AI Dispatcher priority and slow moving user freight train

[weezzah]

I did a route yesterday where I was held at a red light by an AI dispatcher at Sosnowiec Dandowka where I was supposed to drive through. The way I see it, the AI dispatcher could have cleared me through and saved me the 10 min delay I got for waiting at the red, because A) The train I was waiting for was a user driven freight train coming from Katowice Muchowiec Staszic traveling at 20 km/h, B) There were plenty of available tracks at the time and no traffic, C) Due to the speed of the freight train I would've had 10 minutes available to drive through Sosnowiec Dandowka station.

The screenshot below was taken 10 minutes before the arrival of the freight train that was prioritized before the passenger train I was on. The map shows a lot of available track, and I'd think a human dispatcher would have cleared me through, if I'd asked nicely 🙂

Question Time:

1. Do AI dispatchers take into account train speed and acceleration capabilities when judging train separation? User driven trains can deviate a lot from speed limits, be it higher or lower, in this case, very low. And I can see how this can be a possible bottleneck.
2. Is there any plan to add commands or something similar for drivers to communicate with AI dispatch? In this case having a chat command like /RequestToPassRed would be nice to have, to then at least get a reply on what's going on e.g. "Request denied. Waiting for train 12345 to pass".

Edited January 19, 2023 by weezzah

[Bescot]

I was just about to post something about Dankowka (SD)

 

On a 42178 (EN1 19/01/23) 

I was 3 late at Sosnowiec R52,

7 late at SP (not sure why I was stopped at the entrance to SP as nothing in front then).

I was then held before SD for 10 mins for a coal train to 'overtake'.

To add insult to injury crossed through SD freight yard at 20kmh and back again for no reason - there was no train in the station. If I had of being routed straight through the station platforms there would have been no conflict with the freight!

 

 

A 3 min delay turned into 16 mins.

Edited January 19, 2023 by Bescot

[Bescot]

Just to add, that after studying the browser map this is consistent.

 

All TLK 42*** trains have to wait for a freight from Staszic to pass them (they only do 20kmh here) for no reason. Then the 42*** has to cross to the 20kmh good lines for no reason, leading to delay.. for no reason. The 42 could just continue through the platform and join the correct line after there.

 

 

Edited January 19, 2023 by Bescot

[weezzah]

Something's definitely off in this area with how things flow. I just checked the live map and 424058 coming from Katowice Muchowiec Staszic is doing 20 km/h before passing Sosnowiec Dandowka. The speed limit in that section is 70 km/h according to OpenRailwayMap.

[SurvivorSean]

Are we being routed into the slower tracks?  I noticed this happens a fair amount.  I don't drive much but I had to check out the new areas (which look really cool).  Back to the signal boxes for me now.

Thanks

Sean

[weezzah]

That happens indeed, and turns into a freight and passenger train jumble, so to speak. I've been put into sidings too whilst driving a passenger train when I should've just driven through. It's an interesting area for sure 🙂

[thenavvy]

I have looked at the map while driving a freight train. There is a 20 km/h speed limit along the track in the game.
A 42xxx TLK was held at the track from SP to let me pass. He would without any problems cleared both the station and the line after that before I passed but no, I had a green light and then he had to wait at SD as I moved along the line.

So there is something here with the AI setting a route way to early for the freight train.

[weezzah]

Just to add to the log book: Yesterday I was held for 30 min behind a red signal at Poludniowy in my EN96 which was my third stop in for the evening. No less than 4 user trains had to come up the single track from Dandowka before I got the green. Drivers coming from Dandowka reported the same situation down there. I have a feeling each train delay snowballs down the line causing delays for others, which makes it a challenge for the AI dispatchers.

And when I came up to the area around Wolbrom there are many station close together, and it seems like if there is a train at the station ahead of you, you have to wait for it to leave before the track is clear. More delay added. With my 40 min delay I shouldn't have been there at that time in the first place so that may have been a contributing factor.

I don't know how delayed Polish trains usually are, but if this is normal then it's okay I guess 😄

Screenshots from yesterday: Charsznicas 4 tracks filled to the brim. There were 3 freight trains waiting (because of me?), and drivers were running around in the tracks. It was a memorable moment indeed:

The beauty of multiplayer, it never goes as planned 🙂