directly to subway, so it has its uses beyond what rail can do. Think of heavy rail as interurban passenger and freight service, and light rail (El, GLR, Subway) as intraurban passengers only. Then use them accordingly.

I sometimes don't use light rail at all because much of my work these days is spread out rural settlements.

  Edited April 18, 2012 by A Nonny Moose  

[DavidB_ 83]

If you get the you can use GLR (Ground Light Rail) and Tram-in-Street/Road/Avenue as well! However, you will need to get separate stations for these new networks.

The best of all worlds!

[z1 566]

I read the Sc4 booklet, it sais that el rail is faster than rail and will get people to work quicker.

This is not correct. In the unmodified version of SC4 Deluxe, el rail and commuter rail are the same speed. If the NAM traffic simulator is installed, commuter rail is one third faster than el rail.

[jacksunny 741]

I tend to use elevated/GLR/Subway more because of the transitions you can make, and you can run GLR on streets, roads, etc.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

It really depends on your vision of the city. I use subway quite a bit as a congestion reliever, and it can be continued into the country side by transitioning to El Rail. I hardly ever use GLR because I consider it a tourist attraction and a challenge to the builder more than anything else. For realism, I suppose GLR is truly needed.

Because I build a lot of shipping ports (PEGs) that are TE for rail, I tend to use heavy rail in industrial areas and make it accessible to the residential areas as well.

[Cob92 360]

GLR is easy to build if you only use the draggable version. It also has the advantage of being able to make 90 degree turns, which helps when you're trying to fit lines into built up areas. El-Rail and heavy rail are less flexible in this regard.

[dogma555 187]

Your city.. your choice..

You can also even get the mod piece, that can convert el-rail to ground rail.. then even convert that el-rail to ground-light-rail!

I personally use ground rail for commuter rail.. meaning when there is a considerable distance between the terminal and the first stop.. while el-rail is for frequent stops, basically every two or three blocks.

  Edited April 20, 2012 by dogma555  

[simcity1999 34]

El Rail is the above ground equivalent of subway, while heavy rail is good for intercity (region) and commuter railway. Use both depending on your need.

[Metalpuritan 160]

I would suggest looking at maps of elevated rail line in real life as a reference to their use, often times they are used for point to point travel, that is the line usually travels from one location to another like B.A.R.T. in California, it runs from nearby cities into San Francisco and other nearby cities, it has a few spurs that will visit other parts but those go out and turn right around on a tiny loop at the end of the line and come right back to the the main line, basically use your elevated rail in game like buses run in real life, a route, not just a network.  This will allow you to make great looking lines that do no disrupt entirely your cities while at the same time serving the purpose you wish them to.

 

B.A.R.T. map:

 

Chicago el-train map:

 

 

New York Subway map(incomplete but reinforces my point):

 

You can do pretty much anything you want to do really, this is just for reference.  I use reality as inspiration for practically everything I make in game.  Google maps, transit maps like these and other pictures.  I find that reality works pretty well in game, especially where transit systems(streets, roads, highways, trains, subways, etc.) are concerned.

[Ltw 401]

I use heavy rail for longer distances, the costs and the price are a big pro of heavy rail. I use the subway in high density areas (or maybe in mid-density whenever I find elevated rail unappealing). I use Elevated rail in mid density areas. I'm also using the High Speed Rail (also included in the latest NAM) in combination with my heavy rail, I've downloaded a connector piece to link those two networks to each other. The pro of the HSRP is that it has a higher speed than the other networks (the same speed as the monorail network) and it looks nice. I use it with much caution though, the High Speed Rail doesn't allow freight train traffic (also quite logic, imagine a freight train going over a high speed rail with trains traveling at 200km/h). I usually build High Speed Rail at places where it absolutely doesn't have any addition for freight traffic, whenever there is a line that is used by freight trains I build a high speed rail next to it, thus separating passenger traffic and freight traffic.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Not very logical to allow HSRP to run on the heavy rail roadbed and vice versa.  In the first instance, the tracks are not designed for those speed and in the second the HSRP track is really a monorail, and can't accommodate the heavy rail gear.  Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

[Turjan 1,048]

Not very logical to allow HSRP to run on the heavy rail roadbed and vice versa.  In the first instance, the tracks are not designed for those speed and in the second the HSRP track is really a monorail, and can't accommodate the heavy rail gear.  Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

 

In the real world, most high-speed train tracks are used by freight trains in the off times, and high speed trains use normal tracks if there's a gap in the special track system. Completely separate systems (I think the Shinkansen is an example) are rare.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Unless the tracks are specifically built for the freight loading, that would result in derailments and considerable damage to the high-speed roadbed.

[Turjan 1,048]

Unless the tracks are specifically built for the freight loading, that would result in derailments and considerable damage to the high-speed roadbed.

 

We are not talking about hypotheticals here. Most conventional high speed trains have very heavy locomotives on both ends, and the track has to be built to stand extreme forces. The trains have to be heavy in order not to be disturbed by wind pressure. Freight trains don't reach these forces (quite the opposite, you have to protect freight trains from ever meeting the shock wave of a high speed train in a tunnel). At night, those high speed tracks are often used for freight trains. An example is the high speed north/south route in the center of Germany. High speed trains use it from 6 am - 10 pm with up to 280 km/h, freight trains go from 10 pm to 6 am with 120 km/h in 6 minute intervals.

[Ltw 401]

In Europe there is more often a combination of High Speed Rail and heavy rail. Those two tracks also have the same footprint, for this reason implementation is quite easy. Situation in which those combinations are implemented are for example when it is too expensive to build a high speed rail or when they simply can't build it because spatial limitations. Besides, the connector piece behaves like a regular connector piece between subway and EL, I've also downloaded the same trains for the HSRP as for heavy rail, so there is hardly a difference.