Seven · Rebuild a real network

Rebuild a city's real network

Many players rebuild the buses, trams, metros and trains a city really has. Every game starts with no public transport, so you draw the real lines yourself. One map style shows you where they are.

See the real stops and tracks

New York on the Liberty 3D map style: Sunnyside and Woodside in Queens, with blue bus stop icons and their names, the grey tracks of Sunnyside Yard and the rail line through Woodside, and Queens Boulevard and Roosevelt Avenue. — **Queens on Liberty 3D.** Blue icons are bus stops and stations. Thin grey lines are rail tracks.

Click the eye icon in the top bar.
Under Style, choose Liberty 3D.
In the map tools, turn off Demand streets and City requests. The real stops and tracks are then easier to see.
Zoom in until the stop names show.

A blue bus icon is a bus stop, with its name. A blue train icon is a station. Thin grey lines are railway and metro tracks on the ground or on a viaduct. A line in a tunnel is harder to see, so follow its station icons.

The map comes from OpenStreetMap. It is only a look: the real lines are not part of your game until you build them. Choose your usual style again in the same menu.

Draw your line on top of the real one

An elevated metro line drawn over Queens Boulevard and Roosevelt Avenue on the stations of the 7 train, from 40th Street to 69th Street. The pointer is on 74th Street, and the card prices the section elevated at $122M. — **The 7 train in Queens, rebuilt.** Five elevated stations on the real ones, and the sixth under the pointer.

Choose the kind of line the real one is. A subway is a metro, a regional train is a railway. Then click the real stations in their order.

A metro or railway station stands exactly where you click. Zoom in and click the station icon. Bus and tram stops move to the nearest street they can use.

Choose the level the real line uses before you draw each section. The 7 train runs above the street, so it is Elevated (key 2). An underground line is a Tunnel (key 3).

Follow the real tram tracks

A tram line in Hong Kong drawn on the real tram stops from Yee Wo Street in Causeway Bay along Causeway Road and King's Road to North Point. The card shows tram access on King's Road. — **The Hong Kong tram, rebuilt.** The card says **tram access** on the real tram tracks.

In Hong Kong and Amsterdam, trams can use the real tram tracks. The card says tram access there. Lay a tram line explains the tram corridors.

In the other cities, a tram needs a local road or bigger. Why the tram takes another route explains what happens on a small street.

Match the real level and the crossings

An elevated metro line in Sha Tin, Hong Kong, drawn on the stations of the Tuen Ma line from Tai Wai to City One. The pointer is on Shek Mun, and the card shows 58 m of water and the price elevated, as a viaduct on piers, at €197M. — **The Tuen Ma line in Sha Tin.** The line crosses the Shing Mun River, so the card prices a viaduct on piers.

The card shows what the real line has to cross. Water, buildings and roads change the price of each level. Compare the three prices before you click.

A real line may run on the ground in one place and in a tunnel in the next. Choose the level for each section, as the real line does.

Where the game differs from the real city

What you see	Why
The card says tight or too close between real stops.	Real stops are often closer than the game's ideal gap. You can copy them. Fewer stops make a line faster.
A metro curve is refused: "Too tight for a metro".	A metro curve needs a radius of at least 90 metres. Place a waypoint, or move the station a little. Keep the curves wide explains how.
A tram takes another street than the real one.	Outside Hong Kong and Amsterdam, a tram runs only on local roads or bigger.
The button says Not enough capital.	A real network costs far more than the first budget. The five stations of the 7 train in the picture cost $661M.

To build without the budget limit, turn on Sandbox mode. Use the Dashboard shows where. Without it, build the real network over several years.

Real lines also have real timetables. Set how often each line runs with its takt chart. Set the takt explains how.

Finish the year to see how your copy of the real network works. The results show where people ride, and where they still drive.