How do train schedules account for the lengths of trains? Suppose a freight train has a 8:15 arrival time at a station, but the 8:00 train has 400 cars — how is that managed?

Question

How do train schedules account for the lengths of trains? Suppose a freight train has a 8:15 arrival time at a station, but the 8:00 train has 400 cars — how is that managed?

In: 3

Answer 1

Passenger trains are often specific car lengths that are much shorter than frieght trains. Passenger trains are also often shorter (or at least not a lot longer) than the platform, so loading and unloading is much quicker.

Frieght trains don’t have timetables that are nearly as tight as passenger trains, and the start and end point usually have yard which are used store and shuffle cars, and are used to build the train of cars. So they don’t have to necessarily worry about one train blocking another when arriving to a location.