Heavy rail tunnel connection between city-sectors

[jeffryfisher 2,176]

I want my rail to tunnel under a mountain. The mountain itself has pretty good geometry for tunneling, except that it spans a boundary between two sectors ("cities").

 

I have the NAM with its "underground rail". I can build a ramp with it, but then I am stuck. All of the other pieces appear to require roads, avenues, pedmalls and other clutter above them. I can't see any way to simply bore a tunnel through the mountain and create a heavy-rail connection to the next city-sector. I've searched the NAM documentation, and I can't find any useful information.

 

On the other hand, Maxis offers me a rail => subway transition. If I use that, then my connection will be "subway". Will it convey freight and provide cap relief for industry?

 

Am I hoping for something the doesn't exist, or am I missing something obvious? Is there a way to tunnel through a mountain that spans a boundary?

[Indiana Joe 1,750]

Unfortunately no, for the moment.  Subway wouldn't carry any freight traffic.  The only thing I can think of is to drop one tile of the mountain a little bit, and end the tunnel right before the city border.  Make a neighbor connection and do the same on the other side.  Tunnels don't have slope limits that I'm aware of, so you wouldn't have to lower the tile that much.

 

Or of course you can always go around the mountain.

 

I don't think a whole ton of research has been done on the tunnel front.  They're probably mostly controlled in the EXE (so unmoddable).  But there's no telling what the community might discover or create in the future.

[infamousjbe 592]

Since there are RR -> Subway transition pieces, I'm pretty sure it'll allow freight through, but if it doesn't you can always mod the subway to allow freight through. 

[APSMS 1,892]

Unfortunately it is not possible to have freight traffic travel on subways. An interesting post on SC4Devotion that I read explained (by Z, the developer of the pieces) that the U-Rail pieces primarily allow you to cross subway lines with Heavy Rail converted to subway traffic and not have the two crossover to each other (which creates a host of strange traffic behavior). Interestingly, when he discusses the URail pieces, he shows that they can carry freight traffic (it seems), but I could be wrong. The entire thread did little to help me understand how to use the things.

 

However, it's worth trying out the GLR to FLUP pieces. It's established that GLR has Heavy rail paths on it, which are for the UDI functionality. This means that they can carry freight traffic (I know this for a fact. I have it going on successfully in some of my cities). On the GLR to FLUP pieces, which work using the Road FLUPs, it might be worth trying to send your trains onto GLR and then have them take FLUPs to the city border (Not sure about the neighbor connection, but you can be creative. I'd use rail if you have to resurface for capacity and statistical reasons). It won't be smooth if you try UDI on it, but I've successfully driven a tram through some FLUPs and back onto surface rail, and it worked out ok, so it's likely that the FLUPs have heavy rail paths in them as well, though a NAM member would have to confirm this. It can't hurt to try.

 

You can always cover up some of the path with some well placed MMP trees.

[Indiana Joe 1,750]

First of all it's important to clarify that the Railroad-to-subway transitions are not part of the original game.  They are an NAM addon.  They are not fully compatible networks.  (OP might be confusing this with the El-rail to subway transition)

 

Underground rail pieces are coded to be heavy rail, so they have all of the functions of rail.  I don't see the purpose in using any FLUPS when underground rail pieces work the same way.  But they both leave the telltale path above, which can't be very well hidden with trees I've found.  Probably best to use a legitimate tunnel.

[APSMS 1,892]

As far as I can tell, URail has either road or Pedmall textures on the top, while FLUPs have a transparent base. Also, I have no idea how to properly use URail pieces, hence my suggestion (write what you know).

 

I'm going to have to try out the URail pieces now. You've piqued my curiosity (and made me want to figure out what they're for).

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

From an engineering standpoint it would be well to remember that subways are light rail.  Transitioning ground heavy rail onto a subway is illogical, and would be dangerous in a real-life situation as the subway road bed is not built to take heavy locomotives nor freight.

 

Moving freight across any kind of city tile to city tile connection simply is not in the game.  Freight at the border goes to the big bit bucket in the sky.

 

The only underground connections I am aware of in the game are subways and water pipes.

[Fatherted 129]

From an engineering standpoint it would be well to remember that subways are light rail. Transitioning ground heavy rail onto a subway is illogical, and would be dangerous in a real-life situation as the subway road bed is not built to take heavy locomotives nor freight.

Moving freight across any kind of city tile to city tile connection simply is not in the game. Freight at the border goes to the big bit bucket in the sky.

The only underground connections I am aware of in the game are subways and water pipes.

That isn't true. Zurich runs freight in a subway under the river and city in a subway ALL the time. It's just how the tunnel is built.

[Indiana Joe 1,750]

As far as I can tell, URail has either road or Pedmall textures on the top, while FLUPs have a transparent base. Also, I have no idea how to properly use URail pieces, hence my suggestion (write what you know).

 

I'm going to have to try out the URail pieces now. You've piqued my curiosity (and made me want to figure out what they're for).

 

You're right and I was mistaken.  I could have sworn that U-rail had all of the same pieces as FLUPs, but they do not.  So in this case the only good option is a real tunnel.

 

Underground rail work the same way as FLUPs, but they are designed for very urban use.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

 

From an engineering standpoint it would be well to remember that subways are light rail. Transitioning ground heavy rail onto a subway is illogical, and would be dangerous in a real-life situation as the subway road bed is not built to take heavy locomotives nor freight.

Moving freight across any kind of city tile to city tile connection simply is not in the game. Freight at the border goes to the big bit bucket in the sky.

The only underground connections I am aware of in the game are subways and water pipes.

That isn't true. Zurich runs freight in a subway under the river and city in a subway ALL the time. It's just how the tunnel is built.

 

I don't believe any RL cities were considered during the construction of the game.  If Zurich supports heavy rail in its underground, son't expect the game to do this.  The game does not support freight in the subway which is a passengers-only facility.

[jeffryfisher 2,176]

Okay, I guess I don't want to use game-subway. I'll see if I can figure out the U-rail (so far, I can build the entrance, but I can't extend the rail anywhere underground yet).

 

If I give that up, then I'll try the trick tunnel with an opening at the border.

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

 

 

From an engineering standpoint it would be well to remember that subways are light rail. Transitioning ground heavy rail onto a subway is illogical, and would be dangerous in a real-life situation as the subway road bed is not built to take heavy locomotives nor freight.

Moving freight across any kind of city tile to city tile connection simply is not in the game. Freight at the border goes to the big bit bucket in the sky.

The only underground connections I am aware of in the game are subways and water pipes.

That isn't true. Zurich runs freight in a subway under the river and city in a subway ALL the time. It's just how the tunnel is built.

 

I don't believe any RL cities were considered during the construction of the game.  If Zurich supports heavy rail in its underground, son't expect the game to do this.  The game does not support freight in the subway which is a passengers-only facility.

That being said, many heavy rail that goes underground serves inner-city areas and is unlikely to be used by freight, hence.