Meet the Service Loco

Last time: your railway wears down. This time: the train that fixes it.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4540370/Rail_Route__Expect_Delays/

Hey dispatchers,

A service train has been on the suggestion board for years - a slow working unit you send out to repair your tracks. We built it. Here it is.

A Service Locomotive

One yellow locomotive, reporting number SL-01. No passengers, no schedule. You route it yourself, through your own signals and switches, and it occupies track like any other train, getting it across a busy map is part of the job. It causes no wear itself.

Maintenance runs

Switch maintenance mode on and every track, switch and signal it passes is restored to full condition. One pass, fully repaired. Speed depends on what it finds: around 40 km/h over healthy track, a crawl over a corridor you have neglected - the worse the state, the slower the work. With the mode off it runs at up to 100 km/h to get where it is needed.

And if that feels too slow for you: there is a research for it. Field Efficiency doubles the work speed, so one loco can cover much bigger network.

Repairs

A malfunctioned switch takes about 15 seconds to throw, and a busy junction falls apart around it. Route the service loco over it. It slows down on the broken element, fixes it in passing, and the junction is back.

Track Condition → Top Speed

Above 85% condition, track runs at full design speed. Below that, the speed cap falls off - gently at first, then steeply as it approaches critical. Each line class has its own floor it can never drop below:

The faster the line, the more it has to lose - a 200 km/h express line bleeds over 100 km/h of headroom before bottoming out.

Switch & Signal Condition → Response Delay

Worn switches and signals respond slower. The penalty stays near zero through the healthy band, then ramps up as condition collapses - and a full malfunction stops you cold for a fixed 15 seconds:

Note, that we are still fine tuning the number, so they can change.

Rescues

A train breaks down and the queue behind it grows. Dispatch the loco, couple to the dead train - the same shunting you already know - tow it to a platform and send the loco home. Line clear.

The depot

The loco lives in a maintenance depot, a new building you place on your network. It dispatches from there and returns there, so placement is response time.

How much will it cost you

You can run more than one loco. But every next one costs more upkeep than the previous, so a big fleet is a serious decision, not a default:

We are still balancing, so the numbers can change a bit before release. But the idea stays: one well placed loco beats five expensive ones.

Next time

What actually goes wrong, and how often. There are at least five ways.

The Rail Route team

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4540370/Rail_Route__Expect_Delays/

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