Where can I read Rail Route patch notes?

This page lists official Steam announcements for Rail Route, including the latest post "Hotfix 3.0.14". Each entry links to the full changelog on Steam.

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Rail Route news & patch notes

Full Steam announcements and update articles for this title.

Hotfix 3.0.14

Angelsteam_community_announcementspatchnotes

2d ago

New

Contract period is now editable on accepted contracts. Changing the period replans all upcoming services, and the contract view follows the replanned schedule automatically.

Updates

Map progress and stars now sync via Steam Cloud. Progress moved from local registry storage into your profile; existing progress is migrated automatically.
Overview panel is much faster. Opening and scrolling the panel on large maps with many trains no longer causes stutters or audio hitches.
Bulldozing an element already scheduled for demolition now cancels the demolition. The bulldozer cursor shows "Cancel" when hovering over it.
Minor visual polish on the train bottom bar.

Fixes

Trains and scheduling

Loading a save no longer spawns a backlog of trains that are up to an hour overdue.
Skipping a service now skips all of its legs together.
Skipping or replanning a service no longer removes a train parked in a coach yard.
Lowering a contract's service count no longer cuts off a multi-leg service that is already running, plus further robustness fixes around skipping and cancelling services.
Service locomotives (Expect Delays)
Rescuing a train no longer causes a game over when the coupled consist grows back into the autoblock the service loco arrived through.
Service locos can now couple to trains broken down inside tunnels.
Stabling a service loco properly concludes its route run, so Dispatch stays available afterwards.
The maintenance overlay now updates live while a service loco is repairing track.
Trains that spawned already at a standstill could get permanently stuck mid-shunt; they now recover on their own.

Multiplayer

Fixed a routing desync where players could end up with different signal routes; the chosen alternative route is now synchronized to everyone.

UI and stability

Fixed heavy lag when playing in Chinese, Japanese, or Korean while an incident countdown was on screen.
The game no longer black-screens on launch when the audio device fails to initialize.
The breakdown alert icon no longer appears stuck at the corner of the map.
Clicking an in-network delay notification now also selects the affected train.
The Contracts menu Active/Offered tabs are now translated in all languages.
Fixed a crash in the map icon system.

Rail Route Patch Notes & News | SteamScope

Steam news

Rail Route news & patch notes

Full Steam announcements and update articles for this title.

Hotfix 3.0.14

Angelsteam_community_announcementspatchnotes

2d ago

New

Contract period is now editable on accepted contracts. Changing the period replans all upcoming services, and the contract view follows the replanned schedule automatically.

Updates

Map progress and stars now sync via Steam Cloud. Progress moved from local registry storage into your profile; existing progress is migrated automatically.
Overview panel is much faster. Opening and scrolling the panel on large maps with many trains no longer causes stutters or audio hitches.
Bulldozing an element already scheduled for demolition now cancels the demolition. The bulldozer cursor shows "Cancel" when hovering over it.
Minor visual polish on the train bottom bar.

Fixes

Trains and scheduling

Loading a save no longer spawns a backlog of trains that are up to an hour overdue.
Skipping a service now skips all of its legs together.
Skipping or replanning a service no longer removes a train parked in a coach yard.
Lowering a contract's service count no longer cuts off a multi-leg service that is already running, plus further robustness fixes around skipping and cancelling services.
Service locomotives (Expect Delays)
Rescuing a train no longer causes a game over when the coupled consist grows back into the autoblock the service loco arrived through.
Service locos can now couple to trains broken down inside tunnels.
Stabling a service loco properly concludes its route run, so Dispatch stays available afterwards.
The maintenance overlay now updates live while a service loco is repairing track.
Trains that spawned already at a standstill could get permanently stuck mid-shunt; they now recover on their own.

Multiplayer

Fixed a routing desync where players could end up with different signal routes; the chosen alternative route is now synchronized to everyone.

UI and stability

Fixed heavy lag when playing in Chinese, Japanese, or Korean while an incident countdown was on screen.
The game no longer black-screens on launch when the audio device fails to initialize.
The breakdown alert icon no longer appears stuck at the corner of the map.
Clicking an in-network delay notification now also selects the affected train.
The Contracts menu Active/Offered tabs are now translated in all languages.
Fixed a crash in the map icon system.

Expect Delays is Out Now!

Angelsteam_community_announcementsworkshop

9d ago

The timetable said July 24. For once, no delay. https://store.steampowered.com/app/4540370/Rail_Route__Expect_Delays/ Hey dispatchers, Rail Route: Expect Delays is out now. After months of building, testing and one very lively public beta, the DLC is live on Steam, together with the free update 3.0 for everyone. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39170389/46a938adc12cd3e1a36d273cc5ee0b7a1bcf9d43.jpg

What is inside

The short version of everything the DLC adds:

Infrastructure wear. Tracks, switches, signals and sensors wear down with use. Things get slower long before they break, and nothing ever traps your trains. Full story: Things Fall Apart (Slowly).
The Service Locomotive and the Maintenance Depot. A yellow work train you drive like any other. It repairs what it passes over, and it couples to broken-down trains and tows them away. It lives in the Maintenance Depot, the new building for buying and stabling your fleet. Full story: Meet the Service Loco.
Incidents. Breakdowns, storms, power outages, late arrivals. Every incident is visible, every incident is recoverable. Full story: What Actually Goes Wrong.
The condition overlay. Press M and see the health of your whole network, green to red.
Service route automation. Draw a maintenance route once, then a loco drives it on its own, on demand or on a schedule, repairing everything it passes.
Operating hours. Named time windows for your contracts, so the commuter line runs only in the morning rush and the night freight only after dark.
Construction takes time. Building and bulldozing are work now, with crews and progress you can watch. Expanding in rush hour is a plan, not a click. One checkbox turns it off if you prefer instant building.

Expect Delays works in Endless and Timetable modes on any map, and is fully compatible with Happy Passengers. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39170389/0561a41a2cbdccfa973d1a5c8a6fb906eb40ddf1.jpg

Free update 3.0, for everyone

The DLC does not travel alone. Update 3.0 is live for every dispatcher, DLC or not: waypoints to steer contracts down exactly the line you chose, and custom contract periods from 5 minutes up to 12 hours. The full tour is in Waypoints for Everyone, and the highlights are in the changelog below.

Thank you

This DLC started in your suggestions, on the forum and on Discord: maintenance, service trains, random failures, things going wrong. It was shaped by everyone who voted, argued in the threads, and then spent the beta weeks breaking it faster than we could patch it. This is your railway too. Thank you.

All aboard

Get Expect Delays on Steam. Things go wrong. You fix them. That is the real test of a dispatcher. The bitrich team

Update 3.0 changelog highlights

The jump from 2.3 to 3.0 is the biggest update in Rail Route history. The highlights:

For everyone (base game, no DLC needed)

Waypoints. New Tier 2 system upgrade. Place a marker on plain track, add it to a contract, and every service passes through it, without stopping. Named and colored.
Custom contract period. New Tier 2 system upgrade. Set how often a repeating contract runs, from 5 minutes to 12 hours in 5 minute steps (hold Ctrl for 30 minute steps).
Schedule preview. While planning a contract, station timelines now preview every repeat of the proposed service, so a wrong frequency is visible before you accept.
Performance. A dedicated optimization pass for large saves: per-frame allocation hot spots removed, train simulation and UI rebuild costs cut.

With Expect Delays (DLC)

Condition. Wear on tracks, switches, signals and sensors, with speed and switching penalties that grow before anything fails. Run-throughs damage switches. Timetable maps can start with pre-worn corridors.
Maintenance Depot. Buy, stable and dispatch service locomotives. Sell locos for a full refund. In Timetable mode, service locos wait ready at your borders instead.
Service Locomotive. Repairs infrastructure as it passes, rescues broken-down trains by coupling and towing. Full manual control from the bottom bar: go forward, reverse and continue, couple, detach, stop.
Service route automation. The Service Automation upgrade lets a depot learn routes and run them on demand or on a schedule.
Four incident types. Train breakdowns, storms, power outages, late arrivals. Each toggleable, each visible on the board with live countdowns, each recoverable.
Operating hours. Up to 8 named time windows per game, assignable to contracts, editable on accepted contracts.
Construction takes time. Building and bulldozing take in-game time, with visible progress. Toggleable per game.
Seven new system upgrades across the maintenance and contract chains.

Full patch notes for the beta builds are on the Discord. https://store.steampowered.com/app/4540370/Rail_Route__Expect_Delays/

Waypoints for Everyone

Angelsteam_community_announcements

17d ago

Expect Delays releases July 24, and it does not travel alone. https://store.steampowered.com/app/4540370/Rail_Route__Expect_Delays/ Hey dispatchers, The DLC arrives together with the free update 3.0 for everyone. Most of the new systems belong to Expect Delays, but the update carries a few perks for every dispatcher, DLC or not. Here is the tour.

Waypoints

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39170389/89af5c9ffbf35d6e40463939babc194b9315e585.png Sometimes a train picks a path you did not want. Two lines run between the same stations, and the express takes the slow one. Waypoints fix that. A waypoint is a small marker you place on plain track. Add it to a contract in the schedule editor, and every service must pass through it, without stopping. No dwell, no timetable entry, no lost travel time. Just your trains, on exactly the line you chose. Each waypoint gets its own name and color, so a busy map stays readable. It is a new Tier 2 system upgrade in the base game, free for everyone. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39170389/f62bd8cfb1776c794b1dab9b2d54299748abc810.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39170389/bc5e0c603a8525df18ca25810df8a639284e808b.png

Custom contract period

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39170389/b73a08ca858b557d209480f6ff32fd5c29e33c88.png Until now, every repeating contract repeated once per hour. Take it or leave it. In 3.0 you set the period yourself: from 10 minutes up to 4 hours, in 10 minute steps. A commuter line every 20 minutes, a heavy freight every 3 hours. Your timetable, your rhythm. Also a Tier 2 upgrade in the base game. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39170389/76a2444a425113542749e2b175464350c72a309e.png

Expect Delays: the story so far

We have been showing the DLC piece by piece over the last months. The short version, if you missed a stop: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4540370/Rail_Route__Expect_Delays/

Condition. Every track, switch and signal wears down with use. Things get slower long before they break, and nothing ever traps your trains. Full story: Things Fall Apart (Slowly).
The service loco. The yellow train that fixes it all: maintenance sweeps, repairs, rescues of broken-down trains. It lives in the maintenance depot, the new building where you buy and stable your locos. Full story: Meet the Service Loco.
The incidents. Breakdowns, storms, power outages, late arrivals. Each one toggleable, each one recoverable. Full story: What Actually Goes Wrong.

And three more systems we never properly showed. Let's fix that now.

Operating hours

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39170389/a296a426c96a5448793b8c07a06c675df5f5e2be.png Your railway is not equally busy all day, and now your contracts know it. Define named time windows, up to eight per game: "Morning rush 06:00-09:00", "Night freight 22:00-05:00". Assign a window to a contract, and it runs services only inside it. Together with custom periods this is real timetable control: a commuter line every 15 minutes, but only in the morning, and the same platforms free for freight at night. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39170389/222c453a7078ca56859ed636bfce87e39efcccf6.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39170389/13e41468557586fc57da87820fddd29ce74613b5.png

Service loco automation

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39170389/e1f68ef279e66e0e35fe4b304f933883fe27d289.png The depot can maintain your network without you. With the Service Automation upgrade, the depot learns service routes. You draw a route once in the route editor: click destination after destination, signal by signal, add a reverse move where the loco should change direction, save. From then on it is a single Dispatch click. A free loco rolls out of the depot, drives the route on its own through your auto signals, repairs everything it passes, and comes back home. You can even put a route on a schedule and let the depot run the morning sweep while you run the morning rush. Manual signals stay yours. The loco waits there for your word, like any other train. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39170389/6669c8ef370eaf55343c58adfad32f2990471996.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39170389/f518704a0a5eb5560ab3790202278b2b84c7a9b3.png

Construction takes time

New tracks do not appear out of thin air anymore. With Expect Delays, building is work: a bright line grows along the track under construction, and the element enters service when the crew is done. Track takes about 2 in-game minutes per square, a signal 10 to 20 minutes, a new building around 30. Bulldozing takes time too. Expanding in the middle of rush hour is now a plan, not a click. You build ahead of the demand, not behind it. And if you prefer the old instant building, one checkbox in the settings turns the whole thing off. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39170389/2582a6d46c774cf01451170e5d6e97c6bc6f7954.png

See you on the 24th

That is the picture: update 3.0 for everyone, Expect Delays for those who want the pressure. Wishlist Expect Delays if you have not yet. The Bitrich team https://store.steampowered.com/app/4540370/Rail_Route__Expect_Delays/

Expect Delays - What Actually Goes Wrong

Angelsteam_community_announcements

43d ago

Last time: the train that fixes things. This time: the things it fixes. https://store.steampowered.com/app/4540370/Rail_Route__Expect_Delays/ Hey dispatchers, Trouble comes to your railway in two ways. Some of it you bring on yourself. Leave a corridor without maintenance long enough and it starts to fail. The rest just happens, even on a network you keep in good shape. Expect Delays has both. None of it ends your run. Every incident has a way out, and you stay in the chair and sort it. Here is what can show up on your board. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39170389/e6839cc864a7401a30291d9c9478a9c80a6e259a.jpg

Rail elements wear out

Leave a switch or a signal too long without care and it starts to malfunction. Every throw or passage costs about 15 seconds after that, and a smooth junction turns into a queue. Track does the same and drops to a slow order. Nothing here blocks the line. Trains keep moving, just slower. Stay on top of the maintenance, or send the service loco over to fix it in one pass. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39170389/bd63271f55096a1b93334fd92504ac90772007ed.jpg

Trains break down

A train stops dead on a live track. The segment is blocked and the queue behind it grows. You can wait it out, route the traffic around, or send the service loco to couple up and tow it clear, same as last post. Most breakdowns come from worn-out stock, so looking after your trains pays off. Once in a while a perfectly healthy train fails anyway. Nobody is fully safe. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39170389/05289690cbc25c21003a3adae1c1c432e63540ff.jpg {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39170389/46a938adc12cd3e1a36d273cc5ee0b7a1bcf9d43.jpg

Delays creep in

This one has two shapes. A train from the border shows up a few minutes late and your timetable drifts. Or a train already running on your network gets held for a bit, at a platform or out on the line. On a tight schedule even a short slip spreads fast. And when the delay is not your fault, we do not put it on your score. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39170389/838520eea84586263f459b4a08a7246c88d5de74.jpg

Trains stop arriving on the dot

One smaller thing runs underneath all of this. Border trains used to land exactly on the whole minute, every time, which felt robotic. Now each one drifts by a few seconds either way, so arrivals scatter the way real ones do. This part is just for looks. It is not a delay, it does not touch your score, and your planned timetable stays exactly as written. Set it to Off, Subtle, or Normal to taste.

Weather rolls in

A storm settles over part of the map. The mild kind just slows things down. Half speed on every track under the cloud, marked in icy blue, and it lifts on its own with nothing left behind. The bad kind does real damage. Condition drops across the whole sector and stays down until a service loco runs through it. A network you kept spotless suddenly needs a repair trip. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39170389/0561a41a2cbdccfa973d1a5c8a6fb906eb40ddf1.jpg

The power goes out

An electrical fault knocks out an area and takes the automation with it. The signal sensors in that zone stop routing trains for you, so the junction is yours to run by hand until the power is back. Route it manually, or send the loco through. It comes back on a timer, or sooner if the loco pays a visit. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39170389/8b968fe57bc7b1f9d77eefad2f39ffac1a025c65.jpg

You decide how rough it gets

None of this is forced on you. Turn each kind on or off when you start a game, and set Disruption Frequency anywhere from Off to Relentless. There are quiet stretches between events, so they do not all land at once. Want an easy run? Leave it on Rare. Want a real test? Push it all the way up. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39170389/b66b821244ad05061c0dc37aa80ecc746d0540cf.jpg

Next time

Where the service loco lives, and why the spot you choose for it decides everything. Your new office: the maintenance depot and mainly - its automation! Stay tuned. Built from your ideas. A few of the threads behind this one:

Random Failures: tested by the situation, then rewarded for handling it
Disruption events: more going on than a steady timetable
Signal failures to manage as a challenge

Thanks to everyone who keeps posting. We read all of it. The Bitrich team https://store.steampowered.com/app/4540370/Rail_Route__Expect_Delays/

Meet the Service Loco

Angelsteam_community_announcements

51d ago

Last time: your railway wears down. This time: the train that fixes it. https://store.steampowered.com/app/4540370/Rail_Route__Expect_Delays/ Hey dispatchers, A service train has been on the suggestion board for years - a slow working unit you send out to repair your tracks. We built it. Here it is. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39170389/c535fa99172ee21e543050d363338a5a33e1f649.gif

A Service Locomotive

One yellow locomotive, reporting number SL-01. No passengers, no schedule. You route it yourself, through your own signals and switches, and it occupies track like any other train, getting it across a busy map is part of the job. It causes no wear itself. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39170389/c1f678fd55f53b384bc0182e5919d04e8d068915.png

Maintenance runs

Switch maintenance mode on and every track, switch and signal it passes is restored to full condition. One pass, fully repaired. Speed depends on what it finds: around 40 km/h over healthy track, a crawl over a corridor you have neglected - the worse the state, the slower the work. With the mode off it runs at up to 100 km/h to get where it is needed. And if that feels too slow for you: there is a research for it. Field Efficiency doubles the work speed, so one loco can cover much bigger network. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39170389/26515e32281c81455063262023ada28130908dac.png

Repairs

A malfunctioned switch takes about 15 seconds to throw, and a busy junction falls apart around it. Route the service loco over it. It slows down on the broken element, fixes it in passing, and the junction is back. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39170389/5828b57dcc7fd33704b965044ece61fc5f952fba.png

Track Condition → Top Speed

Above 85% condition, track runs at full design speed. Below that, the speed cap falls off - gently at first, then steeply as it approaches critical. Each line class has its own floor it can never drop below: Condition 40 km/h line 80 km/h line 120 km/h line 200 km/h line Healthy (85%+)4080120200 Worn (70%)356696155 Degraded (40%)31556395 Critical (15%)26425273 Worn out (0%)25405070 Malfunctioned481220 The faster the line, the more it has to lose - a 200 km/h express line bleeds over 100 km/h of headroom before bottoming out.

Switch & Signal Condition → Response Delay

Worn switches and signals respond slower. The penalty stays near zero through the healthy band, then ramps up as condition collapses - and a full malfunction stops you cold for a fixed 15 seconds: Condition Added delay per throw Healthy (85%+)0 s 70%~0.5 s Degraded (50%)~1.5 s Critical (15%)~4.5 s Worn out (0%)6 s Malfunctioned15 s (fixed) Note, that we are still fine tuning the number, so they can change.

Rescues

A train breaks down and the queue behind it grows. Dispatch the loco, couple to the dead train - the same shunting you already know - tow it to a platform and send the loco home. Line clear. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39170389/3b860ea7d592c8c2ecd31e2acbab37c175580bc1.png

The depot

The loco lives in a maintenance depot, a new building you place on your network. It dispatches from there and returns there, so placement is response time. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39170389/85fa229e10e91780f7e9f62e5f5e21ceba8bce97.png

How much will it cost you

You can run more than one loco. But every next one costs more upkeep than the previous, so a big fleet is a serious decision, not a default: Locomotives Newest loco Total upkeep / cycle 15,0005,000 215,00020,000 325,00045,000 435,00080,000 545,000125,000 1095,000500,000 20195,0002,000,000 We are still balancing, so the numbers can change a bit before release. But the idea stays: one well placed loco beats five expensive ones.

Next time

What actually goes wrong, and how often. There are at least five ways. The Rail Route team https://store.steampowered.com/app/4540370/Rail_Route__Expect_Delays/

Expect Delays: Things Fall Apart (Slowly)

Angelsteam_community_announcements

60d ago

Last time we said the idea for this DLC came from your suggestions. Today we want to show you the first system we built from them.

Hey dispatchers,

For years now, a few ideas kept coming back on our suggestion board. Tracks that wear out. Maintenance trains. Buildings to keep it all running. Costs that grow with your network. We read all of it, and it stayed with us. It is a big reason Expect Delays exists, and it is where the first system comes from: infrastructure wear.

Here is how it works, and more importantly, what it does to your railway.

Everything has a condition now

Every track, switch and signal has a condition. When trains run over it, it slowly gets worse. Busy lines wear faster than quiet ones. Fast lines wear faster than slow ones, so a 200 km/h main line needs much more care than a small siding. We also added some variation on top, so things do not all wear at the same speed. One piece of track can still be fine while the one next to it is already tired.

Condition goes through four stages: healthy, degraded, critical, and finally malfunctioned. The key thing is that you always see it coming. Everything gets slower and more annoying long before it actually breaks. We call this "friction before failure". You get a lot of warning, and time to act.

Tracks get slower

A worn track loses speed. At the start the loss is small, and a slightly worn line is almost as fast as a fresh one. But the lower the condition drops, the faster the speed falls. By the time a track reaches the critical stage, trains really crawl through it.

A quick example. A 200 km/h express line can fall to around 70 km/h when it is in bad shape. An 80 km/h regional line drops to around 40. The train never stops, it just gets slow. And slow trains on a busy corridor mean your timetable starts slipping, one minute at a time.

Switches and signals take time to operate

Switches and signals changed too. They are not instant anymore. Each one now has a small time to operate. A switch needs a moment before it actually throws, and a signal needs a moment before it turns from red to green.

When the element is healthy, this is so short you will barely notice it. As the condition drops, the time grows. A badly worn switch can take up to about 5 seconds to move, and a fully broken one around 15. On a tight junction, those seconds matter. A sequence you had timed perfectly stops lining up, and your trains begin to wait on each other.

Nothing ever gets completely stuck

This part was important to us, so we want to be clear about it. Wear never blocks a line completely. A worn track is slow, but trains still pass. A broken switch or signal is slow to operate, but it still operates.

We did try the harder version, where an element could fail fully and stop trains from passing at all. On single-track lines that turned into dead ends very quickly. A train could end up stuck with no way forward and no way back, and the whole map would lock up. That is not the kind of difficulty we want from this DLC. So wear and malfunctions always cost you speed and time, but they never trap your trains. There is always a way to keep things moving while you sort the problem out.

*\*

A health check for your whole network

Press M and the entire network shows its condition at once. Green is healthy, and the colour shifts as things get worse. This is the view you will plan around. Find the corridor sliding toward red and deal with it before it becomes a real problem in the middle of rush hour.

You set the pressure

In the end you decide how hard this is. The degradation speed setting runs from off all the way up to fast. Keep it low for a calm game, or turn it up if you want wear to be a constant part of your routing. And since everything degrades slowly and in plain sight, a malfunction is something you let happen, not something the game drops on you out of nowhere. Look after your railway and it mostly stays out of your way.

Next time

So that is the foundation. The railway wears down over time, it always warns you first, and even at its worst it never traps your trains. Which leaves the obvious question: when something does go wrong, how do you fix it?

That is the next train we want to show you. It is yellow, you drive it yourself, and a lot of you have been asking for it for years. More on that soon.

Until then, keep an eye on that overlay.

The Rail Route team

Expect Delays - Announcing Rail Route's Next DLC

Angelsteam_community_announcementsworkshop

108d ago

Hey dispatchers,

We’ve got something new to share today, and we’re really excited about it.

We’ve started working on Rail Route’s next DLC, and it’s called Expect Delays.

If you’ve spent any time managing a busy network, you know the feeling: everything is running beautifully. Trains arrive on time, signals behave, switches click smoothly. The whole system settles into a kind of rhythm. It almost feels meditative.

And then suddenly, it doesn’t.

A signal stops responding. A switch starts acting up. A train breaks down on your busiest corridor at the worst possible moment. That carefully balanced network of yours suddenly needs a dispatcher who can truly dispatch.

That’s what Expect Delays is all about.

Not disasters. Not random punishment. But the challenge - and satisfaction - of keeping your railway running when real-world problems start creeping in.

What’s inside

A new building: the Maintenance Depot

Your hub for readiness and recovery. This is where you unlock and manage the DLC’s core systems.

Service locomotives

Real, controllable units that appear directly on your board. They’re yellow, hard to miss, and very good at what they do.

You route them just like any other train - through signals, across switches, and along your tracks. But instead of carrying passengers, they keep your railway alive.

Each service locomotive can handle three kinds of work:

Rescue - tow a broken-down train off the main line and get traffic moving again
Repair - reach a failed signal or switch and restore it to working order
Maintenance - travel along a corridor and restore infrastructure condition as they go

Infrastructure wear

Tracks, switches, and signals now degrade with use. Busy high-speed corridors will need more attention than quiet branch lines.

Condition drops gradually, so problems don’t appear out of nowhere. You’ll notice warning signs before anything fully fails. A well-maintained network will stay reliable. A neglected one will eventually make you pay for it.

Five disruption types

From trains breaking down on the line to delayed border arrivals throwing off your schedule, each disruption creates a different kind of pressure.

Some block track segments. Some slow down critical junctions. Some quietly ripple through your timetable and create bigger problems later.

But all of them are recoverable.

What it isn’t

We want to be clear about this, because the framing matters to us. Expect Delays is not a chaos simulator.

There are no weather disasters, no random catastrophes, and no unfair spikes of punishment. Infrastructure wears down gradually. You get warning signs before failures happen. Every disruption has a solution. No situation is unrecoverable.

You always have the tools to respond. The fantasy here is competence under pressure. Things go wrong. You react. You recover. Your network stabilizes.

Built on your ideas

If some of this sounds familiar, that’s because many of you have been asking for these features for years.

Infrastructure wear, service trains, signal failures, track maintenance - these have been among the most requested ideas on our suggestion board since 2021.

We’ve been reading your posts all along.

And we’ll have more to say about that very soon.

Wishlist now

The Expect Delays Steam page is now live.

If this sounds like the kind of challenge you’ve been waiting for, please add it to your wishlist. It really helps us, and it ensures you’ll be among the first to know when the DLC launches.

We’ll be sharing much more about how these systems work in the coming weeks. Next time, we’ll show just how many of your specific suggestions made their way into this DLC.

Spoiler: it’s a lot.

Until then - keep those trains running.

While you still can.

Rail Route team

Rail Route news & patch notes

New

Updates

Fixes

Trains and scheduling

Multiplayer

UI and stability

Rail Route news & patch notes

New

Updates

Fixes

Trains and scheduling

Multiplayer

UI and stability

What is inside

Free update 3.0, for everyone

Thank you

All aboard

Update 3.0 changelog highlights

For everyone (base game, no DLC needed)

With Expect Delays (DLC)

Waypoints

Custom contract period

Expect Delays: the story so far

Operating hours

Service loco automation

Construction takes time

See you on the 24th

Rail elements wear out

Trains break down

Delays creep in

Trains stop arriving on the dot

Weather rolls in

The power goes out

You decide how rough it gets

Next time

A Service Locomotive

Maintenance runs

Repairs

Track Condition → Top Speed

Switch & Signal Condition → Response Delay

Rescues

The depot

How much will it cost you

Next time

Everything has a condition now

Tracks get slower

Switches and signals take time to operate

Nothing ever gets completely stuck

A health check for your whole network

You set the pressure

Next time

What’s inside

A new building: the Maintenance Depot

Service locomotives

Infrastructure wear

Five disruption types

What it isn’t

Built on your ideas

Wishlist now

Fixes and future content

Brew your favourite roast of coffee in a portable mug, stretch your back, and get ready to dive into the world of automation anywhere you please!

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