Railway Dispatcher Pro

🚦 About the Dispatching Guide

This page covers the controls you use to actually handle trains. For the basics, such as reading the screen and controlling time, see Getting Started.

🔀 Automatic and Manual Routes (Station Control)

By default, every route is set automatically. You don't have to work every station by hand. You can switch to manual only at the stations where you want to test your skills.

When a route opens automatically

In automatic mode, the routes ahead are set one after another as each train advances. Requests are made again every 2 seconds of game time, so a route that couldn't be set at one moment will open naturally later, once the obstacle clears.

Whether a request is made in the first place depends on the following conditions.

• The look-ahead is normally up to 1000 m. In sections with long blocks, however, so that the train can pass the signal just before the route while it shows a favorable aspect, the request is made early, automatically, as the train approaches that signal (routes beyond that are not requested yet).
• If another train is on the path, the request stops short of it. This keeps the system from grabbing routes the train physically can't reach yet, which would block the routes the train ahead needs.
• A train stopped at a station starts preparing 20 seconds before departure. Grabbing a route too early would block opposing and passing trains for a long time.
• Routes at stations under station control are not set automatically (you set them with the levers).
• A train stopped by a train failure makes no requests.

Even when a request is made, the route may not open that time because of a conflict, an occupied section, and so on. The reasons are the same as for manual operation and are listed under "When a route won't open" further down this page. This mechanism is why a train stops short when things are congested.

Sequence control: settling route contention by planned timetable order

When several trains want routes that can't be open at the same time (conflicting routes), the basic rule is first come, first served. On its own, though, that rule lets a local train that took its departure route first at a passing station block the through route of a rapid coming up behind it, and the overtaking order gets reversed.

To prevent this, routes at stations with overtaking or passing moves are under sequence control. Among routes under sequence control, the train that needs the route first in the planned timetable has priority, and trains whose turn comes later wait short of the route, without it being set, until their turn comes.

Where it applies on the Sendai Regional Railway

On the Sendai Regional Railway, sequence control covers only 6 routes: the starting routes at Fukushidai-mae and the home routes that conflict with them (out of 62 routes in all). Fukushidai-mae is a key station with 4 tracks for giving way and turning back, and departures in both directions merge onto single track, so it is where a broken order hurts the most.

Where it applies on the Uchibo Electric Railway

On the Uchibo Electric Railway, it covers the starting routes at 4 stations where trains compete for tracks to turn back or give way (7 designated routes plus the routes that conflict with them, 18 in total out of 134). All of them are places where trains bunch up when you set up turnbacks during rescheduling.

All other routes are first come, first served. Enforcing the order too widely causes deadlocks, for example at single-track passing points, where "the train that gave way ends up blocking the other train", so it is limited to the stations that need it.

Where it applies on the Yokohama New Urban Railway Line 3

The Yokohama New Urban Railway has no routes under sequence control (all 170 routes are first come, first served). It is a double-track line with local trains only and no overtaking, so the planned order never gets swapped.

When a train is stopped waiting its turn

When a train is stopped at a signal that won't clear, it may be waiting its turn rather than broken down. The real trouble is when the train whose turn comes first can't move itself. Left alone, the turn would never come.

The following trains are taken out of the order:

• Trains being held
• Trains that were terminated short or cancelled
• Trains with a train failure
• Trains that can no longer reach the route because of an obstruction or a section service suspension

Switching to station control

Open "Gameplay → Station Control..." in the top menu to see a list of stations that have levers. Press "Set Station Control" or "Return to Auto" for each station to switch it (you can do this at any time during play). To switch them all back at once, use "Return All to Auto" at the bottom.

Setting routes with levers

At stations set to manual, you set routes yourself with the levers. You can tell levers apart by shape and color.

• Start lever = triangle. A yellow outline means main line; a green outline means shunting.
• End lever = circle (gray outline).

1. Left-click a start lever (triangle) → it is selected (press it again to deselect).
2. Then left-click an end lever (circle) → the route is set (conflicts and locking are checked automatically).
3. To release a route that is set, click its start lever again.

A route that needs switches thrown opens after 3 seconds of switch movement. When you click an end lever, it glows yellow for 1 second so you can see that it was pressed.

When a route won't open

The reason a route couldn't be set appears in the Log window. Common reasons include:

• A conflicting route is set or waiting for switches: you need to release that one first.
• Waiting for its turn under sequence control: the train whose turn comes first in the planned timetable hasn't passed yet.
• A train is occupying a track circuit in the route: on long routes that run all the way to the arrival track, such as Izumi → Hiyoridai, the train waits at the departure station until the arrival track is clear.
• Locked, waiting for a train to pass
• Impassable because of an incident
• A train is occupying the overlap section

📣 The Orders Window

Click a train on the map to select it, and the Orders window opens automatically (if you close it, bring it back with "Window → Orders"). This is where you usually start issuing orders.

The top of the window shows the train's status:

• Normal / ⛔ Held / ⚠ Line-clear departure / 🔧 Train failure

Delay departure: making a train leave later

For each upcoming stop (up to 5 stations), there are +10 s / +30 s / +1 min / +5 min buttons. Each press adds to the "scheduled → after delay" time preview, and the order takes effect when you press "Confirm" (nothing is applied to the timetable until you confirm; "Cancel" or selecting another train clears it). Use it to wait for a connection or to open up the gap to a following train. While it is in effect, "⏰ (station) delayed dep. +N min" is shown, and you can release it.

Hold: keeping a train at a station

Keeps the train stopped at the station you specify. It won't depart until you release the hold. If you order it for a moving train, the train stops once it arrives at that station (it doesn't make a sudden stop on the line).

To stop trains across the whole line at once, open "Gameplay → Hold / Release Departures..." in the top menu. Besides Hold all trains / Release All Holds, you can hold and release one direction only ("Hold → direction only", "Hold ← direction only", and so on; the arrows mean left and right on the map). Use it to stop everything right after a major obstruction, or, when only one direction is affected, to absorb the disruption while keeping the other direction running.

Extra stop / Skip stop

Changes how upcoming stations (up to 4) are handled in the timetable. You can make an extra stop at a station the train would pass, or skip a stop at a station where it would stop. To undo it, use "Restore to Timetable".

If the train is too close to the stopping point to make it, the button shows "Extra stop (too late)" and can't be pressed. You can't skip a stop at a station where the train is being held or has a delayed departure.

For stations 5 or more stops ahead, you can issue the same orders from the station list in the Timetable Change window ("Skip Stop" on a calling station's row, "Extra Stop" on a passing station's row; you can also set them for stations on the next service).

Line-clear departure

A standing order that holds the train, once its scheduled time has come, until the whole line to the next stop is clear. It is checked at every station until you release it. Use it when you don't want a train charging into a section that is backed up ahead.

🔧 Rescheduling (Timetable Change)

This is the core feature of the game. Open it from the "Timetable Change (terminate short, turnback, link)" button in the Orders window.

When it opens, time pauses automatically so you can think calmly. At the same time, the whole map turns white and only that train's path is shown in orange (red occupancy and yellow routes are not shown meanwhile). Everything returns to normal when you close it.

What you can do

• Terminate Short: changes the final stop to an earlier station. The rest of the run is kept as a "draft" that you can hand over to another vehicle later. If you leave the terminated vehicle for about a minute without a next service, a notification tells you, if another train will use that track later (it stays silent for tracks nobody will use, or after the last train).
• Change switch directions: switches the switches on the section still ahead to normal / reverse. The arrival track changes too. You can't change switches whose route is already set or that the train has already entered. Even if the change means the train no longer passes its final stop, the original final stop is remembered (below the final stop in the list, "⚠The current path doesn't pass the original final stop ..." is shown). If you set the switch back before the route is set, the train terminates at that station again.
• Adjust dwell times: changes the dwell seconds at each upcoming stop (later times shift accordingly). Instead of seconds, you can also enter the departure time directly (the difference from the arrival time becomes the dwell). If you enter a time earlier than scheduled, it is shown in red as a warning (the setting is still accepted). However, times before the arrival and times more than 1 hour after the arrival are not accepted (the reason appears in the notification log). Also, when the train is running late, it departs as soon as its dwell time at that station is over: the time you enter means "don't depart earlier than this", so it doesn't get in the way of making up the delay.
• Extra stop / Skip stop: changes how upcoming stations are handled. These are the same orders as in the Orders window, but here you can issue them for every station on the rest of the run. Stations marked ⚡ have an order in effect; "Revert" restores them to the timetable.
• Link to Service: hands a service left without a vehicle (by terminating short, for example) over to this train. You can also take over a service another train is already running (in that case, the original train is stabled). Candidates are listed in order of departure time, and when the list opens, the scheduled service is at the top of the view. Services whose scheduled departure has already passed (services that were due to leave before this train arrives, up to 1 hour earlier) are hidden above it, so when "▲ N earlier services (scroll up)" appears to the right of the heading, scroll up. Those rows are marked "Past scheduled departure".
• Create New Service: choose the direction, train type and departure time to build a path, and set up a turnback or continuing service.
• Unlink: breaks the link to the following service (you can't unlink once the following service has started running).

Setting up a new turnback

1. Choose the direction (Right → / ← Left), the train type and the departure time. You can also fill in the departure time with one click using the "Current time" (depart right now) and "Earliest departure" (the earliest time the original service can arrive and turn back) buttons.
2. Press "Create / Recalculate Path" and a path is drawn automatically to the end of the line.
3. Looking at the resulting draft path, adjust "Terminate Here", dwell seconds, extra stops and skip stops, and switch directions.
4. Confirm with "Confirm (couple the vehicle)". To give up, use "Discard Draft".

A turnback needs at least 60 seconds (a "continuing" service that keeps running in the same direction can be set from the same time as the arrival).

How changes are made

Before you commit, what you've done is shown on the diagram as a draft in dotted orange lines, so you can see the result before confirming.

If a change would break the link to the next service, a confirmation bar appears. It asks "This change will break the link to next service .... Unlink and apply the change?", so check the details and choose Yes / No. Note that if the final stop stays the same and only the track changes, the next service's path is redrawn automatically and no confirmation appears.

Use "← Prev. Service" / "Next →" at the top of the window to move to the other services the same vehicle runs later. Press Ctrl+Z to go back one step.

⚡ Incidents (Obstructions)

In scenarios, trouble occurs at set times, but you can also cause it yourself from "Gameplay → Trigger Incident...". For practice, you can create any situation you like and try out your response.

Active incidents are always shown under "─── Active ───" at the bottom of the window and at the top of the Log window, and you can clear them with "Release".

Random incidents

Set "Random incidents" in Settings to Few / Normal / Many to practice dispatching without knowing what will happen. The default is None, and it applies only to the sandbox (free play) (scenarios are excluded because they run on set troubles).

• Only moving trains and sections between stations are affected. Station areas are never blocked, so you never run out of options.
• Incidents recover automatically after a while (you can of course "Release" them yourself too).

📖 The Line Guide Window

Open it with F7 or "Window → Line Guide". Clicking a station name on the map also opens that station's schedule (when you click on a train, selecting the train takes priority and this window doesn't open). It shows the planned timetable; rescheduling and delays are not reflected (it is reference material). Train types are shown in the same colors as on the diagram and the map.

• Schedule: lists each station's departure times by direction. Trains that pass the station are not listed. Use ◀ ▶ to move to the neighboring station. A divider marks each hour, and the "Hr" buttons at the top jump straight to the start of that hour.
• Between stations: running times counted from scheduled times. Choose the origin, destination and train type to see the shortest and longest times and the number of trains, from the train paths that run through that section without a break (the stations don't have to be next to each other). Click a station name or train type to choose it from a list (you can also step through them one at a time with ◀ ▶). If a train type passes one of the stations, you are told by name, as in "Rapid passes Shintera" (running times are then counted from that passing time). The list below breaks the chosen section down station by station.
• Calling points: the stops for each train type (● stop ／ ｜ pass). ● is shown in the train type's color. At first, only passenger stations are listed. To see depots, headshunts and stabling sidings as well, switch with the button at the top right. This view is read-only.

ℹ️ The Train Info Window

When you select a train, the Train Info window also shows its detailed status (open and close it with "Window → Train Info").

• Heading: train number, train type and destination (in the train type's color)
• Trainset: the number of the trainset running the service
• Stopped / Departure / Next. If the train is more than 30 seconds past its scheduled time, "Waiting to depart (waiting for route/signal)" is shown in amber.
• Delay: +N min late / -N min early / on time (within ±1 min)
• ▼ Active orders: a list of delayed departures, extra stops and skip stops
• ▼ Turnback: the services the same vehicle runs next

Labels on the map

Next to each train icon, a label such as 1024 R S +2 Hold shows the train number, train type, destination, delay and order. Delays are orange and early running is light blue. An order tag appears only while the train is being kept at a station: one of "Hold", "Line-clear" or "Delay dep.".

When labels overlap, they are stacked vertically and connected with leader lines automatically. The train icons stay where they are and only the labels move, so the positions remain correct. If it gets so crowded that the labels can't be read, the labels in that cluster shorten to the train number only (the selected train always shows the full label).

📈 Reading the Diagram

Open it with "Window → Show Diagram". The vertical axis is stations (in order of distance) and the horizontal axis is time. By default it shows 2 hours and follows the current time.

Three kinds of lines

• Planned timetable: thin, pale lines. The timetable as originally drawn up. The color shows the train type (a paler version of the actual and forecast colors), so you can read the train type even in the background layer.
• Actual: thick lines in the train type's color. How the trains actually ran. Everything left of the red current-time line is actual.
• Forecast: faint lines in the train type's color. The part after the current time, shifted by the current delay.

The boundary between actual and forecast is the red current-time line, not a station on the train path. The gap between the planned line (gray) and the actual line (dark color) is the size of the delay.

Other markings

• For a held train, the forecast line is drawn up to the hold station. Beyond the hold station nothing is drawn, because it isn't known when the train will move. For a train already stopped at the hold station, a horizontal line keeps extending at that station up to the current time.
• When a delay is growing between stations, once the expected arrival time at the next station has passed, the forecast line beyond it shifts along with the current time (you can read the delay without waiting for the train to reach the station).
• Turnback trains that haven't left yet are also drawn, if the previous service's delay is expected to hold up their departure, with a horizontal waiting line at the origin station and a forecast line shifted by that amount. You can see in advance which turnbacks will be late.
• Drafts not yet confirmed are dotted orange lines. The remaining section cut off by a short termination also stays as a dotted line until a vehicle is assigned to it. For a service that a vehicle joined at an intermediate station, the part before that station (the section left cancelled) also stays dotted.
• The selected train path is highlighted with a pale yellow halo, in sync with the selection on the map. When you select one, a heading appears at the top left of the diagram showing the train number, train type, destination, and origin and final stop times (and its state if it is a draft, cancelled or held). It appears even for paths that haven't run yet or have finished, so when numbers overlap and can't be read, click to check. The number label of the selected path is drawn dark and in front of everything else.

Controls

• Move along the time axis: drag (with either the left or right button)
• Zoom in and out: mouse wheel (from 10 minutes to 24 hours)
• Select a train path: left-click
• Expand or collapse tracks: click a station name on the left edge
• The buttons at the top toggle Station / Depot/Headshunt / Follow time / Train No. display. If you lose the current time after panning, press "Follow time".
• Change train type colors: from "Colors" at the top, you can pick an easy-to-read color for each train type (it also applies to the train labels on the map). This is a display setting for this computer only; the scenario data doesn't change. "Standard" restores the scenario's own colors.
• Switch and create views: use "View: ... ▼" at the top to switch the set of stations shown (a view). On lines with branches, views for each route, such as the main line or a branch direction, are created automatically. With "Edit", choose a view name and stations to create, modify or delete views ("Whole line" can't be deleted).
• Add more windows: "Window → Add Diagram Window" lets you line up as many as 5. Each window has its own view, zoom, time following, position and size, so you can compare the main line and a branch line side by side. To match the zoom, use "Match width" (it matches the other window you used last). Close added windows with ×; the number of windows and their selected views are restored the next time you play.