Railway Dispatcher Pro — Official Site

Online Co-op

From one dispatcher’s desk
to a shared control room.

Run the same line and the same timetable with up to four friends on Steam. Split the stations between you, send pings to say “Look here”, and keep the whole line moving as a team. A morning rush too big for one dispatcher becomes manageable when you call it out together.

Illustration: station names take their assigned player’s color, and you can see other players’ cursors and pings.

Meet up with a room code

Create a room and you get a six-digit room code. Share it and others can join — no need to be Steam friends. Steam invites work too, and players can join a room that is already in progress.

Split the work

The host assigns stations to players, and each station name takes that player’s color on the map. Everyone’s mouse cursor is shown with their name, so you can tell at a glance who is watching where.

Call it out with pings

Hold Q and click the map to drop a ping with a quick message — “Look here”, “I’ll hold”, “I’ll set the route” and more — on everyone’s screen.

Co-op is played in Sandbox (free play), on the built-in lines or on Workshop lines (players who don’t have the line can subscribe when they join).
Every player needs their own copy of the game. Windows and Mac players can play together.
Anyone can give orders — levers, routes, holds, timetable changes. The host controls game speed, incidents, and saving.
There is no in-game voice chat, so use Discord or similar alongside it. See the manual (Co-op, English) for how to play.

Concept

From one station to the whole line.

Mastered the signals of a single station in Railway Dispatcher? Then step up a layer. In Pro you are in charge not of one station but of the entire line. Signals, routes, timetables, rolling stock — it is all on your board.

RAILWAY DISPATCHER

Run the station.

Work a station’s signals and routes by hand and send every train off on time — life in the signal box.

PRO — THIS GAME

Command the line.

Oversee the whole line, read the train diagram, and bring disruptions under control with rescheduling orders — life in the dispatch center.

Features

Everything is on the dispatch desk.

FEATURE 01

The whole line at a glance.

A CTC board shows every train, signal, and cleared route on the line in real time. Where trains are bunching up, where delays are about to spread — the board tells you everything. Click a train to highlight the route it is about to take in orange.

Overseeing the whole line on the CTC board

FEATURE 02

Read the diagram.

The dispatcher’s weapon is the train diagram. Planned train paths, delay-adjusted forecasts, and actual performance are drawn on top of each other, so you can see where trouble is heading before it arrives. Working between the board and the diagram to build your next move — that is the heart of dispatching.

FEATURE 03

Take back the flow.

A train failure on the main line, in the middle of the morning rush. That worst possible moment is where the dispatcher’s work begins. Holds, delayed departures, extra stops, skipped stops, turnbacks, terminating short — play your rescheduling cards and rebuild a timetable that is collapsing before your eyes.

FEATURE 04

Your results, in numbers.

Every scenario has objectives and a rating, showing in numbers how far you held down the delays and how many trains you kept running. Same disruption, different dispatching, different results. Try again as often as you like and find the best way to reschedule.

Results summary at the end of a scenario

FEATURE 05

Write your own timetable.

With the Timetable Builder you design every train path yourself: dwell times, meets at passing loops, turnback services — all up to you. Watching your own timetable come to life as hundreds of trains is a joy like no other.

FEATURE 06

Start at any time of day.

In Sandbox, pick a line and a timetable, then start from the first train or from any hour of the day. Practice just the evening rush over and over, or watch only the late-night return to the depot — no waiting through long stretches at high speed. You can also trigger incidents wherever you like.

How to Play

The dispatcher’s job, in three steps.

No complicated controls. Watch, decide, give orders. That loop is the fun of running a railway.

Watch

Read the situation on the CTC board and the diagram. Where is a delay starting, and where is it about to spread? Select a train to see the route ahead of it at a glance.

Decide

Which train goes first? Where do you turn back? There is no single right answer. Your decisions become the timetable.

Give orders

Holds, delayed departures, extra stops, turnbacks — carry them out instantly from the orders menu, and the trains respond.

Watch → Decide → Give orders. And the timetable recovers.

Incidents & Orders

What goes wrong, and what you can do.

Dispatching is a battle of wits between the disruption and the cards in your hand. The game features four types of incident and a full set of orders modeled on real-world rescheduling.

Four types of incident

Train failure

A train breaks down on the main line and cannot move an inch until it is fixed. On a dense timetable, a stop of a few minutes turns into disruption across the whole line.

Track or signal failure (track circuit impassable)

A switch that won’t move or an obstruction on the track closes a section, and routes through it can no longer be set. How well can you juggle the tracks you have left?

Section speed restriction

Heavy rain or strong wind forces slow running between stations. It doesn’t stop at delaying a few trains — it upsets intervals and connections and slowly spreads across the whole line.

Section service suspended

Strong wind or a power failure closes a section to all trains. The line is cut in two, and large-scale rescheduling begins as you set up turnback services on each side.

Incidents don’t only strike in scenarios. Use “Trigger Incident...” in the menu to cause them yourself — anywhere, any time. Choose which train fails, which section gets a speed restriction and how strict it is. Design your own “worst day ever” and put your dispatching to the test. Once a scenario’s set time has passed, you can clear incidents manually and keep dispatching until the timetable is back to normal.

The cards in your hand

Stop and delay

Hold (keep a train at a chosen station)
Hold all trains in one direction
Hold all trains
Delay departure (add time in seconds, then confirm)
Line-clear departure (leaves after its scheduled time, once the next station is clear)

Change calling points

Extra stop
Skip stop
Restore to timetable

For a moving train, whether it can still stop in time depends on its current speed and the distance left. Decide early.

Rework services

Terminate short here (make this the final stop)
Create a new turnback service
Create a new continue (same-direction) service
Link to another service
Unlink (cancel the next service)
Take over a service that hasn’t departed
Edit switches and dwell times for the rest of the run

A train you terminate short stays on that station’s track. Getting it out of the way is part of the job, too.

Lines & Scenarios

Five lines, 22 disruptions.

From a suburban private railway to a downtown subway, an airport line, and a shinkansen — five lines with very different characters, each with scenarios based on the kinds of disruption real railways face. Every line can be dispatched freely in Sandbox, and on the Steam Workshop you can also play lines made by other players.

Start your dispatching career with the tutorials.

No railway knowledge required. Five tutorials take you step by step from the basics up to advanced station control. A red on-screen guide frame points at exactly what to press next, so you learn by doing — no manual needed.

1Reading the Screen and the Clock
2Hold and Resume Service
3Delay Departure, Extra Stop, Skip Stop
4Terminate Short and Turn Back
5Station Control (Manual Routes)

Full map of the suburban private railway with a single-track section

LINE 01DIFFICULTY ★1

A suburban private railway with a single-track section

Kyujo-mae – Sendai – Hiyoridai, 13 stations / Local & Rapid Timetable: 384 trains · Locals-Only Timetable: 377 trains

A line running out from the city of Sendai into the suburbs. Beyond Izumi it is single track, and the passing stations where trains meet hold everything together. Connections between rapids and locals shape the daily timetable. The tutorials take place on this line, too.

★1
Five Minutes in the Morning MistA train failure in the morning rush. Five minutes to recovery — and still the trains behind pile up fast.
★2
Curtain of RainA 25 km/h restriction in heavy rain. Slow running breaks the rapid/local connections and spreads down the line.
★3
The Locked LoopEvening rush, and a switch that won’t move puts the passing loop out of use. Juggle the tracks with manual routes.
★4
North Wind Cuts the LineStrong wind suspends service. Set up turnback services on both sides of the break.
★5
The Rapid That Won’t MoveA rapid is stranded at the entrance to the single-track section, all but sealing off the line beyond it.

Full map of the Boso Peninsula private railway

LINE 02DIFFICULTY ★2

A Boso Peninsula private railway with a main line and a branch

Chiba – Anegasaki – Hatsudensho-mae / Anegasaki – Golf Course, 20 stations / Weekend/Holiday: 360 trains · Weekday: 594 trains

A main line running down the Boso coast from Chiba, and a branch that splits off inland at Anegasaki. Rapids, expresses, and locals share the tracks, and overtaking at passing stations is the highlight.

★2
A Kite on the LineA large kite tangled in the branch line’s overhead wire. Turn the through rapids back at Anegasaki, then restore the timetable once the line is clear.
★2
First Trains, Trapped in the DepotBefore dawn, an out-of-service train leaving the depot is stuck at the exit. Accept some cancellations and keep as many trains running as you can.
★3
The Anegasaki DivideA local train is stranded between stations on the main line. Run turnbacks in two directions at once at Anegasaki — main line and branch.
★3
Kamatori: The Switch Won’t MoveEvening rush, and the passing loop is out of use. Move the overtake to the next station and keep the fast trains moving.
★5
Kazusa-Murakami: Ten Minutes of RedAn emergency stop alarm in the morning rush. Use delayed departures to restore the intervals once service resumes.

Full map of the subway running through the city center

LINE 03DIFFICULTY ★2

A downtown subway with a train every two and a half minutes

Hiyoshi – Yokohama – Kamiooka, 25 stations / Weekend/Holiday: 374 trains · Weekday: 569 trains

From Hiyoshi through downtown Yokohama to Kamiooka. In the morning, trains to and from Yokohama run every two and a half minutes. On a high-frequency line with only a few stations where trains can turn back, your orders must keep the intervals intact.

★1
Tsurumi: Losing the NorthThe northern terminus is cut off. Turn trains back at Tsurumi, then restore the trapped northern end once it reopens.
★2
Sakuragicho: A Twenty-Minute GapService is suspended on one downtown section. Run turnbacks on both sides, at Yokohama and Kannai.
★3
Kamiooka: An Evening Without a TurnbackEvening rush at four-minute intervals, and a switch that won’t move blocks the turnback at the terminus.
★4
Yokohama: The Thirteen-Minute DoorA door failure costs thirteen minutes. Hold, absorb, and release — textbook rescheduling, head on.
★5
Two and a Half Minutes ApartIn the tensest hour of the day, small problems keep popping up and fading away, one after another.

LINE 04DIFFICULTY ★3

An airport line with subway, quadruple track, and single track

Sapporo – New Chitose Airport – Lake Shikotsu Onsen, 30 stations / Weekend/Holiday: 655 trains · Weekday: 732 trains

From Sapporo via New Chitose Airport to Lake Shikotsu Onsen. Through-running onto a subway, quadruple track as far as Kitahiroshima, and single track out toward the hot springs — every kind of layout packed into one line. With 732 trains a day on weekdays, it is the largest line in the game.

★1
Suimeikyo: No Place to PassOne track is out at a single-line passing station. Get every train through on the one track left.
★2
Kiyota: Losing the Outer TrackAn express track on the quadruple-track section is closed. Forty-five minutes of running four tracks’ worth of trains on three.
★3
Sapporo (Subway): A Morning Without a CrossoverMorning rush, and the crossover at the end of the subway section fails. Divert trains to the main line and keep capacity into the city.
★4
Beer Garden: A Shadow in the DarkEvening rush, and a limited express hits an animal. Run turnbacks using the three headshunts at Kitahiroshima.
★5
Tsukisamu: A Morning EmergencyDuring nine minutes of aid for a sick passenger, more trouble piles up one after another — a morning of simultaneous incidents.

Full map of the shinkansen along the Sea of Japan

LINE 05DIFFICULTY ★2

A full-size shinkansen running north along the Sea of Japan

Kanazawa – Shin-Aomori – Sapporo, 28 stations / Off-Peak Timetable: 171 trains

From Kanazawa along the Sea of Japan to Aomori, and on to Sapporo. Trains racing at 275 km/h are protected by two-aspect red/green ATC signals. Stations are far apart, and delays pile up on a scale far beyond any conventional line — rescheduling where distance and speed are on another level.

★1
Sakata: Blackout at DawnA substation fails as the first trains set out, blocking the line in both directions for three hours. Bring out spare trainsets from the depot and rework the services.
★2
Two Hours of Wind on the Sea of JapanTwo hours of high-wind speed restrictions along the coast. One shinkansen after another gets caught — rebuild the timetable in the hour after the restriction lifts.

Objectives are the dispatcher’s report card.

Final max delay within X min No trains stopped outside a station (stranded between stations) No departure gap over X min At least N departures toward X

Each scenario sets several objectives, and while you play, the Objectives window tracks your progress with live numbers. How many more minutes of delay can you afford? How many more departures do you need? Giving orders with one eye on those numbers is pure tension — same disruption, different dispatching, different results.

Map Editor

Build your own line.

Choose “Map Editor” on the title screen to build a line from scratch. Place stations, connect them, and the signals, levers, and routes are laid out for you. Your line appears in Sandbox and the Timetable Builder, so you can go straight from building it to writing its timetable and dispatching it. Publish it to the Steam Workshop and other players can play it too.

EASY MODE

Four tools are all it takes to build a line.

Pick a track layout to place a station; a few clicks between stations lay the track, blocks, and signals in one go. Long lines can be drawn in several rows that fold back on themselves by connecting separate tracks.

Create Vehicle
Build Station
Connect Stations
Connect Separate Tracks

ADVANCED MODE

Fine-tune down to a single track circuit.

Place and edit track circuits, switches, levers, routes, and signals one by one — or use it to finish off a line you built in Easy mode. Switch between the two modes at any time from the top right; both produce the same line.

Track circuits
Switches
Levers & routes
Signals
Moving coordinates

Map Editor, Easy mode: building a station by choosing a track layout

Map Editor, Advanced mode: editing track circuits and switches directly

To-do list before savingLists anything left unfinished — unused levers, signals whose references are gone, and more — and takes you straight to each spot.
Undo / redoCtrl+Z / Ctrl+Shift+Z supported, so you can experiment freely.
Automatic line snapshotWhen you save, a picture of the whole line is taken and shown on the line selection screen.

Share lines on the Steam Workshop.

Publish your lines to the Steam Workshop, and subscribe to lines other players have made — they appear in line selection. Workshop lines can be used for co-op rooms too.

1Browse & subscribeOpen the Workshop from inside the game and subscribe to lines that catch your eye.
2PlaySubscribed lines appear right away in Sandbox and the Timetable Builder.
3PublishSend your own lines to the Workshop from the Map Editor — and update them later, too.

Gallery

Screenshots

Line selection screen (with a picture and description of each line)

CTC board of the airport line with its quadruple-track section

CTC board and diagram of the high-frequency subway

Dispatch help at the start of a scenario

Series

Sister Title

Railway Dispatcher

The first game in the series, where you work a station’s signals and routes by hand. If you’d like to start with the fun of running a single station, begin here. Play both it and Pro, and you’ll see every layer of how a railway is run.

View on Steam

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I play without any railway knowledge?

Yes. The tutorials guide you step by step from the basics, so it’s fine if signals and train diagrams are new to you. Once you’re comfortable, take on lines and scenarios with more difficulty stars. Dispatching together with an experienced player in co-op is a great way to learn, too.

Do I need to have played the earlier game, Railway Dispatcher?

No. Pro is a standalone game, and no story or save data carries over.

Can I build my own lines?

Yes. Choose “Map Editor” on the title screen, place stations and track to build a line, then write its timetable and dispatch it. You can build lines like those in the official maps, though some track layouts cannot be made (for example, loop lines whose start and end are the same station). Please send bugs and requests via Contact (English) in the manual.

Can I share my lines with other players?

Yes. Publish a line to the Steam Workshop from the Map Editor and other players can subscribe to it and play. Lines published to the Workshop can be used for co-op rooms too.

Can I play with friends?

Yes. In online co-op, up to four players on Steam can dispatch the same line and the same timetable together. Create a room from “Co-op” on the title screen and invite others with the six-digit room code or a Steam invite (with a room code, they don’t need to be your Steam friends). Every player needs their own copy of the game, and Windows and Mac players can play together. There is no in-game voice chat, so use Discord or similar alongside it.

Which lines can I play in co-op?

The five built-in lines and lines from the Steam Workshop. Co-op uses Sandbox (free play); scenarios and tutorials are single-player only. If the host picks a Workshop line you don’t have, you can subscribe to it on the spot when you join.

Can I stream or make videos of the game?

Streaming, videos, let’s plays, clips, and monetization are all welcome — no prior permission needed. All revenue is yours. Steam-membership-only streams are fine too.

Can I play on Mac?

Yes. On Steam, the game supports Windows and macOS (both Intel and Apple silicon). Windows and Mac players can also play co-op together.

Which languages are supported?

Seven languages: Japanese, English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean, German, and Indonesian. The manual is available in Japanese and English.

From one dispatcher’s deskto a shared control room.