Mission 6 - Cutting-edge Technology | European Campaign Transport Fever Guide

Here's your chance to build the fastest railroad in Europe! This mission will require you to rely on passenger trains and buses. The problem is that the mission (as was the previous one) appears to be "broken". On my version of the game, e.g. build 11807, it will be very hard to get past one of the objectives.

Sometimes it's better to lay new tracks that to try and fix the old ones.

Reduce travel time to less than 7 minutes. Before you attempt to break the first speed record, reorganize the route. The game suggests you repair / improve the existing track; what it doesn't tell is which sections can and should be improved. The existing tracks don't show maximum achievable speed. Return the current train back to the depot, pause the game, and design a new route from scratch. Keep the tracks simple and straight, build tunnels if you must. Invest in some passing loops, or build a second track right away (skip the tunnels though, it will cost an arm and a leg to build twin tracks there). If you can complete the route with around 17-25 millions left in your pocket, everything's fine (1).

The train that you have returned to the depot may remain there for the moment, unless you need cash. Now buy an engine, the one for 16 million (2). Let it run a round trip on the new route once. This will complete the objective and unlock buses. Sell the train and replace it with one resting in the depot, adding five cars. When buying cars, remember about their maximum speed, unless you want them to slow down a faster engine.

Passenger transport. 500 passengers within a year. Now's the difficult part. Before you build stations, upgrade the roads to 4 lanes where you can and add bus lines and tram tracks where you find them useful. Now add the stations and design a bus and tram network. Remember to connect individual districts and build a stop/station as close to the train station as you can. Some of the passengers will surely praise your thoughtfulness. Furthermore, establish a cargo route with the city: send goods to Paris and machines to Lyon. In theory, the citizens of Lyon will come to Paris for shopping, and the residents of Paris will gladly welcome the new job market available in Lyon.

As I've written earlier, this section will be hard to complete, because often (even with good planning) you will usually be able to carry 200-400 passenger a year while operating a throng of buses and 4 fast trains on the line. This advice may help you:

• In Paris, the main bus line needs to go through the train station, commercial district, and the heavily-populated parts of the residential district.
• In Lyon, the main bus line encompasses train station, industrial district and some points in the residential district.
• In Lyon, get rid of the road leading to the airport. In time, do the same in Paris, though it may be more costly. You won't fell much difference anyway.
• Buy a second train, identical to the first one, and make sure it operates from the opposite end of the line. This will increase the train frequency and make the route more attractive to the passengers.

Clever demolition will help you control the city's development and distribution of population.

• You can also demolish the industrial infrastructure in Paris and lead its reconstruction towards the main station. It's a tedious, time-consuming, and costly process, but it will "move" the industry within the range of the station, allowing your buses to focus on more important clients. Same thing can be done in Lyon, only with the commercial district. Remember that the city will rebuild destroyed structures very quickly until it reaches a predefined limit. Often, the new building will placed not where the old building was, but near a less-developed area. This will allow you to shape the new districts.

One final trick to complete the second task - a queue of loaded trains waiting for the beginning of the year.

If everything else fails, there remains one final way that will require us to exploit the rules a bit. For this objective, the game counts passengers that are getting off the trains. What you'll need to do is to prepare at least 3 trains with cars capable of transporting 100-110 passengers aboard each (5 cars should be enough). Set load to full, and when the train approaches the final station, make it stop on the last railway signal before the station. Now, each full train will stop in line behind it. Once all the trains are lined up, wait for the beginning of the new year. In January, let loose the first train - congratulations, you've just transported 300 to 500 passengers (depending on the number of trains in line). If you haven't completed the task by then, the second station is full of passengers waiting to board. The task should be completed no later that around June.

The situation in this last task resembles the previous mission, except it's easier to achieve this time. You have to beat the air connection with the number of passengers in your trains. The number of passengers in airplanes varies, but you have no control over it. Even if you've demolished the road connecting city with the airport, the passengers will, in some magical way, reach their flights. The best way to win is to upgrade your trains to TGV-class - ultra fast railway. Once this train hits the tracks, you should be able to collect two medals - one for exceeding 280 km/h and one for reducing travel time under 5 minutes. This will also multiply your profits thanks to increased train frequency. In the meantime, you will be given an optional task, requiring you to operate a train no faster than 120 km/h. As a reward, you'll be given improved TGV. If the number of your passengers is equal, or almost equal to the required quota, you're almost there. Now you just have to wait for the airlines to have a bad day and the mission will be completed.