Collection · Four parts
Building and operating the network
The four modes are not variations on one tool. Each has its own build decision, its own operating layer and its own way of failing. This collection covers what you do in each, and what each will do back to you.
How the four modes differ
- 01Roads carry themselves
Build a link and traffic uses it immediately. You shape the path, choose the width, and optionally price it.
- 02Railways need a service
Track is only a corridor. Nothing moves until an operating line runs over it with stops where you want them.
- 03Aviation is contracted, not operated
You build airports and request schedules; private airlines fly them, and you subsidize what they will not.
- 04Water is gated by facilities
Terminals decide what a route may carry. Ferries ride the same water without adding to it.
Network collection
Roads: grades, tolls and upgrades
Shape a path around terrain, read the quote’s saturation forecast, price a corridor and widen it later.
Railways: track and operating lines
The two-layer model, the line editor, suspended versus interrupted, and how to fix a full line.
Aviation: airports, markets and subsidies
Airport-pair markets, the six schedule buckets, the movement budget, load factors and government-supported service.
Waterways: ports, routes and ferries
Terminal compatibility, fare and frequency tuning, port congestion, and why ferries add no seats.
Alongside this collection
Transport mode parameters
Every number these articles refer to: grades, speeds, capacities, costs, useful life and loan terms.
Travel demand, traffic and capacity
What decides whether the network you built actually carries anything.