Pic Of The Week #20 - Intersections

Originally published on May 3rd, 2024

Welcome to Pic of the Week #20! Today, we take a closer look at the intersections in City Transport Simulator: Tram and reveal the challenges and solutions we encountered during their implementation.



In Tramau, there are numerous intersections, and for good reason. Our goal with CTS: Tram is to provide a flexible network that offers many options for designing routes. Intersections allow for branching lines, creating a variety of different routes. However, integrating these intersections was no easy task and required extensive planning and adjustments.

Challenges of Switches

One of the biggest challenges was accommodating the different requirements of various vehicle types. In particular, we needed to find a solution to allow trams, which can only choose between left and right, to turn in different directions. While the ULF and the StadtRegioTram have three direction options in the IBIS (left, right, straight), the R2.2b only has the option for left and right.



To solve the intersection problem, we used two consecutive switches. The first switch allows the vehicle to go straight or turn right, while the second switch provides the option to go straight or turn left.



This configuration allows trams that want to go straight to choose left and then right. For a left turn, a tram selects the left direction twice, and for a right turn, it only needs to pass through one switch. These adjustments enable the R2.2b from Munich to now travel in three different directions.




Improved Control

Another significant enhancement was the implementation of key bindings for the switch controls, both on the keyboard and controller. This improvement will greatly facilitate the efficient use of the switch controls.




CTS: Tram will be released in 2024, and we look forward to sharing these exciting developments with our community. Stay tuned for more in-depth insights into the development process, exclusive features, and exciting updates. Join the discussion on our Steam Forum, Discord Server, and explore our social media channels (YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook).