One thing that has always bugged my, also with other simulators, is the way the trains are held and cleared at a station. I have to break this down into two separate suggestions, the first one being more general and relevant for all countries and trains, the second one being more specific and would apply at least to German long distance trains. First suggestion is that you randomise the time it takes to load and unload passengers. It’s annoying that if you pull into an empty stations, you always have to wait the exact minute (or what ever pre programmed time), until you can close the doors again. Very often the time at a station is used to make up for delays… On the other hand, during peak hours it may even take longer then the time in the timetable. Maybe it would be possible to make this more unpredictable. It would add a lot of immersion at the platforms. Second suggestion is based around how long distance passenger trains (at least all the ones we have in the game so far) are actually handled during their stops at a Station in Germany (I would assume this is also relevant for other countries, have no clue, though…). The train driver itself is actually not responsible to operate the doors at all. This is all handled from the personnel in the back. The driver gets an official signal (Zp9) from his train chief from the back, when he is allowed to leave the station. A Zp9 can be a signal installed at the platform (is becoming more and more uncommon these days) or simply a signalling disc. in combination with a whistle. I am not even requesting a whole new signal (again, it’s on its way out anyway) maybe it could simply be the signalling disc, which would fade into view, once the all clear is given. Or just the sound of a whistle. Or maybe something completely different… Again, it would add some more immersion.
That could definitely work. Even if they would't implement an actual NPC to do it "properly", they could easily just play a sound effect (guard whistle, guard buzzer) when the passenger loading completes. That would be pretty easy to implement, and could be easily customizable for any route with a different sound effect. This is something that most train simulators never really did, but I believe Densha de GO did it, where it played a guard whistle and/or showed the light indicating that the doors closed. Regarding this, I think the best would be if they improved the passenger spawning a bit so the people are actually there by the time you get to the station, and the passenger loading would complete when those people actually got on the train, not simply when X seconds have passed.
Oh this is interesting, and indeed different departure handlings have left me somewhat disappointed in the past. I can't speak for every country, but I can bring some perspective to how it's done here in the Netherlands, to which I've touched upon with my recent guide to train signalling and safety systems in the Netherlands. Supposing a Dutch route is done in the future, and I cross my fingers, this is an element to Dutch trains I definitely hope they get right. First of all there's this signal somewhere high on the station, either hanging from a ceiling or on top of a post or something and the white ball is a in actuality a yellow-ish light. The way train doors open in the Netherlands is that the driver only unlocks them, but that doesn't mean they have to open necessarily, that's always done manually at the door itself with a button and there's no cab button most of the times to close the doors. Procedure when departing is as follows. First this signal has to be on and it's often a repeating signal, so it's only on if the signal ahead is clear, or at least not red. Then, the conductor takes a look and blows his whistle and takes his key to put it in the box with the buttons to open and close the door. After turning that key all doors except the one operated by the conductor have an audible warning sound as they're closing a second or two after while the driver hears a tone in the cab, signaling the initiation of closing the doors.. While this is happening the conductor usually steps out to make sure no one's stuck or something like that, and then steps back in to push the close button on his own door after which all doors are locked and the driver hears a second tone as well as the "doors closed" light lighting up and they're ready to go. It's a procedure that I feel should at least to some degree be emulated in the case of a Dutch route, and I feel like the current system of simply "unlock" and every door opens all at once, and then "lock" and every door closes and all's ready simply doesn't cut it to make it feel right.
There is a similar signal in Germany. It’s not an official signal, but gives some orientation to whoever is responsible for clearing the train (train driver, personell on the Plattform or the train chief). It only indicates that the main signal shows anything but stop. irl the train would not close the doors if the signal still shows Hp0. PS: would love to see this as well in TSW, obviously
You know, one small detail that's at least true on Dutch trains and I have a feeling is true on a at least the German trains too that I'd really like to see emulated more is this. As I said, when Dutch train driver open the doors, they don't really open them, they only unlock them so the button to open and close actually work. If you're trying top open a Dutch train door while it's not unlocked, nothing happens at all. I hate the immersion breaking of a supposedly closed train door that you can just click on and it opens anyway regardless of closed or not. Isle of Wight actually does this though, and I don't feel like train operations suffer from it at all. As for trains that have no separate driver door that may be a difficult question. They usually have a hidden keyhole somewhere, but I can imagine the companies that license the use of these trains to DTG wouldn't want the players to know exactly where or what this is so we can't actually open their closed trains. But that's a matter that can be resolved individually, like if only that first door is actually openable regardless of closed or not. But yeah, I would really appreciate if locked doors actually were locked in the game, it's a small detail that would add a lot of realism.
Yeah it functions almost exactly the same than, and it's a shame it's not done. Our Vertrek (departure) signals are simply connected to the next light signal to say anything but red. If an express train is wooshing through a station the V-signal is also on, despite that train going around 140km/h already anyway.
