Nov 8, 2023

Revamp Your Rails: Update 17's Game-Changing Shunting!

Rail Route - Angel

Hello All Train Dispatchers,

Great news for all rail network enthusiasts – Update 17 has officially pulled into the station! It's crammed with enhancements that will redefine how you manage your railways. But before we dive into the buffet of new features, take a moment to join our Discord community. It's the perfect place to chat with fellow members and the devs, share your insights, and maybe pick up a few pro tips along the way!

Now, let’s get to the good stuff.

Shunting: The New Era of Train Control

Shunting is not just moving trains around anymore; it’s about smart automation and precision. Queue shunting commands and watch your trains follow orders flawlessly with the help of the newly introduced shunting circuit. This innovative feature breathes new life into your control strategies.

To understand how this elevates your gameplay, let's delve into the mechanics: When a train with any shunting command queued approaches an auto signal with a shunting circuit attached, the system kicks into high gear. The first command in the queue is executed with pinpoint accuracy—whether it’s routing to another signal, stabling into a designated tracks group, or making its way back to the platform to prepare for the next leg of its journey. And this is just the beginning. With the next update, we're gearing up to expand the list of commands even further, including the ability to attach or detach locomotives, enhancing your control and customization options even more.

Multi-leg (Regional) Trains Automation

With the hustle and bustle of your growing network, platform space is gold. Update 17 allows you to automate the intermissions of regional trains more effectively, "shunting" them to stabling areas to keep your network flowing smoothly.

Shunting Track

The update introduces Shunting Track Groups, a practical tool for organizing your rail yard. You can now group several tracks together into what is known as a 'Stabling Group.' With this feature, you can issue a shunting command for a train to move directly to one of these groups, which optimizes train dispatching and yard management, making your rail operations more efficient.

Stabling Sensor

The Stabling Sensor allows for automatic command execution for trains that finish their leg at sensor-equipped platforms. Set up commands to manage end-of-line procedures, ensuring trains are directed to the correct facilities or prepared for their next service without manual intervention.

Improved Contracts Planning

Your operational clarity just got a significant boost! The overhaul in contract planning now displays every stop in a train's journey, enriching your station timelines and simplifying routing sensor configurations.

All Stations Inclusion

The updated system now includes all stations on the train's path within the schedule, granting you visibility of your train at every station it traverses. This comprehensive overview ensures that no part of your network is left unchecked and enhances your ability to monitor and manage the station platforms.

Add/Remove Waypoint

With the ability to add or remove waypoints in your train's schedule, you're given complete control over the route configuration. Each modification automatically recalculates the route and adjusts the rewards, providing a dynamic and responsive planning experience that adapts to your strategic changes.

Building Made Better

The build menu has received a facelift. Enjoy an enhanced, neatly categorized bar that promises a more organized and accessible construction process.

A Clear View of Offered Contracts

Keep an eye on potential business with the new Offered Contracts panel, conveniently located for easy access and better decision-making.

Streamlined Sensor Configuration

Configuring sensors is now an integral part of your layout planning. This direct approach is set to minimize confusion and enhance your dispatching flow.

Music to Your Ears – Or Not

Need to focus? The new music configuration option mutes all game music when Rail Route is not the active window. Stay in control, even when you're multitasking!

We hope you're as excited about these updates as we are. For a deep dive into the new features, join our community on Discord and let us know how these changes are shaping your Rail Route experience. See you next week for more behind-the-scenes insights!

Until next time, keep the switches switching and the locomotives rolling!
-The Rail Route Team

Full Changelog

Notable Additions

A hint in the station configuration view about not getting red contracts for stations that are without a dispatcher office
Added hint for changes to trial contracts
Added offered contracts panel
Arrival sensor configuration view
Build dispatcher office narration hint on unlocking a red contracts upgrade
Coach Yard can dispatch individual trains as ECS
Departure sensor configuration view
Full schedule! All stations en route included in trial train schedule
Full schedule; Add & Remove waypoint actions to set up own route
Full schedule; Finished trial train indicates delayed / faster run to schedule & requests schedule modification
Full schedule; Trial train departs at scheduled time or after ShorterPossibleStop & commuter trial trains stop at scheduled stations only as the schedule is pre-configured
Particle effects when build bar is opened
Reuse icon in the regional train label when it is waiting for next leg train
Routing sensor configuration view
Shunting Track building added to facilitate assigning tracks to Shunting Group; target of 'Go to Shunting Group' shunting command.
Shunting commands introduced to control stabling of regional trains and turning the locomotive around the train
Shunting commands mini tutorial
Shunting commands upgrade & Shunting Circuit building item
Shunting queue displayed in focus view with shunting commands placed in front of signals they command the train to
Stabling Sensor building added to facilitate automated assigning of shunting commands to trains requiring shunting (e. g. Reg trains during their intermissions)
Stabling sensor mini tutorial
The game mutes audio when not in focus

Notable Updates

AcceptContractTask now have a subtask to adjust the Bubny's station visit's platform
All core Endless maps updated to be more open (part 1)
Background color of some buttons and checkbox made brighter for better visibility
Better animation at the start of offered / active contracts views
Building buttons on bottom bar for recently installed upgrades show animation when first shown
Building item texts refined
Changed building bottom bar visuals
Coach Yard Automation upgrade discarded. Coach yards are capable of automation once built.
Coach Yard price increased to 50000 + upkeep of 5000 per cycle introduced; it is an end-game building
Coach Yard stables instances of trains, not only counters. Reg train is always dispatched from CY where previous leg was stabled.
Configuration 'Paste all' button now copies configuration of currently edited sensor to neighbours instead of config in clipboard
Contract connector bends over autoblocks or tunnels en route instead of short-cutting them
Currently edited train has different color in Station Timeline
Currently edited train shown on board in contract configuration and shunting focus views
Improved visuals for checkbox hover states
Improved visuals for toggle button hover states
Improved visuals of station visit panels in contract planning
Increased size of small buttons
Increased targeted framerate for slow loading operations
Localizations (ja-JP: tutorials, ui; nl: research, tutorials, ui; no: research, tutorials, ui; zh-Hans: research, tutorials, ui)
Money not refunded when item grabbed and not charged when rebuilt. Refunded only when rebuild is not possible.
Music intensity is rewarding players that do not switch time or pause
Overlapping visits in the station info panel timeline are now marked to indicate a conflict
Renamed some columns on active contracts panel and replaced train type text with icon
Right mouse can be used in Focus Views to move the map without closing the view
Selected Train is shown in Contract configuration Views
Sensors mini tutorials have been updated to use the new sensor configuration focus view
Stabling Sensor triggers also for Com and IC trains ending in Coach Yard
Station Info Panels that were deliberately opened in focus view will be closed with the focus view once it get closed
Traffic types (Through and Oneway) renamed to just 'Green' and 'Red'
Train in intermission timeline: 2nd station of next leg displayed for easier decisions
Trial train failed narration has been updated
Updated hints modal to be fullscreen panel in new UI style

Notable Fixes

Build buttons without editable inventory amount where not shown inline with other buttons
Build mode could not be opened in timetable maps with inventory enabled
Build mode is not closeable at the beginning of the tutorial
Buttons on station info panels in contract adjustment focus view moved up when hovered
Contract connector & topology search allowed orthogonal connection to autoblocks without signals
Departure sensors that were saved with null connection using the old configuration method were not configurable
Filtering stations list in editor while in platform placing mode resulted in broken platform placing
First train chapter in the tutorial was failing if the time was paused before 08:00 in the previous chapter
If the mouse was at a ui item and you clicked something on the keyboard, the mouse clicks were not working until you move the mouse a bit
Jozic says gain 5 green points in for the auto accept trains upgrade while it actually costs only 3 points
Keybind without dedicated icons fallback text sometimes contained "Press"
Map item animation kept repeating when hovering mouse near edge of map
Middle click were opening configurations where moving map
Modals during story and upgrade tutorials did not hide other UI and menu button bindings would still trigger
Open focus view subtasks in the tutorials could be fulfilled by opening the wrong focus view
Opening the options menu for the first time lagged the game
Performance issues in contracts panel
Red and Green system upgrades menu pages where not lined up on the same position
Regional trial trains were not auto-dispatched from Coach Yard
Score panel is not being hidden once a victory screen is shown in the timetable
Sending the train in the run trial train task out of the map led to a narration to be played twice
Sensors were buildable at the autoblocks' end points
Small track pieces where barely or completely invisible when highlighted as routing destinations
Smart formatting was not applied in some places.
Story prompt to play wakefield map didnt hide UI to focus on prompt and menu button bindings could still be activated
Switch was not reset to track after the track was extended
System upgrade menu button remained highlighted when closing upgrades menu in editor
System upgrade menu did not open in editor when level was timetable mode
The subtask done marks on the board overlap with the train label and with each other
Tier unlocked popup referred to 'green' even if red tier was unlocked in languages with different pluralization to English
Time speed was capped to last time speed value even if previous value had higher value
Tool tip of the system upgrade button "Install first" does not actually says what should be installed first
Tooltips where being hidden whenever some component that also has a tooltip was destroyed
Train types in CY were hidden according to first loaded map / save after game start
Urban train was not able to enter CY before accepting or rejecting contract condition

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1124180/Rail_Route

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1896900/Rail_Route_The_Story_of_Jozic/