Make trains go certain paths

[optiTOP]

Hi,

Is there a way to make trains go certain ways? If there are several ways to get to the target location, can i force the automated train to not go one way but take the other?

[guitarmanmike]

It depends on your situation. Are there other automated trains that are going to be using the rail you don't want this train to path down?

You could maybe add rail signals on the wrong side of the tracks to prevent the train from taking that path however that might not work for both directions I would have to think about how to set that up to prevent making a two directional track.

Generally the train will prefer the shortest option but if a blockage occurs it will divert to any available path that ends up at the destination.

So you might be able to get the train to prefer your track but if that preferred track is blocked at times it will still want to divert to the other option unless it is also blocked.

Could you maybe add a screenshot of your map/rails and what you are trying to achieve?

[Fahrradkette]

You can block the unwanted paths by connecting the rail signals using red/green wires (and combinators if needed)

Keep in mind, you can't force a train to go to a specific station (like two stations having the same name) due to pathfinding issues which might get addressed by the 0.14 update

[Hammerchief]

You can block the unwanted paths by connecting the rail signals using red/green wires (and combinators if needed)

That is not actually true in 0.13, as shown by XKnight here. Well, path will be closed, but trains will not choose open path if it's logner.

EDIT: Yes, this works now - bugs with signals controlled by combinators were fixed in 0.13.16 and 0.13.17.

Keep in mind, you can't force a train to go to a specific station (like two stations having the same name) due to pathfinding issues which might get addressed by the 0.14 update

And that is caused by the very same bug.

EDIT: Same bug, that was fixed. You can do it now!

There is workaround - you can occupy unwanted route by another train made specificaly for this purpose. But it's not trivial to set up, so you are left with two bad choises: redesign your rails to avoid this problem or do some of this train & combinator mess. Here is shown how you can do that for evenly distributing trains across four tracks, but principle would be same even when using diferent conditions to decide which path to close.

[ChurchOrganist]

Maybe an OpenTTD trick may work here?

You add a station to the route you want to the train to take and schedule a stop there for 0 seconds.

This forces the train concerned to take that particular route.