Welcome back to the 24/25 TSW World Cup! It's a much less Germany-centric European lineup this year, owing to the arrival of the Swiss-Italian Bernina Line, and another Austria-Germany cross-border route in the form of Salzburg-Rosenheim. Germany does have an outright new entry, however - the Kinzigtalbahn (Frankfurt-Fulda), one which may have a good shot at a long run in this competition. >> This will run from 12:00 UTC, 15/12 to 18:00 UTC, 16/12. The poll will be added at this time. << Let's look at the groups. Group A München - Augsburg Hamburg - Lübeck Linke Rheinstrecke Köln - Aachen Main Spessart Bahn A clash between the original ICE routes, in Munich and Köln, as well as vintage running on Linke Rheinstrecke up against an elderly TSW2020 route, Main Spessart Bahn. Group B Niddertalbahn S-Bahn Vorarlberg Kassel - Würzburg Salzburg - Rosenheim Luzern - Sursee It's a battle of non-German S-Bahns between Luzern and Vorarlberg, while TSG's relaxing Niddertalbahn takes on the extreme speeds of Kassel-Würzburg. Also, Salzburg. Idk what goes on there. Group C Ruhr Sieg Nord Hauptstrecke Rhein-Ruhr Rapid Transit Bremen - Oldenburg Maintalbahn At 3/5 routes drawn I really hoped this would be a TSW2020 shootout, but alas, we're joined by Bremen - Oldenburg and Maintalbahn. I can't see a clear winner here, even in terms of what I would vote for. Group D Dresden - Riesa Kinzigtalbahn (Frankfurt - Fulda) Dresden - Chemnitz Arosa Linie This one has to be settled before we even start, right? Also, it's a rematch from last year's Round 2, where eventual finalist Dresden - Riesa defeated it's brother, Dresden - Chemnitz to march on to the 3rd round. Group E Rhein-Ruhr Osten Bernina Line Semmeringbahn LGV Mediteraneé This is a battle purely of what your taste is, and it's a total mismatch of routes here so pretty hard to actually call. Also, the only group in the entire competition to have no more than one route per country! Voting Each member will be given Five votes. It is encouraged that you only vote for one route per group. Blank ( . ) options will be in the poll for spacing reasons, and if you decide you don't want to vote for anything you can throw a vote at these. If you absolutely cannot pick between two routes in a group then you can vote for both although it's best if you don't. Links Master Thread - https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/the-tsw-world-cup-season-2-back-for-2024.77086/page-3 Round 2 -
Voting for Europe is now live! Due to poll-size restrictions there is no spacing between Groups C, D and E, so be careful when voting. All routes have a tag next to their name indicating their group. I've left the two blanks in at the top for anyone who wishes to blank a vote. Vote in the UK/US sections below! UK: https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/tsw-world-cup-24-25-group-stage-britain-live-now.87766/ US: https://forums.dovetailgames.com/th...-25-group-stage-united-states-live-now.87770/
As it stands... We have some tight races here in the European section, let's take a look as we head into the final four hours. Group A: A tight battle between Linke Rheinstrecke (36) and Köln - Aachen (34) for first place, with the remaining three routes lagging behind in single-digits. Group B: Niddertalbahn leads comfortably on 47, while Salzburg - Rosenheim (18) and Vorarlberg (16) fight it out for second spot. Group C: Bremen leads on 34 votes followed by RSN on 25. HRR follows on 12, joined by Maintalbahn on 10. Maintalbahn was some people's pick for 'Dark Horse', but hasn't lived up to it's billing. HRR was my vote, so I'm disappointed. #Cancelthetournament Group D: Into the four-team groups and it's a comfortable lead for Dresden - Riesa (47) followed by Frankfurt - Fulda on 35. Dresden - Chemnitz (6) and Arosa (3) round off the group. Disappointing for DCZ, which managed to get to round two where it was defeated by DRA. Maybe this is nothing more than a repeat. Group E: The EU Group, containing one route from each country, currently goes Swiss (and Italian!) and Austrian, with Semmeringbahn and Bernina Line leading the way. LGV and Rhein Ruhr Osten - which started off very strong yesterday - have both broken double digits but not moved much beyond that. Still a very interesting run-in to go, especially with Group A's top two battling for the benefits of a first-place finish.
