Because usually, train 3 is always waiting at the crossing halfway through the line for train 1 or 2 to move out of the way which makes me lose money.

Is there a way to fix this problem ?

Let’s say I had 3 trains on the red line going from station 1 to 2.
What would happen is, train 1 would be at station 1, train 2 at station 2 and train 3 would be in the middle.
Then, once both train 1 and 2 reach the passing loop, train 3 would go to station 1, train 1 to station 2 and train 2 would be stuck waiting in the middle with passengers.

So my question is, is there a way to make this more efficient or am I better off only using only 2 trains per track.

I have a line going back and forth to 2 towns and only use 2 trains they both stop at each station at the same time and seems to work well.

I might start a new game just to see if multiple trains could go all around the map, on the same track without any jams using this technique.

But at that point when you want to add more than five trains, I think you should be making enough money to double track the line for a smoother experience. Do keep in mind that, when you double track, if the trains have hugely uneven loads of passengers the one carrying more would start to lag behind and bunch up the line resulting in more uneven loads.

Looking at the vehicles and adding just enough amounts of cars is a pain sometimes but otherwise you’d have to babysit the line and manually space the trains out, which sucks.

If you have a double track with signals at both ends and but a third set of signals in the middle, you have 4 segments, meaning the layout could take max. 4 trains.

I run 2 trains on shorter tracks and 3 trains on longer ones in order to keep frequency up. Mind that the definition for “what is long enough” for three trains changes during the game due to faster engines and larger cabins.

I try to build that way right from the start as it also makes replacing trains easier. If a line needs new machinery, i *first* add the new one (if the line still has “capacity” for one) before i send the aged one to the depot. This helps avoiding passenger numbers dropping.