How to make profit from express(passenger) trains

[Frozer]

Dear all,

I'm now playing my own map of RRT3.
Since I've played RRT2 also, I used to profit a lot from passenger trains.
But in RRT3, the economic model is just another story.
I know the basic profit-making rule of freight trains of RRT3, but the passenger trains are often frustrating.
Since they are much less profitable than freight trains, I have almost no (specially assigned) passenger (express) trains.
Passenger coaches only appear when I assign the cargo type to "all cargoes".
What I'd like to ask here is -- is there some kind of rules to maximize the revenue of passenger trains,
or is there an efficient way to consume passenger loads?
I observed the flow of passengers for long, but I cannot conclude anything.
Too many passenger loads accumuladed on the map could possibly add burdens to the system,
so I'm dying to find an efficient way to "digest" those not-so-profitable passengers.
Please share with me if there is any possible mean to consume those overloading passengers with most profits made.

Thank you all~

[Moggie]

One way is to connect your network with a competitor's network (assuming there are competitors ). It will increase your passenger amounts because there are more places for passengers to go to. Example; your stations: A, B, C and your competitor's stations: D, E, F. If you make the connection C-D, passengers will perfectly happily take your train from A, B or C to D and, apart from staying there, also take the competitor's train to E or F. And passengers from E and F to A, B or C will now be able to travel by changing trains at D.

[Frozer]

Dear Moggie,
Thanj you for your reply first.

Sorry that I didn't make my situation clear enough, but I'm playing on my own, i.e. no competitors in my map.
I've noticed that once I connect my track to one city and build a station there, the number of passeenger increases.
But every time I check the station cargo list for passengers, there are often only 0.5 ~ 2 cars of passengers going to other city.
(Few destinations may have 6~8 cars of passengers, yet the transportation revenue is low.)

I'd like to know if there is any factor that may attract passengers going from one city to another
(like the size of destination city or some other reasons.)
And does any structure "consume" passenger loads, just like still mill consumes iron and coal?
I don't want too many passenger loads affect the computation speed of my computer...

BTW, if I set the event "add passenger price" in my map, which target should I set? ("To the whole game" or "to player's company")
Because I set it to the whole game for now, but it seems to have no effect...

Thanks, everyone~

[Stoker]

Hi Frozer, having read your posts I am assuming that your question relates to RRT3 in general, and not specifically TrainMaster (Your question is posted in the TrainMaster section). Hotels create and demand passengers. Restaurants and Taverns consume passengers. When you build these buildings, it takes a while for them to start producing or demanding. Houses, office buildings , churches, stadiums, and a few others also create and demand passengers, but in most scenarios you can not build these.When you click on the cargo icon for passengers, the buildings that you can see on the map all have passenger production and/or demand. I like to build Hotels, especially in scenarios that have very sparse loads available. The Hotels will usually only make a small profit (less than $10k per year) , but they create and demand passengers , and if they give you a few loads of passengers per year that can add up to a $100k or more. Changing CargoPrices always affects the entire game, even if you write the event specifically for one player , company, or territory. Cargo Production rate can however be targeted to one player, company or territory.

[nedfumpkin]

Trainmaster is a bit different than RT3 with passengers because more buildings demand and supply them. Take a look at the supply chain guide for details on the municipal buildings. But, keep in mind that some industries also attract passengers for labour...logging camps do that. Also make sure you get the passengers from the agri-communites because they like to go for train rides too.

After 1935, and if it is in the buildings list, theme parks can be built to attract passengers.

But basically, passenger service in real life is tricky and difficult to make profitable. So too in Trainmaster. Usually in the beginning, I run passengers and mail with the freight cargo, but as your network of track expands, all those people stading around will eventually go somewhere. Then you can run passenger trains as express. Mouse over the information window on the station detail and it will tell you where the passengers are going to and coming from.

Another thing to build is a railroad office, this will generate mail and then you will get more profit off your express trains. And don't be afraid to set your passenger trains to minum 1 car. It's usually okay if they sit for a few months waiting for passengers. It sometimes increases the passengers at a station.