The Train Sim World Roadmap
Welcome to the Roadmap for Train Sim World 5, where we share insights into our progress on new content, updates and future announcements for developments from both our teams, and our range of third-party partners.
This is our first article of the year; we hope you all had a fantastic holiday season! If you’re joining us for the first time, this Roadmap is a monthly check-in that will begin the conversation between our team and all of our community to share what you can expect coming up this year for the title, from both Dovetail and our external partner teams, including brand new announcements, updates and sneak peeks on our routes in-development, as well as new ways for you to get involved with Mastery rewards and upcoming events!
Today let’s recap and summarise all the new exciting reveals we got over December, from the whopping 18 add-ons we shared more details about, and the fantastic announcement of Mattel’s Thomas & Friends™ coming soon to Train Sim World!
Our teams are staying active in community spaces to gather your feedback and reports to work towards addressing as many of these top raised issues as quickly as we can. In this article, you’ll also find a section updating you on our progress and development for key fixes coming to TSW5, and details about what you can expect from our next patch.
Content up Ahead
Pfälzische Ludwigsbahn: Mannheim – Kaiserslautern - January 30th!
The third of our DTG Direct ‘Take A Ticket’ reveals is coming soon! Pfälzische Ludwigsbahn is coming to Train Sim World 5 on 30th January!
There’s been a lot of reveals and announces over the last few weeks and months, so if you’re still in a spin over all the forthcoming content for Train Sim World, here’s where we’re up to on Pfälzische Ludwigsbahn.
So far, we’ve talked about:
- Basic details during the DTG Direct ‘Take A Ticket’ segment
- A brief update in our October Roadmap
- More details in our 19th December Reveal
Pfälzische Ludwigsbahn: Mannheim – Kaiserslautern is the first German route Add-on to come to Train Sim World 5, covering an area to the south of Frankfurt with a host of familiar trains and rolling stock.
The traffic is diverse, with both S-Bahn and ICE services represented across a route that features a hub of activity at Mannheim and open countryside out east towards Kaiserslautern.
The Route
An historically important mainline, the Pfälzische Ludwigsbahn was built in sections throughout the mid-1800s. The line originally terminated on the western side of the Rhine at Ludswighafen but was quickly extended over the eastern bank to Mannheim, followed eventually by the movement of the former station to create a seamless through line.
The line has two distinct halves over 65kms; straight and level tracks rule the way between Mannheim and Neustadt, immediately after which, the tone of the line changes completely. A wall of forest punctuates the start of tight curves and close-up valleys, the rails gradually making their way further west to Kaiserslautern.
Mannheim Hauptbahnhof is the second largest traffic hub in southwestern Germany and hosts a variety of services from local S-Bahn to ICE. This reflects Mannheim’s status as the second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg. As trains depart Mannheim, they cross the state border between Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate.
At the other end of the line is the historic and cultural town of Kaiserslautern, near the Palatinate Forest. Along the way lie 14 intermediate Stations, including Neustadt and Frankenstein (Pfalz) station near to where the Schlossberg Tunnel passes under Frankenstein Castle.
The Trains
Included in Pfälzische Ludwigsbahn are four trains / locomotives that have been seen in previous Train Sim World Add-ons, resulting in a busy and varied scene at some of the route’s principal stations as was the case in the early 2010s.
Some of these trains have received updates and improvements over their previous versions seen in other Train Sim World routes.
If you’re new to German content in Train Sim World 5, this Add-on offers a good opportunity to add a wide selection of rolling stock to your collection with the purchase of one route Add-on.
DB BR 425
Running the bulk of the timetabled services is the DB BR 425 EMU, servicing S-Bahn passengers between Mannheim and Kaiserslautern. This EMU has been worked on over its previous versions, with a number of simulation elements improved to the secondary air system, including air suspension and the air powered sanders.
The EMU also comes in a red DB S-Bahn Rhein-Neckar livery, to represent the area for this route Add-on.
DB BR 406 ICE 3M
The DB BR 406 ICE 3M was first introduced to the Köln - Aachen route Add-on released way back in 2020. These high-speed trains, capable of 330 km/h, are used widely across Germany and across borders into neighbouring countries such as France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
For Pfälzische Ludwigsbahn, this train has been improved to bring it up to the standards of the DB BR 403 ICE seen in Kassel-Würzburg, with particular attention given to the way the train performs under braking.
DB BR 185 + Sggmrss, Zacns & Roos-T freight wagons
Working both passenger and freight trains is the DB BR 185 member of the TRAXX family. This electric locomotive is the most recent version seen in Add-ons such as Salzburg-Rosenheim and S-Bahn Vorarlberg.
DB BR 111 + Doppelstock coaches & cab car
For classic traction, the DB BR 111 from the recent Train Sim World 5 Gameplay Pack is included, featuring the variation to its pantograph. It utilises a tap changer control system with both manual and semi-automatic input, bringing a different style of operation to that seen on contemporary locomotives.
Additional Service Layers
With a timetable depicting a variety of services, from local to express and passenger to freight, players with other Add-ons in their collection will be able to see AI and operate additional playable services along the route.
These will include:
- DB BR 612 (Tharandter Rampe)
- DB BR 628 (Niddertalbahn)
- DB BR 101 loco Add-on
Note: the BR 101 layers / substitutions come from the original DB BR 101 Add-on.
We’ll provide a deeper dive into the timetable and its layers closer to release.
A note for players on 8th generation consoles
After reviewing performance we've amended the timetable to provide a suitable experience for those on Xbox One and PlayStation 4, and the timetable will feature a reduced number of services.
Train Sim World 5: Pfälzische Ludwigsbahn: Mannheim – Kaiserslautern route Add-on will release on 30th January for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Epic Games Store, and Steam for €35.99/£29.99/$39.99
Season of Reveals Recap
We hope you had a chance to enjoy all of our exciting new announcements in December as part of our holiday seasonal event - today we want to recap all these upcoming add-ons for TSW that are on the way, with the key information and details all in one place (and a few bonus screenshots to gaze upon!)
In this Steam version of the roadmap, we will show updates for a handful of projects that have new screenshots and details, however please view the full Season of Reveals summary on our website Roadmap article.
Mittenwaldbahn: Innsbruck – Garmisch-Partenkirchen from TSG - February
Starting off, we hope you’re ready for the first back-dated Austrian route, coming to TSW next month! We’ll be traversing the steep mountainous railway of the Mittenwald Pass and heading cross-border between Austria and Germany. Set in 1989, with 15 stations to explore over 63 km of track.
TSG have shared new screenshots with us in this Roadmap for you all to relish!
Strap in, and board the new ÖBB 1020 Krokodil locomotive in OBB Blood Orange livery, as well as the DBB BR 111 in DB Blue & Cream and a range of passenger coaches and wagons!
Metrolink F59PHR Loco Add-on
Next we revealed a North American classic – the Metrolink F59PHR, in its white livery. Hustling along the San Bernardino Line, or across the Antelope Valley Line, this is a modern, rebuilt variant of the loco, identified by the “R” designation in the name, and you’ll be able to get an alternative experience depending on where you decide to take it!
London Overground Mildmay Line from Incredible Trains
We announced the new upcoming London Overground Mildmay line: Stratford – Willesden Junction add-on, featuring a 12-mile section of North London, brought to you by our latest third-party solo developer Incredible Trains.
We’ve got a few new screenshots to share with you all today, including a first glimpse inside the Class 378 Capitalstar that you’ll be operating!
Get ready for intense 8-trains-per-hour gameplay, featuring freight traffic and AI on multiple mainlines. As for the scenery, expect to find iconic key landmarks such as the Olympic Park and the HS1 tunnel entrance from the Southeastern High-Speed route.
BR Class 86/2 & Mk2F Coaches from Just Trains
Another new announce came from the Just Trains team who unveiled their development on the Class 86/2 & Mk2D coaches! We reached out to them for new screenshots and details since the reveal, and you can catch up opn their recent dev blog.
Just Trains: “Excellent progress is being made on the Class 86/2 and this latest in-development update covers the internal areas, in particular the differences between the Class 87/0 and Class 86/2 cabs.
The general thinking is that the class 86 and the 87 are ‘basically the same’ and although that is not untrue in some areas, as normal, the devil is in the detail! We will let the images do the talking but for those who want more details here they are!”
Cab Areas
- Three cab windscreens
- Many more screws!
- Older style front panels with lifting handles
- Older style wiper switch
- Manual wiper washer valve
- Horn missing rubber surround
- Additional ‘Driver Safety Device’ hold-over button on the driver’s side
- Bank of switches presented in one line
- Only one notch indicator gauge
- Vacuum brake pipe and chamber dual gauge
- Wiper motors
- Manual wiper handles
- Smaller driver and Secondman windscreen blinds
- ‘Max Speed 100mph’ sticker
- No parking brake operation panel
- Double armed wipers
Mid-Cab (The area between the cab and bulkhead)
- Smaller partitions
- Missing vents on partition ends
Bulkhead Areas
- Window in bulkhead door
- Visible ‘Protection of line’ clips
- ‘Electric Shock’ poster moved to right hand side
- Handbrake Wheel
- Altered top equipment area
- Fire bell moved down from top equipment area and now next to the door
- Two types of Heating rings. Small in cab 1 and large in cab 2
ECML Diesel Railtours Pack from Athena Simulations
Athena Simulations are bringing us some brand new details for their ECML diesel Railtours pack, for both the East Coast Mainline route and including timetables across TSW5 as a whole. Included are 3 iconic diesel locomotives, with the British Rail Class 40 “Whistler”, Class 45 “Peak” and a brand new Class 47, 47484 Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
The pack is rounded out with the inclusion of custom Mk1 carriages in BR blue, answering fan requests for these much loved carriages, with custom 3D modelling in BR blue and grey liveries. Included in the pack are the BG, TSO, BSO and FK variants.
The iconic 47484 “Isambard Kingdom Brunel” will substitute into existing timetables for a wide range of routes, including timetable integration for West Coast Mainline: Preston-Carlisle and Blackpool Branches: Preston - Blackpool & Ormskirk routes from Just Trains, both natural homes for the Class 47. The loco, featured in its special edition livery, was often used on numerous railtours and hauled the Royal Train, from its base at Old Oak Common shed. The Athena team have recreated the variations in each cab end, after the real locomotive was rebuilt from accidental damage.
The pack includes 10 scenarios, with new features such as depot movements, the opportunity to run around your train and coupling double headed formations for very special railtours along the ECML. A range of AI services have been created for each of the scenarios, including layering of appropriate rolling stock from other UK routes.
View the full Season of Reveals summary on our website Roadmap article.
Thomas & Friends Visit the West Somerset Railway
If you didn't catch it, we are delighted to announce Mattel’s Thomas & Friends™ is coming to Train Sim World!
In collaboration with our friends at Mattel, Thomas & Friends™ Visit the West Somerset Railway will be an Add-on coming to Train Sim World this year. Naturally, the star of the show is Thomas the Tank Engine, with his friends Annie and Clarabel joining him. Adding an element of mischief is Diesel and the Troublesome Trucks. What will they get up to?
Unlike previous Add-ons, the gameplay here is entirely story-driven, with a fun narrative that follows the adventures of Thomas and his friends during their visit to the West Somerset Railway.
We’ll talk further about this very exciting release very soon, but as a brief summary:
- Mattel’s Thomas & Friends is coming to Train Sim World in 2025
- Add-on will require Train Sim World 5 and the West Somerset Railway Add-on
- Characters: Thomas the Tank Engine, Annie, Clarabel, Diesel and the Troublesome Trucks
- Gameplay will consist of a multi-part story with a fun narrative
- Tutorials for Thomas & Diesel will exist in Training Center
- An additional timetable will feature the Thomas & Friends characters
- The characters can be driven on any route Add-on using Free Roam
To hear more about this exciting collaboration, watch our fireside chat, hosted by Jamie, our resident Thomas fan in the Community with Executive Producer Matt Peddlesden as they both chat to special guest Ian McCue about his involvement with Thomas & Friends over the years, and explain more about bringing Thomas to Train Sim World!
Patches & Updates
Over December, our teams were happy to release the large WCML timetable improvements, major updates to the ScotRail Class 158 from Skyhook Games, alongside many key bugfixes in our December 10th and December 17th patches, however we understand the struggle with ongoing performance issues and crashes that are happening frequently.
Our next patch to Train Sim World 5 will continue to focus on the stability for core routes, in particular to West Coast Main Line and Frankfurt Fulda, as well as any progress we've made from our investigations on saving memory and improving performance. Once we've got a full list of changes ready, we'll share news about when you can expect this, but the aim we're working towards is an update later in the month.
As our teams work to bring this update to you all, we shared a guide for some potential workarounds to key issues that may help prevent textures loading at a lower resolution, and crashes from happening.
This should be most beneficial for those on console platforms (PlayStation and Xbox) who are having performance issues. We can’t say for sure how much of an impact the following changes will have, but from our initial testing, our teams have been able to avoid certain common crashes by following the guidance below.
Potential Workarounds:
- Weather – We’ve found that many crashes seem to occur when dynamic weather is active in areas, especially in Rainstorm or Snowy conditions, where a high amount of memory is already being used (for example near Euston station). We recommend using Custom – Clear weather to help prevent crashes happening.
- Photo mode – Opening Photo Mode and taking photos when entering or around areas of high memory usage can also lead to a crash, so be aware that if you’re lining up the perfect screenshot, be sure you’ve saved and be prepared just in case.
- Display Mode – Using 4k has been found to increase the likelihood of a crash, so please be mindful of this, and if you’re experiencing a number of crashes, consider lowering this to HD.
- Custom Liveries – You may find that turning off any custom liveries you have on your loco when driving may help prevent texture memory issues or crashes.
Following some of these steps may be difficult when playing specific scenarios and modes, but we wanted to give you all the knowledge we have as we keep working hard to improve the experience as much as possible.
Thank you all for helping us identify these crashes, and staying patient as we prepare more optimisations.
Community Corner
Let's now turn our attention to amazing work and news happening around the community!
PC Editor - Community Spotlight
It's time to shine the spotlight on more incredible community created projects using the PC Editor!
As a reminder, these are all custom community-created projects that Dovetail are not developing, so please do not use the following list as an indication of areas we intend to share officially for Train Sim World. We also may have amended some screenshots to hide official licenses being displayed.
Toronto Subway by pwilson79.
Starting the project back in November 2023, pwilson79 is re-creating the T.T.C. Subway, and Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Company "Gloucester" G-1 subway car, as they were on opening day on March 30th, 1954. Recent updates in the last few weeks have shown progress on the Glocuester's cab interior and route scenery!
Cottbus - Berlin by TaurusCB, Emil and NexusCraft.
An ambitious group project with 100km+ of track planned started properly in September last year with further updates in November before the holiday break. They have already implemented track data and are building on the scenery, with a selection of wonderful screenshots on their project page.
Zags Gas Tanker by ragn05.
This user has shared their development on a custom-made gas tanker model, with plenty of fine modelling details and screenshots to show it outside a station within TSW.
PC Editor Improvements & New Tutorials
For those who are keen users of the PC Editor already, and to anyone who is keen on learning, then we have some good news coming soon! First up on new features, we have plans for further improvements to help simplify the process of getting custom-made mods and projects into TSW with a Mod Manager. Additionally, we're looking at ways we can provide uncooked landscape materials, and potentially a Class 66 model, to help you learn more about the technical setup within the engine.
If you're keen to jump in, but don't know where to start, we have a couple videos in our PC Editor Masterclass playlist on YouTube you can watch, and this year we plan to kickstart a new series of much-shorter, more compact clips of ways you can learn and utilise the editor. Initial videos will focus on understand the UI, but we aim to also take you through the process of implementing a custom made 3D model, and getting it fully working in TSW.
Be sure to also check out the fantastic community resources available on our PC Editor Tutorial Master thread if you're looking for more support.
We also wanted to give you some insights on using the PC Editor from Johannes Hartmann, the developer for the upcoming Mildmay Line we shared above, who started using the tool and is now directly working with us to release new routes to TSW!
Johannes: "Embarking on the Mildmay Line project with the Public Editor was an incredible journey. With no prior experience in Unreal Engine or Train Simulator development, the learning curve was undeniably steep, but the process was immensely rewarding. What began as a personal experiment to familiarize myself with the Unreal Engine and TSW development tools has grown into something I’m truly proud of—the Mildmay Line Route DLC."
"Throughout this journey, the Public Editor community was an invaluable source of support and encouragement, and the available tutorials provided a helpful starting point. With the recent announcement of planned updates and new tutorials for the Public Editor, I’m even more excited about its potential. If you’ve ever considered creating something for Train Sim World, I wholeheartedly encourage you to dive in. The tools, the community, and the creative possibilities are waiting for you!"
Thank you Johannes, and thank you to everyone who continues to support the community PC Editor projects!
Train Sim World 5: Free Starter Pack - No Longer Available
We are now beyond January 9th 2025 and so the TSW5 Free Starter Pack offer has ended.
January Monthly Mastery Challenge
Don’t forget, you can earn this month’s reward decal by completing January’s Monthly Mastery Challenge!
City Transport Simulator: Tram - Full Release & Consoles
If you've been following along with the early access of CTS: Tram, we are exicted to approach the full release, with the launch to Xbox Series S/X and PlayStation 5 platforms coming later this month on January 28th, 2025!
Since the launch of CTS: Tram in Early Access in June of last year, the team at ViewApp has been hard at work continuing to implement community feedback and new features. At that time, the rail network covered 22.5 kilometers and included 39 stops along with 10 end points. Today, you can explore over twice that distance, with 46 kilometers of diverse tracks throughout the city, featuring 55 stops and 15 termini.
In addition to the ULF A1, ULF B1, and R2.2b trams that have been available since June, you can now expand your collection with the StadtRegioTram, Type D Vienna tram, E1 Vienna tram, and GT8N Mannheim tram. Plus, don't miss out on the Depot + South Route Add-On for even more exciting content!
Find out more on the City Transport Simulator website
Train Sim World Tracked 2025
Over the holiday break, we also took time to celebrate all of the community in our yearly TSW Tracked summary. Just short of a staggering 30 million game sessions played, our top routes in TSW4 and TSW5 this year are the East Coast Main Line and Frankfurt-Fulda: Kinzigtalbahn!
On the way you grabbed 7.6 million collectables, and managed to cover over 387 BILLION kilometers of track, which is the same distance as travelling to Pluto and back 36 times!
Let's break some new records this year, is there any other bits of data you'd want to learn more about?