15:06 in this case it is actually correct that the ICE has the pantograph down since they roll into the station with it lowered because they switch from 3kV DC (Belgian Rail) to 15kV AC (German Rail). So for this one it is actually not a bug ... I know, its crazy. Love your Reviews mate, keep 'em up!

The Br 146.2 has not been running on the RE1 for several years. These were taken over by Siemens Desiro HC of the Rhein Ruhr Express

In my Personal Opinion PZB/LZB and Sifa are not that hard for me to understand. The way PZB works is that there are three Buttons "PZB Wachsam" , "PZB Frei" and "Befehl 40". The way it works is that every time a train with a greater Speed of 100km/h passes a Sign that indicates an upcoming Speedchange with the next Speedlimit being less than 100km/h, the "PZB Wachsam" button has to be pressed within four seconds of passing the speed limit indicator. Then, dependent on the PZB Mode (Even tho it's mostly the highest mode "O") a blue control lamp with an 85 and a Yellow 1000Hz lamp start blinking. This indicates that the train has to go slower than 84 km/h as the train will perform an emergency stop if going 85km/h or higher. When approaching the Yellow Signals (mostly two Yellow lights) it is the same procedure. But since these signal indicate a stopping Signal (Red Signal) eventually the Yellow 1000Hz indicator stops and a red 500Hz lamp will light up, which means that you have to go to a speed lower than 45km/h. If your train comes to a stop or to a speed less than 24km/h the blue 70 and 85lamp will start blinking. Together in the combination of the Red 500Hz lamp this means, that the train has to have a speed lower than 25km/h. if the 70 and lamp are blinking, which happens every time, when you start leaving the first station, which means that you have to below speeds of 45km/h. This however can be immediatly cancelled by pressing the "PZB Wachsam" Button. All of these Speed Regulations can be cancelled by pressing said button except, when the 1000Hz and 500Hz lamps are active. Then you cannot free yourself from the PZB Speedlimits. LZB is very simple tho. If active, all of the PZB is being deactivated and just either the "Wachsam" or "PZB Frei" button needs to be pressed once. Sifa is honestly just pressing one Button (Always under your seat, but still visible. On Some Trains like BR 146/143/112/101/401 maybe and the Doppelstockwagen also maybe? Can also be done on keyboard with pressing "Q") every 30 seconds. But the Sifa seems to be broken the BR 425 on HRR and BR 422 on RRO. Otherwise you can read all of this on this website which explains everything of the PZB but in German: www.tf-ausbildung.de/BahnInfo/pzb90.htm . Driving with these on makes a big difference for the gameplay which becomes most definetly less boring. I wish that someday Dovetail games adds a whole tutorial for all Safety Systems. They already have one for the LZB and AFB, but none for the PZB. And sorry for the terrible english.

It's the only TSW route which I visited in real life...twice (once in August 2018, and once in December 2020 right after the timetable change). The route is pretty realistic with all the layers on with the pre-December 2020 timetable, as after that, the RE1 train started to use Desiro HC trains in RRX livery instead of the Dostos. Aachen Hbf feels weird without the Belgian and Dutch regional trains that also terminate there (both trains link Aachen to Liege, Belgium via 2 routes: the Belgian trains goes straight to Belgium via Verviers while the Dutch trains goes there via Maastricht, Netherlands). DTG should've made the route going into Belgium as it would've added more things to do with the ICE 3M train. They also should've made that other branch to Aachen West and the Netherlands as that's where most of the freight trains are going, and they could've added services with the BR425 from Duisburg to Bochum going there as that was the train used IRL on that branch until December 2020 when new Alstom Coradia trains took over. Also, I noticed 2 unrealistic station underpasses: one at Aachen and one at Düren: IRL the one at Aachen is much larger and well lit, and goes straight into the station concourse (which is not modelled), and a similar case happens at Düren where in TSW, the staircase of the station underpass goes straight to the westbound platform where in real life, that staircase leads in the station concourse.

Great Review! I’ve travelled on this route a couple dozen times and I think DTG did a fairly good job at recreating the stations and scenery. But without having a bunch of other German routes for rolling stock the route isn’t worth half of what it costs. With the release of the New Journeys Pack (another ruthless cash grab) they did update the timetable a bit and added some rolling stock to the sidings and rail yard which helps make it feel more realistic. The most annoying thing is that if they gave it a proper timetable upgrade with the full variety of services and added AI trains to Cologne and Aachen this could be one of the better German routes with a variety of passenger services, from S-Bahn to regional services to hoch speed. In general DTG really need to update older German routes to include new rolling stock in the timetables to represent more and different services. And I couldn’t agree more that the game is in desperate need of new German regional trains, especially because a lot of services aren’t even run by DB Regio anymore or at least aren’t in their red paint scheme as the different states usually have their own design now. Including the RE trains on Cologne - Aachen or Hamburg - Lübeck as an example.

I like this route - it's one I travel on a lot, and nicely varied, although I wish they'd included the Rhine bridge and Koeln-Deutz - to be you have to include that if you're including the Hbf. There was an MSTS addon which included the diesel branchline that skips around this one, from Langerwehe to Stolberg and Herzogenrath (on the Dutch border) and back to Aachen, which would fit this well. TBF Belgium would make a better extension than the Netherlands, as no passenger trains from NL run beyond Aachen.

After riding the ICE service to Brussels for multiple times now IRL it's a big missed oppurtunity. I think that if not Brussels you could at least extend the Line to Liège-Guillemins with the slower line via Wlkenraedt and Verviers. The line from Achen to Liège-Guillemins (or Brussels but that won't happen) would have to include the SNCB Class AM70 EMUs for the regional services from Aachen and Class 18 and 19 (Pleas correct me if im wrong) Eurosprinters for the service running from Welkenraedt to Liège-Guillemins. With this extention would also have to include the change of electric system twice(I think)once in Aachen from 15 kv AC to 3 kv DC and for the High speed line in Belgium from 3 kv DC to 25 kv AC. But I'm pretty sure DTG won't ever do that. Also the motor sounds of the ICE are inaccurate. Not by a lot but still noticibale

As a person that's familiar with Talent 2s. The Köln Aachen and Riesa Dresden motor sounds are the most realistic sounding as they were recorded from the real trains while the Rapid Transit motor sounds are synthesised and sound completely unrealistic. Hope this helps.

Hmm, yeah you are right about the locomotives that should come over from TS Classic, although I personally think the 120 should be a DLC for the Linke Rheinstrecke in Orient Red myself. There is also the problem of the NPCs just sodding off and not being there, a problem that seems to be on quite a few routes. I hope that the Timetable Update will create a more decent service variation. I always drive with the PZB and LZB on, although it took a bit of getting used to. You need to press Page Down to Acknowledge and End to Release on your keyboard, these are the two main buttons you need.

I bought this route but no trains layer on to it? Why?

Should I get this route, the other ice3 German route,or the France LGV route next? I have all the German locos wanting to get one more German route as the kessel one sucks and linke rheinstreke only had two ice night runs which I really enjoyed a lot

And to think I actually kinda enjoyed this route when I had TSW2...

To my knowledge there's at least two types of Dopplestock coaches that DB use in real life. It would have been nice if they included The Thalys sets of either PBA or PBKA types as DB own two sets outright at least in real life with services to either Brussels Midi, Amsterdam or Paris Gare du Nord. Having said that DTG claim to have an manual with either TSW 1,2,or 3 but in truth they don't and i should know i still have the hard copy of TSW 1.

I think it's a decent route. Not great or bad but just decent. I do play it once in a while

Which routes can you buy to improve and lay on more trains on this route

There’s a really annoying signalling bug near Düren which makes most of the S-Bahn services completely unplayable. They didn’t even properly fix this with the enhanced new journeys timetable… very frustrating!

Love your reviews I haven't bothered buying German routes I don't have any interest in them tbh

PZB is easier thank British systems 😂 at least from my point of view 🤷‍♂