Heavy rail replacement ideas?

[Clontron 1]

Hi guys,

I need some help in how to reconfigure or replace my heavy rail inside my existing city. Some info, my city is a medium density city which is primarily based on pedestrian and public transit use. Currently inter-region travel isn't very big, but I am planning to build some out suburbia and maybe some industrial areas outside my main city. The subway, buses and light rail have been going pretty well, but I kind have ignored the rail built earlier. Instead of building my city around the old heavy rail, I have built my city over the rail. It has resulted in some messy, and unrealistic railway crossings.

Within the city there are only a few stops, used well enough I guess (it is important for some sims travel to outer areas), but i want to invest in it for the new outer developments. There are just 4 lines. I like the idea of elevated rail in the inner areas, but monorail or elevated rail looks kinda silly on the ground in the country side. Would an elevated rail to heavy rail be a good idea, or is that a bit buggy? I think I planned to turn the heavy rail into underground rail when the town became a city, but underground rail seems a bit complicated to me~ especially passing it underneath tram intersection roads.

[timmie 988]

Why not try rail viaducts in the dense parts of the city? I'm assuming you have the NAM installed. Or you could try sunken railways (dig a trench of 7,5m deep with a hole digger piece). But sunken requires more work than viaducts.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

With the existing game, the approach to heavy rail is very poor.  In RL, heavy rail uses cuts or embankments to level the tracks and avoids grades over 3% like the plague.  With the introduction of the hole digging and terrain raising lots in the NAM, this can be done, but believe me it is a PITA similar to placing RHW when you have to level the ground first.

I would consider replacing local hops of heavy rail with underground passenger service where possible.  This might mean adding freight lanes to some roads or keeping a freight rail system depending on your traffic analysis.  Subway is expensive, but doesn't occupy much real estate.  Once it hits the country side, it can emerge and be elevated rail which is cheaper.  BTW while it can be done in the game, running freight on light rail tracks is silly and cannot be done in RL because the roadbeds are not built for it.

Overall, you have a pretty conundrum.  Have fun with this.

[Jared001 2]

If you know how to terraform. you can do this. Gets rid of those pesky level crossings and creates a more realistic inner city look:

The drawback (asides from the time involved) is that it requires a 3:1 tile ratio. So you'll probably have to demolish some buildings.

 

Why not try rail viaducts in the dense parts of the city? I'm assuming you have the NAM installed. Or you could try sunken railways (dig a trench of 7,5m deep with a hole digger piece). But sunken requires more work than viaducts.

Btw, you'll need it to be 8m deep for the tunnel to work properly.

  Edited August 4, 2015 by Jared001  

[Ltw 401]

I use heavy rail next to other transportation types (like the subway, EL, GLR and sometimes HSR). I prefer building heavy rail in a trench (like Timmie said) or on viaducts. Two ways to incorporate this are shown below:

In this image I've used a sunken railway with two roads at the sides and bridges (the elevated road puzzle pieces in the NAM). You can also use rail-stations like the one below, you can connect it to the road with a pedmall tile. I kind of like this solution because it is elegant and it blends in with the surroundings quite easily. There is also no border you have to cross when going from side to side.

Another option is using viaducts. A definit pro is the footprint. Even though this example is massive you don't need as much space like with the sunken railway. You don't have the slope, reducing the width by two tiles. I also like the urban setting of viaducts. However, placing them could be a real pain. Even though stability of the NAM has increased a lot your game could crash due to placing the puzzle-pieces wrongly. Saving your game regularly during building a viaduct could avoid losing progress.

[APSMS 1,893]

With the existing game, the approach to heavy rail is very poor.  In RL, heavy rail uses cuts or embankments to level the tracks and avoids grades over 3% like the plague.  With the introduction of the hole digging and terrain raising lots in the NAM, this can be done, but believe me it is a PITA similar to placing RHW when you have to level the ground first.

It's worth noting that the grading issue can be successfully ignored (for the most part) by using a proper slope mod.

Also, there is GLR (Ground Light-Rail) which is a starter based network (like the RHW or NWM) that is based on EL-Rail, and requires no potentially buggy transit switch pieces. You could also alternately have a transit hub that switches traffic from light rail to heavy rail near the outskirts of your city if you don't like the idea of running GLR through the countyside (though I have seen places where this has been done IRL).

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

True.  However, I have found that slope mods can be a nuisance in some regards.  Everything is a trade-off.

I have one region in which I change from subway to EL for a long haul rather than use a transit hub.  This keeps freight off that system.

[RobertLM78 1,598]

On 8/8/2015 at 10:36 AM, Ltw said:

In this image I've used a sunken railway with two roads at the sides and bridges (the elevated road puzzle pieces in the NAM). You can also use rail-stations like the one below, you can connect it to the road with a pedmall tile. I kind of like this solution because it is elegant and it blends in with the surroundings quite easily. There is also no border you have to cross when going from side to side.

I know this is an old thread, but thank you @Ltw!   Between a video I saw of someone doing sunken railways, and your elegant solution for crossings (the video used tunnels) I've figured out how to do these - an excellent way to keep networks separated.