Transport Fever 3 Timetable and Line Manager Guide

By Tobias Lindqvist · Updated October 1, 2026

Are there timetables in Transport Fever 3?

No. A developer answered this directly in the comments of the fifth official dev blog: the game does not include timetables. The day and night cycle is a cosmetic option and does not change how much towns demand, so there is no rush hour to schedule around. Timetables were considered during development but did not fit the game the team wanted to make.

What the game gives you instead is control over how each line loads, waits and shares track. Mods can add new behaviour, so it is worth browsing our mods page if you want strict departure times.

How a line works

A line is a list of stops, which can be stations and waypoints. A vehicle on the line drives to each stop in order and, after the last one, returns to the first. The manual’s example is a four-stop line that runs Tokyo, Tehran, Izmir, Tehran, then back to Tokyo.

You can also build circular lines (A to B to C to D and back to A). The manual suggests these for cargo across the map or for town bus routes, but not for long-distance passengers, who usually want to return to where they started.

The line manager

Press L to open it. It has three areas:

1. Top: all lines and depots, with filters for road, tram, train, ship and air, plus one that shows only lines visible on screen. Filters combine with the search box.
2. Middle: the vehicles on the selected lines, with actions such as send to line, sell, send to depot, rearrange wagons, replace, clone, recolor, reverse direction and stop.
3. Bottom: the stops and waypoints of the selected line plus statistics.

To create a line, use New Line or click any station in the world while no line is selected. Click a station model or its icon to add a stop; hold SHIFT and click to add a waypoint. Stops can be dragged into a new order using the handle at the start of each row.

Vehicles cannot move between depots, so buy them in a depot that can reach the line. The Buy Vehicles button picks the nearest compatible depot for you. When you send vehicles to a line, a dropdown lets you choose which stop new vehicles head for first, and the dev blog mentions several distribution options for where they start.

Loading modes

Each stop can be set to one of three departure modes:

The difference between “any” and “all” only applies to trains and ships, the only vehicles with separate wagons or compartments. Every other vehicle simply waits for a full load in both cases.

Cargo filters per stop

Each stop can load any combination of cargo types, or none, and each type gets its own load percentage. Unloading is automatic wherever there is a consumer for what the vehicle carries. If your vehicles carry cargo past the stop where you want it dropped, untick that cargo at the unloading stop. A developer gave exactly this fix for the tutorial fish route on the Steam forum.

One creator’s tip for splitting a load: set a load percentage at the loading stop, so the vehicle only fills part of its capacity. A developer also mentioned that a line can be set to force unload leftover cargo, although cargo that nobody wanted is not paid for.

Spacing vehicles without timetables

Bunching, where several vehicles end up running nose to tail, is the usual reason players ask for timetables. The game’s built-in answer is the additional wait time setting. It makes vehicles wait a little longer after loading or unloading, and the manual says the simulation uses this extra time to spread vehicles evenly along the line.

For trains, two more tools help:

• Line priority, set with buttons in the lower right of a train or tram line window. The developers describe it as a way to let passenger or express services go ahead of freight, even though it does not change when trains run.
• Alternative terminals, which let a vehicle use another platform when its main one is busy. The decision point depends on the vehicle type:

Signal layout matters just as much; see our train signals guide.

Frequency, rate and how many vehicles to run

The line window’s Basics section and the line statistics (F2) show two key numbers:

• Frequency is the time between two vehicles on the line, measured in real time at normal game speed.
• Rate is the average yearly amount of passengers or cargo carried per station.

There is no fixed formula for the right number of vehicles. The manual’s guidance is to watch the station window, which lists unhappy passengers per line. If that number is high, raise the line’s rate by adding vehicles or by switching to bigger or faster ones. Overcrowded stations make passengers leave and get unhappy faster, which hurts town growth. On the cargo side, the Utilization column in the line statistics shows how full your vehicles run, and the balance chart shows whether the extra vehicles pay for themselves.

Common line problems

• Connection problems appear as an icon in the top area and a red exclamation mark on the faulty segment. Hover it for details.
• Adding the same station twice in a row, or a stop at a station of a different carrier type, also flags a problem.
• “Line isn’t configured to load any cargo” is a warning players often post about; check that at least one stop has a cargo ticked for loading and that the vehicles can carry it.

For cargo that will not come off at all, see our cargo not unloading fix, and for transfers between lines, read the warehouse guide.