

SCENARIO STVI (St. VICEN DE CALDERS-BARCELONA) FOR TRAIN DIRECTOR


DESCRIPTION OF THE LINE

This scenario includes the two lines that link Barcelona and Sant Vicen de Calders-Coma Ruga.

At the moment they are included in the lines near Barcelona, that is the C2 line, the coastal line or of Vilanova, and the C4 line, the interior line, or of Vilafranca.

Both have a heavy traffic. At the moment (2010) only freight trains use the Vilafranca line, due to the changes of the entry line at Can Tunis (Casa Antunez) for the high speed line to Barcelona.

In return, the regional and the Great Lines trains travel normally by the coast line. Exceptionally, in case of abnormalities or incidents, they are detoured on the interior line, which supports less traffic.

For more information and a view of the layout of the network, visit the page http://www.renfe.es/cercanias/barcelona/index.html 

The Sant Vicen station is one of the few stations on the network with 4 branches (Calafell, Vendrell, Roda and Torredembarra) which gives it a lot of traffic.


DETAILS OF THE SCENARIO

For various reasons, including security, this scenarion is not 100% accurate. Those knowledgeable will see some CHANGES and LIMITATIONS in some stations.


The high number of trains included in the simulation (approx. 750) make it a little stressful, but still entertaining.

It is highly recommended to use a simulation speed of 2 or 5, depending on the hour.

The scenario is partially automated, with automatic blocking between stations. The majority of entries and exits and maneuvers are handled manually. As you can see there are itinerary buttons at each station to facilitate the task.

To command direct traffic, please use the itinerary buttons at the top of each station.

It is recommended that, to familiarize with the scenario, to simulate a Saturday or Sunday, which have a lower number of trains, and the simulation is much easier.

For the more experienced, we recommend Wednesdays, which includes a small "incident" in one of the lines which causes some stoppage in the middle.

And for those who have never played with Train Director, we recommend to visit the web page of the creator, where there are many routes that can be used to become familiar with the world of simulation.
The page is : www.backerstreet.com/traindir/trdireng.htm

I also recommend the routes created by Antonio Roa: Chincilla-Cartagena and Moreda-Bobadilla, out of the many available.


VERY IMPORTANT


As we said in the previous paragraph, YOU HAVE TO PAY EXTREME ATTENTION to the arrival
station of trains, so as to direct the trains on the sidings track, NOT ON THE MAIN TRACK.
This warning is because the game AUTOMATICALLY ESTABLISHES THE ENTRY ITINERARY FOR
THE MAIN TRACK. If this happens, the program will not recognize the final stop
of the train at that station, and thus the train will not depart again.

Depending on the station, when a train is stopped on the main track, like in reality,
it's possible to make other trains pass or cross using the other line without much problems,
although with the accumulation of delays and other catastrophic conditions.

The most delicate problem of this detail is in the MARTORELL station.
If a train's final staion is this station and it is not brought to platform 4 or 6,
the program will make it stop at platform 1 (main line) and it will
be impossible to easily revert the train's direction, with the creation
of many problems and delays.


Included are almost all trains (95%) that actually circulate on the line.
As special tribute, a few historical trains are included.

These special services are marked with the *** sign before the train's description.
Their timetables has been slightly changed to accomodate the differences in the
schedules that were in action in the '90s.



TRAINS ICONS


Since this is my first work for Train Director, I thought it useful to recreate the icons of all the rolling stock of the trains.

I've mixed the new with the old, starting with the "Suiza" tender, going to the 440, the green Japanese and the 250 with the original colors, ending with some Civia, some 253s and others.
This will help the simulation, since when you see the icon of a specific train on the screen, you'll recognize the type of the train, although this is not always true. You need to pay attention at what the information for that train says.

FREIGHT TRAINS

In the interior line, or Vilafranca, there are several stations that receive or originate freight traffic. These are:

CRISTALERIA: placed at a branch of de LArbo, production of glass for automotive

HARINERA VILAFRANQUINA: Placed in Els Monjos. Production of flour and semolina. At the moment it does not receive nor originate traffic.


SEAT: Placed at a specific branch line, between Martorell and Gelida; production of vehicles.

SOLVAY: Placed in Martorell; production of chemicals. On this same branch there is CERESTAR IBERICA; production of maize.

CELSA: Placed on a branch at Catellbisbal; production of metals.

MOLLET 1 and 2: branch from Castellbisbal to Mollet, which links with the line to the french border at Port Bou. Branch used also for the C7 line.

MORROT 1 and 2: branch from Castellbisbal to Morrot, leading to the stations of Casa Antunez and Morrot, both for freight traffic only.


LOCAL TRAINS

The only particularity of this group is for the trains that go to Vilafranca. Actually the trains whose final stop is this station on the main line revert their direction or they proceed to Els Monjos to perform this maneuver.

This is due to the length of the trains (a double of Ut-447) which don't fit on the tracks 3 and 5 at Vilafranca. In the simulation it is possible to direct the trains on these tracks or on the main line 1.

At the hour for the exit at Vilafranca in the SANTS2 direction you need to use the itineraries marked as 3-E1 or 5-E1 to establish the itinerary on the opposite track entering in La Granada, since there is no needle in this station.

When it is time to retire the trains (approximately from 9:00 PM), you neet to keep in mind the final destination, since for example, 12 units are retired in Sant Vicen and they need to be retired orderly.
You can always shunt trains if a train has not arrived on the right track.


DEDICATIONS

I'd like to dedicate this work to:

First of all to all the workers at RENFE  and ADIF, which make it possible the movement of (real) trains. As you can see in this simulation there are moments of real STRESS and TENSION, and this is only a simulation. Imagine it happening in real life adding incidents and unexpected conditions...

FROM HERE, MY GRATITUDE FOR YOUR WORK!!!

Secondly, to my wife, which without doubt is the who suffers in the house.

Thirdly, to all who have contributed, such as Euromed and Sinistre77 for the timetables, and the testers, Alex, Coloman and others, and those people which have cooperated with the project.

A special mention to Antonio Roa "Roilla" for his first teachings on train director and for allowing me to use his signals and icons in this scenario.

Finally to Giampiero Caprino, creator of this splendid simulator, who has helped me in the design of the scripts for several newly created signals, to show all the aspects of the ADIF signaling system.

TO ALL, MY VERY SINCERE THANKS.

And to all those who will run this simulation, I hope that you'll enjoy it as much playing it as I did creating it.

And be prepared to get a headache :)

Jordi Collado
metro 3001

