Here are some Japanese train sims on Steam you may not have heard of:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2111630/JR_EAST_Train_Simulator/
FMV sim by the venerable Ongakukan. Expensive and DLC heavy, but with highly realistic sounds and physics. I also personally consider the use of FMV a plus because of the detail and accuracy it offers but your opinion may vary.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1618290/TRAIN_CREW/
3D train sim with simplistic graphics based on a fictional route. Good gameplay with a lot of options, a scoring system, and a conductor mode.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2614000/TRAMCITY_HAKODATE/
Only English-language Japanese tram sim out there. Offers very different experience.

basically any factory logistics game will teach you that trains are not just Hard, Actually, but also that last-mile transit does exist and does not invalidate the utility of trains

>>2074057
basically any factory logistics game will teach you that developers are too unintelligent to do anything but rip off transport tycoon's over three decade-old train mechanics

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>>2074037
Cheers, will check them out.

Bought Running train, it's early access and there's not a lot of content, but what's there is beautifully put together.

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>>2074034
Simutrans has two paksets set in Japan.

>>2074057
I liked it when I was a yardmaster. Far more fulfilling than any game you could play.

>>2074067
how so

>>2074297
The graphics and care put into recreating Japanese rural rail in this game is astounding. Honestly sometimes indistinguishable from the front view videos I watch.

>>2074320
i mean just fucking look at them, the mechanics are invariably identical

>>2074337
Indeed, solo dev too. Proper labour of love.

>>2074346
it's trains. there's not much room for innovation on mechanics when 99% of the game is managing junctions and track reservations and even TTD did it based on how real life rail signals work

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Obligatory shilling for Cities in Motion 2, not the best but the most underrated transport management sim. Has definitely the most elaborate and complex public transportation management, with
>buses
>trolleybuses
>trams
>metros
>ferries
Which you manage as lines (not individual vehicles) following schedules.
There's some odd things like metros needing turning loops at one end or schedules working out to max 1 service per hour due to how time progresses (there's day and night cycles). But overall I find it by far the most satisfying and realistic public transit management sim.

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Grand Theft Auto V unironically because San Andreas has a wide variety of pastiche of public transport infrastructure from airliners to a commuter train you can actually ride in the city to taxis to freight trains to boats and yes, even bicycles that you can store in your garage and ride if you want to. I'm not going to say it's the most in-depth or realistic (I'm sure some youtuber has already nitpicked the transport options in the game) but it's just a good variety of multiple things that make it a good /n/ game in my opinion.

>>2074407
yes there is room for innovation of mechanics when ttd mechanics encourage building nonsensical layouts and don't reward realistic operation
where are my fucking unit diagrams
where are my fucking realistic signals
WHERE ARE MY FUCKING TIMETABLES

>>2074434
>where are my fucking realistic signals
such as
>WHERE ARE MY FUCKING TIMETABLES
satisfactory has it

>>2074439
>such as
fucking anything beyond shit like "path signals"?
>satisfactory has it
oh great, the one game that doesn't need timetables has them

>>2074446
>fucking anything beyond shit like "path signals"?
like what
>doesn't need timetables
yeah satisfactory trains are pretty fully featured but the game is really not designed around use of trains

>>2074447
>like what
well, have you ever heard a real life signal engineer mention path signals?

>>2074434
>where are my fucking realistic signals
This is a major limitation of rail sims because the people making them have little to no understanding of how they work. And desu, it is hard to understand unless you've spent time working for a railroad. At least in the US, each railroad has its own signalling scheme and rules.

>>2074446
>>2074459
>fucking anything beyond shit like "path signals"?
I've never understood what this really entails but I've seen it in NIMBYrails. Never really worked realistically. Certainly isn't based on anything irl.

>>2074459
i have never heard a real life signal engineer and from what little i understand, modern signalling is more to say "I'm on time for the section of track my company reserved 8 months ago" than "I am reserving this section of track right now"

also dont quote me on it but i *think* satisfactory trains will run even without signals and happily collide with eachother if you fuck up the timing. BUT they are also very hands-off and will pathfind on their own with no way to override unless you build extra train stops and add them to their timetable. i dont know much about satisfactory trains because they are basically never necessary and dont really fit the scale of the game very well. the devs themselves have basically admitted that they only added them due to complaints from autists and never planned anything around them, and have been more recently showing more love to truck transport (even the title screen for this Experimental build is a lavishly decorated city street type scene instead of the usual 'nature spoiled by a big prison-orange machine' vibe they used until now)

>>2074462
>At least in the US, each railroad has its own signalling scheme and rules.
They really don't. There are two methods: speed signals and route signals. Speed signals are being phased out.

>>2074484
I meant that each US railroad sets its own signal rules. A larger authority didn't make them all adhere to a master signalling plan. It's further complicated by the signalling mechanisms and rules of the predecessor railroads that make up modern carriers; e.g. ex-Southern territories have different signals and rules applicable to them than ex-PRR territories at NS; ex-Frisco lines have slightly different rules than ex-ATSF lines at BNSF. Over time they've been standardized or changed to be more similar within their own company.

>>2074496
Those are nice platitudes that you have, but do you have any facts supporting them? Do you know how to read any signal system?

>>2074498
Yes, I worked for BNSF on ex-ATSF/SLSF/CB&Q lines and did interchanges onto the NS, CSX, UP, and KCS (before it was taken over). Within BNSF each division can have its own slight variations of signal rules because of legacy signaling from the predecessor lines, all of that was in the rulebook.