In preparation for the release of the TSW editor, I started with the spreadsheet process for timetables to have that ideally ready once the editor is available and I have time for it. The current state of the spreadsheet covers all long-distance trains on the map, including a separation by train type and marking which services are served by the same physical formation. I just finished entering all the local trains on the map and the S-Bahn services are still up ahead. For the local trains, I stil have to research the real life formations being used. Furthermore, I added a track usage sheet for Cologne Hbf to see how the busiest station fares in terms of track usage and subsequently identify open tracks at certain times that would allow the addition for railtours or the sort into the timetable. So far the track usage only includes the long distance trains but there are already some really dicey timings (one minute between departure of one and arrival of the next train). The timetable is based on the 12th September 2023. You will be able to find some really outstanding services. For example an RE 1 service that stops at Eilendorf in the morning and evening and one that does not stop at Horrem. In the night there is even an RE 9 that does not stop in Cologne Hbf. On the ICE side there are coupling/decoupling services in Cologne Hbf. Even without including ICE 2, 3 neo, 3 Velaro D, 4 and T services, there are already numerous services that could be represented in the game.
Nice, even from a first glance this must have been a lot of work! One thing I would love to have if it doesn't exist yet is a tool that automatically generates timetable service blueprints from exactly such an Excel sheet, not sure if that's part of the editor. What I always find really difficult are finding information about shunting movements, Empty Stock moves (I know for DB Fernverkehr there is a PDF from like 2019 floating around on the web ) and freight! Do you have any sources on those kind of things?
I don't have any sources for that. The starting/terminating services in a station with a depot are relatively easy. You need to add depot moves for those. But light loco moves and the such are not part of any public timetable. And there is no tool for automatically generating blueprints. After all, there is a bunch of data that the blueprint needs which you cannot enter sensibly into such a sheet.
Have finally included the S-Bahn traffic and finished the track assignment at Cologne Hbf. There are some ECS that need to be planned to make sense for the S-Bahn traffic. Will be interesting to weave them into the network. And some depot assignments need to be worked out. Some lines cannot be represented in the game because the route has limitations: in Düren platform 4 is not divided into 4 and 4a. There is also a time-conflict for RE 9 and some Thalys services which appears to work out because they occupy different parts of the platforms in Cologne Hbf. But there are no section signals in Cologne Hbf. Would have to see it myself to know for a fact how they do it in real life. The exact formations for local trains are guess work but the used rolling stock is known so I have entered it. Once the editor is out, I will have to measure the exact portal/depot to platform timings for each platform and used formation to correctly set the service start time of a service starting in portal/depot so that the arrival time is the one in the schedule.
I really like your idea of having a tool that transforms Excel timetables to in-game timetables. It seems like this should be possible with a plugin?
That part will not be doable by a tool. However, the sheet building process can be substantially shortened by having a dedicated tool that fetches the timetable data via API. I'm currently building such a software which uses the Deutsche Bahn API to get the timetable and then prepares it in a way that makes working with it much easier. Some steps will have to be done by hand (like now) but as the data will be in a database and machine-readable, a lot more can be done with it than possible from a sheet. The final step of creating the blueprints will remain a manual task but that is also not the most difficult or annoying thing to do.
