Dąbrowa Górnicza Ząbkowice - a quick* guide

[chancellor]

Hello,

for a long time, I was confused with the strange line numbers between the double post DGZ/DGZ DZA. Having a lot of fun to come back to dispatching DGZ, I would like to give a quick and dirty overview on where do the strange numbers come from.

This is obviously a visual guide for newcommers. Veteran players won't find anything special in here. For tl;dr, simply have a glimpse at the marked dispatching table - it should be self-explanatory. All switches are 40 km/h.

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As mentioned before, the most confusing thing for me was the line 133 which you can see in EDR. I assumed it is the freight lane but where is the bloody line? Well, the big Eureka moment for me was noticing that the table is actually divided in two: greyish one for the main DGZ and green tiles for DGZ DZA. Seriously, I don't know how I haven't noticed it before.
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LINE 1
In the picture with the table, I have marked the Line 1 with yellow lines. This is the fast lane and it is pretty obvious. When trains arrive from Dąbrowa Górnicza from the west side via the yellow line, they usually continue eastards towards Łazy Łc also through the same line, Line 1.

LINE 1 (DG) -> Line 186 (Łc)
However, sometimes train switch from fast Line 1 to the slower one (freight and some regional trains). For those trains, EDR marks the transition to "Dąbr. Górn. Ząbk. DZA", so the next substation to the East, via Line 133 (see the attached EDR pictures, separately for DGZ and DZA). Line 133 is marked in the same picture with the green colour on the left. Trains from Dąbrowa Górnicza Huta Katowice arrive and depart through this line. Thus, in order to properly move the aforementioned trains through Dąbrowa Górnicza Ząbkowice (DGZ), we need to use the grey line "A" (marked). The train arrive on the left from the yellow line, go through the grey line "A" and continue on the green Line 133. I wrote "propely" just to emphasise how EDR (so also the people who created it) wants us to make it. There are, however, occasions where it is not always possible. For example, Line 133 is occupied by a train from Dąbrowa Górnicza Huta Katowice. In this case, we can also lead the train via Line 1 into DZA (the green background, right-hand side of the table) and make the transition on the big "X" junction (I really should have marked it as well). Another uncofortable case is for such transitions of freight trains, like 62xxxx. This train is supposed to go right after a freight train from DG Huta Katowice. They normally arrive at the same time and the 62xxxx needs to stop at the grey line "A". However, its tail will not leave Line 1 and it will be still occupied. Typically, there is no train following it from Dąbrowa Górnicza so it is not a problem. However, when there is a late train tailing it, we should probably put 62xxxx on some of the side tracks by the Line 1 and later make the transition on the "X" junction. Another observation: although the side tracks do look short on the table, I have yet to encounter a freight train that does not fit there. I am not saying all trains will alway fit there though as I don't consider myself a specialist. But I haven't seen such a case.

LINE 1 (Łc) -> LINE 133 (DG Huta Katowice)
This case is similar to the previous one. However, double check which line should the trains transition to 133. For fast trains, they usually continue on the Line 1 and change the lines after the platforms through the grey line "B". This spot, however, is the most dangerous spot in the game (in my humble opinion). The reason for that are semaphores marked in the picture with stars. When a train arrive from Łazy via the fast Line 1, they usually have travel with 110-120 km/h there. Our entry semaphore will give them 100 km/h limit and they merrily continue towards DZG. Then, they cross the semaphore marked with orange star. If we gave them permission to cross, it will warn them about the upcoming limit of 40 km/h but the semaphore has double arrows which means the next semaphore is located way closer than normally. And it is. If a train is not prepared, they will have troubles slowing to fourty and can derail.
We had discussions about this spot in the Discord group and some people suggested transitioning the fast lanes early over the "X" junction in DZA. The others keep the orange star semaphore on red until they see people slow down and only then provide green.

LINE 133 (DG Huta Katowice) -> LINE 186 (Łc)

Trains go over a streight line with a high speed limit (100 km/h ?). If you don't have to, don't stop freight trains there. They will fly over your station.
The opposite direction, Łc -> DG Huta Katowice, for freight trains is even easier since they mostly (always?) arrive from Łazy Łc over the Line 160. I don't know why it isn't called Line 186 in the other direction. However, for those trains, there is a straight line to go to Huta Katowice' with little to no problems.
We need to request passage to Dąbrowa Górnicza Huta Katowice though. However, luckily we can simply press WBL without asking the bot. It will do the same for trains arriving from there. Don't forget to "KO" the line after their train arrive!

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I think that is all I wanted to share about the mighty Dąbrowa Górnicza Ząbkowice and the sister station, DZA. It is a lot of fun but can get hectic in rush hours or with queues of delayed trains. I hope this over-extended guide will help overcome the anxiety of taking over it for newcommers.

Until next time
chancellor