Railway & Monorail Design Strategies

[BlueCloud 82]

Hi everyone,

It's been a while since I've posted here, but I have been playing regularly. I've started to branch out and use a complex rail system to connect my cities. Is this a good design strategy, or should I start using monorail instead? I have a region with roughly 19 million sims, and it this point I don't know if it would be easy or wise to convert my rail system to monorail. Are there advantages to having a rail system compared to monorail? In my newer cities within my region, due to my already established highway and rail system, a new city will have at least 100,000 commuters entering it via highway or rail. Would it be smart to go monorail right from the start? I feel like a rail system is much easier to implement in general.

I would appreciate anyone's/everyone's thought and input. Thank you.

[TheMurderousCricket 5,085]

In my view, there is no immediate difference between the two systems if getting passengers from point A to B is your main concern. However, a good way to determine which system you are happiest with, probably involves comparing maximum capacities of the two and making an informed choice which of them will work without shutting down due to being beyond the max passenger load.

I usually find rail to be easier to build and redevelop if you ask me. I am simply more familiar with it and it offers a good deal of flexibility on slopes, when creating viaducts, tunnels etc.

At the same time, I find monorail to be aesthetically pleasing and good for any cities that are supposed to look modern. I find monorail difficult to control on slopes and with terrain changes because if you don't use any slope mod, it may soon start to look like a rollercoaster...

In any case I think it is prudent to cite Mortimer Green who said that "It is a bad idea to introduce changes where none are necessary".

[Terring 6,476]

Monorail is designed to offer the fastest possible Mass Transit solution and (maybe?) being a more attractive choice for the wealthier Sims than heavy rail, but also more expensive and not that flexible on slopes. I think comparing monorail with heavy rail is a bit like comparing Concorde with Boeing 747.

[BlueCloud 82]

Thank you everyone for your responses.

On 10/30/2023 at 7:28 AM, TheMurderousCricket said:

In my view, there is no immediate difference between the two systems if getting passengers from point A to B is your main concern. However, a good way to determine which system you are happiest with, probably involves comparing maximum capacities of the two and making an informed choice which of them will work without shutting down due to being beyond the max passenger load.

I usually find rail to be easier to build and redevelop if you ask me. I am simply more familiar with it and it offers a good deal of flexibility on slopes, when creating viaducts, tunnels etc.

At the same time, I find monorail to be aesthetically pleasing and good for any cities that are supposed to look modern. I find monorail difficult to control on slopes and with terrain changes because if you don't use any slope mod, it may soon start to look like a rollercoaster...

In any case I think it is prudent to cite Mortimer Green who said that "It is a bad idea to introduce changes where none are necessary".

One of my concerns is passenger load. My rail systems in some sections are maxed out at 65,000 or so. So, for some of these areas, using monorail would be good as it would increase capacity.

Rail does feel easier to develop. I'm coming around to the idea that if you're going to use monorail, you should design your monorail line at the outset of the creation of the city, and plan everything around it. One thing I forgot that is very useful is that the monorail stations that come with the NAM have built in bus stations. Very convenient.

Again, building a monorail system in an existing, complex city is very difficult. Terrain changes make it more troublesome.

I'm not really familiar with the rail viaducts. What are their benefits?

 

 

On 10/30/2023 at 9:07 AM, Terring said:

Monorail is designed to offer the fastest possible Mass Transit solution and (maybe?) being a more attractive choice for the wealthier Sims than heavy rail, but also more expensive and not that flexible on slopes. I think comparing monorail with heavy rail is a bit like comparing Concorde with Boeing 747.

Interesting analogy.

[TheMurderousCricket 5,085]

2 hours ago, BlueCloud said:

One thing I forgot that is very useful is that the monorail stations that come with the NAM have built in bus stations.

Yes, it's a good solution as in normal circumstances you usually has bus stops or bus termini right at the rail station's doorstep! It's a convenient and realistic solution. However, if one does not wish to use this feature, all they have to do is to build monorail station away from a road and simply then connect it to the road via a pedmall.

2 hours ago, BlueCloud said:

Again, building a monorail system in an existing, complex city is very difficult. Terrain changes make it more troublesome.

Tell me about it. I made my first mono in a small, barely developed city and it still was a challenge.  In SimCity it is much easier to change concept than in real world as you can simply bulldoze away if you need without consulting anybody. Though it may certainly destabilize your town if too much is done at once.

3 hours ago, BlueCloud said:

I'm not really familiar with the rail viaducts. What are their benefits?

Well, see for yourself and suit yourself. Viaducts are generally built for a simple reason - in order to avoid level crossings which halt up traffic and cause congestion on the intersections. 

In the following example I use a long viaduct which crosses three different network types. What is interesting too, is that the passengers who ride on the viaduct can still use the rail station at the ground level. You simply get off the train on the bridge and walk the stairs down to the street. 

[rsc204 21,857]

Monorail will be more suited to longer distance travel, due to its higher speed, in fact sims will tend not to use it for shorter trips, so monorail isn't necessarily a complete replacement, rather just a part of an integrated transport solution.

Drawbacks are cost and pollution, Monorail is expensive and if at high capacity will generate quite a bit of pollution (noise) along the line. However, if you look at how sims are commuting in your region, judicious use of high speed rail which connects with local networks at key stations, can improve transit usage and potentially provides the fastest possible commute time.

[BlueCloud 82]

On 11/2/2023 at 7:54 AM, rsc204 said:

Monorail will be more suited to longer distance travel, due to its higher speed, in fact sims will tend not to use it for shorter trips, so monorail isn't necessarily a complete replacement, rather just a part of an integrated transport solution.

Drawbacks are cost and pollution, Monorail is expensive and if at high capacity will generate quite a bit of pollution (noise) along the line. However, if you look at how sims are commuting in your region, judicious use of high speed rail which connects with local networks at key stations, can improve transit usage and potentially provides the fastest possible commute time.

Thank you. My rail lines are maxed out so I'm looking for a solution to move more people faster, but I am learning that it's not an either/or scenario.