Ever since Salzburg Rosenheim, I've noticed that the maximum speed limit on every freight train (no matter the weight or load) is limited to 100km/h. This doesn't feel realistic, e.g. why would an empty car carrier on Leipzig Dresden be limited to 100 instead of 120? Seeing the (slightly) new Expert 101 on Kassel Würzburg pack have freight trains having a VMAX range from 100km/h to 140km/h, why can't other German freight trains have this? I hope the Expert 145's services (once it comes out) won't only be limited to 100km/h, and have variability in their maximum speeds. That's what makes freight enjoyable!! What are everyone's thoughts on this?
What I've noticed if you are doing a freight scenario the speed limits are correct depending on the load. Some of witch are 75mph. But do freight from the time timetable you either do 60mph or 62mph. Sometimes 56mph. I always thought that german freight trains where quite fast.
Dovetail really just slaps there a random number, which tends to be 100 for light and medium freight, and 80 for heavy freight. This may happen in reality, when the operator orders a slower timetable for any reason (it's not time-sensitive cargo, it better avoids other traffic, better corresponds to drivers' schedule, it's just cheaper..). However, that those wagons allow 120 km/h under some conditions only means that they have bogies ready for such speed, not that they always can go that fast. Actually, my calculator shows that neither of your examples would be allowed 120 km/h, because they don't have good enough brakes to do that. 193 + 20x empty Laaers on DLG: 193 + 20x loaded Sggmrss on SRM: Kassel-Würzburg is different case, because you are running under LZB for whole trip that lifts the requirement for train being able to stop within 1000 meters, and also runs some fictive wagons (the 140 km/h freights are fictively representing Sggmrs714 wagons, none of the actual ingame wagons are equipped for such speeds).
I think the timetable speed in TSW is just a single number, if DTG sets it to 100, then LZB will never let you higher. However, you can build your own train in freeroam and then only the track speeds will be applied to your train in HUD. That however doesn't change the reason why the speed is actually limited - if you go faster than you should when under PZB, you may not be able to comply with brake curves / stop in time and pass a signal at red.
Also, my main problem isn't realistic maximum speed (if the VMAX is 100, it doesn't matter), it just should be varied where required.
The things is that in timetable, there are usually only like 3-5 consists for freights that repeat everywhere, so these will always share similar characteristics and gameplay. If you want more varied freight experience, I can recommend you checking out the freeroam generator in my signature, together with the brake calculator. You will be able to create trains with much greater variety than what stock timetables offer.
The complaint however is valid. Last night I did a light loco move in a 185 on the Ludwigsbahn, and the game still held me to 100. I have also run into this hauling containers, which nearly always run at close to 120, line speed permitting (Noir's calculator generally comes in at 110 or 115 for these)
German timetables in reality work differently, the maximum speed is calculated for each slope change on the route extra and while the train timetable can have relatively high maximum speed of whole train, you will face a lot of individual restrictions along the route that take you below line speed. You can see this on fast freights in Zusi, that's probably the only sim that actually works with that. I'm also greatly simplifying this in my calculator, because if I gave you 20 restrictions it would be just chaotic for most players. The original calculator just limited you for whole drive based on the highest significant downslope on the route (which was reporting unnecessary low speeds). The new version released few days ago differentiates between overall descend of the route with more local areas with ramps and generates individual restrictions there, but I'm still trying to keep those between 1-3 per drive. The real german approach was probably enabled by widespread usage of ebula, most other countries tackle the problem of stopping in time differently (specific speed signs for some types of trains, in cab signalling). Freight wagon brakes are also dependant on load level, and so some wagons can only match the criteria for highest speed at specific load levels, where the wagon being too light or too heavy significantly reduces its ability to brake.
There's a bit of misinformation in this thread that I'd like to correct (then I'll respond to the original post). This is incorrect. Since TSW3 (Kassel-Würzburg) the freight services have been based on real world data. The freight data is not always for the same year as the passenger services because this precise data only goes back a certain number of years. The data DTG has access to would include the services (origin, destination, train number train type) and things like the maximum allowed speed, maximum expected train weight and train length and the minimum expected braked weight percentage (brh). Unfortunately it is just very rare to see trains (even empty ones) to be ordered for > 100 km/h. For intermodal trains the Mbrh (minimum braked weight percentage) limitations are usually such that even at relatively light weights the trains would only be allowed 110 km/h. For 120 km/h you usually need about 105-110 or more unless the route is exceedingly flat. Ordering a higher speed than 100 km/h is (from my understanding) more expensive (due to wear on rails for example) so freight operators will stick with 100 km/h since the time savings aren't worth it when the trains will wait at terminals for extended times anyway. For certain corridors where you have unit trains running long distances under LZB monitoring it can be worth it, which is why you see it on maybe 30-40% of the intermodal trains on KWG (these would be coming from Italy or Austria etc and running all the way to Hamburg/northern ports or Scandinavia etc). With LZB even a low brh will allow 120 km/h (or 140 km/h as with the above mentioned Sggmrs 714). For a route like Dresden-Leipzig only part of the route has LZB so my guess would be that it's not worth it here, especially since many of the trains will run at 100 (or even lower) due to line speed limitations. As for why many of the empty trains are still limited to 100 km/h, I'm not entirely sure as to why this is, other than I have seen the data and can confirm that the ordered speed was truly 100 km/h. My best educated guess would be that it's a mix of the same reasons as above (not worth it), especially as empty trains might not be as highly prioritized, and partially that if the ordered data is "conservative" you can always just swap the formation for a loaded one without having to order a new service. I took a look at the data for Dresden-Leipzig and I couldn't find a single (empty or loaded) train that was allowed more than 100 km/h. Most were 100 km/h but some manifest or heavy unit trains were limited to 90 km/h (usually the ones with 60-65 Brh). This is partially true, but for understandable reasons. Many of the unit trains IRL will be similar (same origin/destination and similar makeup). They basically work as shuttles. The variation here would (hopefully) be that the interaction with other trains makes the experience different (but that might not be true if the other trains are similar as well, like passenger trains). I can agree that more variation in the formations (length, load level etc) would make the freight driving more interesting but it's more time consuming to create many different formations, and unfortunately there is also a technical limitation: each unique formation eats up some memory. To be fully prototypical with the data we have we would not implement any services that exceed 100 km/h (except light loco services), but maybe we can make some of the empty services 120 km/h at least if people are fine with that. EDIT: I should add that what noir wrote about the maximum allowed formation speed being just a global number for a given service is correct. In TSW the maximum allowed speed will be the minimum of the line speed, service override speed and formation speed. Formation speed limits can't change with load so they are usually set to the empty weight limit (120 km/h for example) which means that the service speed is where you account for the load limitation, but it will not vary based on where you are in the route (ignoring the line speed obviously).
