english: hello to you the community as you know the Mediterranée LGV came out yesterday. I propose an exstantion from avignon TGV to lyon part dieu with two additional tgv The tgv réseau Duplex and the tgv réseauthis is the tgv réseau in liveries carmillon This is the tgv réseau duplex in liveries carmillon
I support this. Usually I don't call for extensions for the sake of it, but I feel this route would greatly benefit from it. You would not want to stop at Avignon after 30 min but go further (same with ice services). And at least one additional tgv model would spice up gameplay a lot imo.
I was fairly against this idea because I felt like it would just add "more of the same", and while that's true, for example I would rather see an extension to RT adding Leipzig HBF, having played this route I agree that an extension would be great as well, especially if it includes the Thalys PBKA (Marseille-Bruxelles services) and/or the 2N2 so once the layering problem will be "solved" we can get more on HMA and SKA as well. An older gen TGV would be great as well
DTG have said they'd rather not make route extensions that rely on other DLC where possible, so ideally any extension to LGV Méditerranée would be something that can stand on it's as well as integrate with the existing LGV route. To that end I'd propose instead to add some of the other lines that run into Marseille, to really bring that mainline section to life and make Marseille-Saint-Charles feel like a regional hub. Specifically what I'd propose is adding the lines heading east to Nice at least as far as Aubagne, and the main-line to Paris from where it diverges from the LGV up to at least Rognac, maybe call it "TER-Marseille" or something. The line out to Aubagne appears to be the busiest in the area with regular TER traffic serving local stations and more inter-city services, for even more interesting game play it's mostly electrified with AC which means there's another power change over point. Having a much longer stretch of regular non-LGV track to drive on would provide much more opportunity to experience French railway operations as well. Additionally there are several TGV services which use the line to head towards Nice, so it also acts as a continuation of the LGV just in the other direction. There is a minor problem that looking at the timetables it seems none of the TGV services stop between Marseille and Toulon (might be wrong as it's hard to look them up), which might just a bit be too far away along an indirect rout taking about an hour to traverse. But I personally would totally compromise and accept a fictitious "TGV driver changeover" mid-way to be able to drive a TGV into Marseille and then back out towards Nice, or even non-stop straight off the LGV. On the other hand the line to Rognac is the original DC mainline with several branches converging for a busy schedule, it diverges just after the LGV power change so it overlaps with the existing route the most. A big benefit of having both of these is that there are freight sidings along the line towards Rognac and at Aubagne, which means freight services could be timetabled across Marseille in between TGV and TER services. Additionally the climb out of Marseille looks like it would be a gorgeous addition to TSW. Those two lines are the main electrified routes into and out of Marseille, but I'd be more than happy for one of the unelectrified routes, or for one of those lines to be much longer instead, or any other variation really. In particular the coast-hugging line to Miramas via Martigues looks like it would be an absolutely gorgeous route. Also it would give us much more of Marseille to drive around, and that's something I'd love as the team clearly put a lot of work into Marseille itself and I want to see more of it. I've been for a walk along the tracks in game and the non-TGV lines look like they'd be fantastic to drive along if they were built to the same level of detail. I'd certainly welcome an LGV extension, but I think what would really enhance gameplay is more diversity rather than an extension of the same. Currently Hauptstrecke München-Augsburg is my favourite route to drive around, with all the layers enabled it's a busy and interesting stretch of track. The LGVs can never be like this but where they interact with the normal SNCF network there's much more opportunity for diverse gameplay and interacting services. And I think that that's where TSW needs to focus it's efforts, because when you get that diverse simulation like in HMA it really does create a much more engaging experience that separates it from TS1 and other simulators. Map of the lines around Marseille Bonus Cab Video heading from Toulon - Marseille (Aubagne at 38:20, power change at 45:20)
