This is absolutely not a "flagship" route but it would just be a nice addition to have. The Heerlen - Aachen Hbf railway is a mostly single-track railway which is part of the international RE18 service from Arriva Nederland which connects Maastricht (NL) and Aachen (DE). I believe that it would be nice to have the Heerlen - Aachen part in TSW2 since Heerlen is a significant stop on the route where it can be cut off and Maastricht - Aachen would be too long for TSW2. It is a roughly 25 km long route which stops at the stations Heerlen, Landgraaf, Eygelshoven Markt, Herzogenrath, Aachen West and finally Aachen hbf. Now to show the various stations: Heerlen: Landgraaf: (unfortunately there aren't many good photos of it online) Eygelshoven Markt: Herzogenrath: Aachen West: And Aachen Hbf is already in the game as part of Köln - Aachen. Trains that would be included in the route: Arriva NL Stadler FLIRT-III Tricourant Other trains that could potentially be added as "fillers" so stations are not as empty, but don't have long enough services to drive: Arriva NL Stadler GTW-E (operates as the RS15 service between Heerlen and Landgraaf on this section of the route) DB Euregiobahn BR643 (operates as the RB20 between Aachen hbf and Herzogenrath on this section of the route) Reasons why this route should be added: -Nice scenery: This route has various different types of scenery, going right through cities like Heerlen and over the the city, via a railway bridge in Herzogenrath, and going through forests like on the final stretch to Aachen hbf and Eygelshoven Markt. -When Aachen West is made, it could be added to Köln - Aachen as well which allows for better freight scenarios that don't make the sudden stop in Aachen Rothe Erde, and possible shunting scenarios in the yard of Aachen West -This would be the first international route in TSW2, which allows for some interesting new concepts like switching protection systems, and adds the voltage system changeover like on the LGV -The ATB protection system in the FLIRT-III is simple and should not take long to develop and learn in TSW2 Reasons why this route should not be added: -Only one type of train operates on the route, which could get repetetive and boring, but this would not be the first route to only have one type of train -Some parts of the route, such as just outside of Heerlen and parts around Landgraaf are kind of "empty", where scenery has to stretch over a long distance to prevent it from turning into a flat ground texture, this can cause performance issues Mixed reasons (can be seen as either a reason to add the route or a reason to not add it): -It is a relatively short route, this can get boring to some players but it can also be nice for players who just want to drive for a bit without having to spend an hour to finish a scenario. -Some parts of the route have extremely dense forest scenery, this can look repetetive to some people but others might like driving through dense forests. I hope this suggestion gets considered, and feel free to give feedback or additional suggestions in the comments.
Excellent Idea and your suggestion is going to make Schnellfahrstrecke Köln-Aachen busy on the Aachen side since the small Bw Building on the Aachen Hbf Yard will now have DB BR442s and Flirt IIIs on the outside. Furthermore the tutorial will need to cover on how to use ATB EG NG on the FLIRT III and Change 15kv 16.7hz Germany to Netherlands 1.5kv DC. The voltage change on this route is Identical to my Suggestion the Duisburg Oberhausen Arnhem Railway without Zevenaar-Emmerich section 25kv 50hz ETCS. Meaning the pre 2016 upgrade where 1.5kv DC meets 15kv 16.7hz at Emmerich.
