Waterline

Template:LineWaterline, stylised as waterline, operates rail services to various districts around Stepford County, such as Connolly, Newry, Newry Harbour, Greenslade, Benton, Morganstown and James Street. A full journey on the mainline, which runs from Newry to Benton takes about 5 minutes.

The operator is classified as a regional commuter rail due to its short travel times and the stations it serves. The trains on this route can go as fast as 100 miles per hour, but are limited to 90 miles per hour.

Prior to 1 May 2020, this route was a sub-franchise of Connect, branded as Waterline and bearing a  navy blue  colour scheme. It now operates as its own separate franchise and bears a  greyish blue  colour scheme.

History

2017

• In October 2017, plans were announced to open a new route as part of Connect, following the mainline from Benton to Port Benton and continuing on to a new branch. Services commenced on 4th December, exclusively using Class 165 and Class 166 units and Morganstown Docks was constructed shortly after.

• On 20th December, services to Newry and Newry Harbour commenced and ex-Connect Class 387 units were introduced.

2018

• On 21 April, Class 171, Class 319 and Class 701 units were introduced and services to Connolly commenced.
• On 18th August, Class 730 units were introduced.

• On 04 April, the class 323 was announced on Discord with "coming soon" in the announcement, however the train has never been released.

• Throughout December 2018, plans for the future of the route were revealed, including the refurbishment of all Class 165, Class 166 and Class 387 units, the commencement of services to James Street, and the overhaul of Faraday Road station.
• All of these changes went into effect on 31st December, including the silent removal of all Class 701 units from services.

2019

• On 14th May, Class 508 units entered service, being the first with Next Generation doors and interiors on the route.
• On 8th June, all Class 387 units were transferred to Airlink, being replaced by Class 379 units also with Next Generation tech.
• On 31st August, all Class 171 units were upgraded with the same tech from the recently introduced units.

2020

• On 22nd February, all Class 319 units were upgraded, and Class 195 units were introduced, already equipped with Next Generation doors and interiors. The platforms at Benton and West Benton received new decor.
• On 18th March, a fourth platform at Morganstown Docks station was constructed, but not put to use.

• On 1st May, the Connect franchise was renewed to no longer include the Waterline route. All Class 165, Class 166, and Class 730 units were upgraded with Next Generation V2 doors and interiors, and became the first trains to bare the new branding introduced with the franchise renewal. All Class 171, Class 195, and Class 379 units were also fitted with the new branding.

• On 2nd May, plans were revealed to retrofit all Class 508 units with the new branding. On 22nd June, plans were revealed for an extension to Morganstown via Morganstown Docks. Both of these changes went into effect that same day.

• On 29th October, the NG V3 Class 379 was introduced.

2021

• On 2nd January, Whitney Green Depot and Greenslade were updated and Class 379 has a new horn.

Rolling Stock

Current

Class Number	Image	Top Speed (mph)	Price (points)	Carriages	Manufacturer	Train Family	Date Put Into Service	Date converted to NG	Routes Operated On
Class 165/0		90	2250	2 (/0) 4 (/1)	BREL	Networker	December 16, 2017	May 1, 2020	All routes (165/1 is unable to do R015)
Class 166		90	2250	3	ABB				All routes except R015
Class 171		100	2250	2	Bombardier	Turbostar	April 21, 2018	August 31, 2019	All routes
Class 195		100	1500	2/3	CAF	Civity	February 22, 2020		All routes (195/1 is unable to do R015)
Class 319		100	2250	4	BREL	Mark 3	April 21, 2018	February 22, 2020	All routes except R015
Class 379					Bombardier	Electrostar	June 8th, 2019
Class 508		75	2000	3	BREL	PEP	May 14, 2019
Class 730/0		100	1000	3	Bombardier	Aventra	August 18, 2018	May 1, 2020

Former

Class Number	Image	Top Speed (mph)	Price (Points)	Carriages	Manufacturer	Train Family	Date Put Into Service	Date Withdrawn From Service	Routes Operated On
Class 701		100	3000	4	Bombardier	Aventra	April 21, 2018	December 31, 2018	All routes (at that time)
Class 387		110	2250			Electrostar	December 21, 2017	June 8th, 2019 (Moved to Airlink fleet)

Future

• None at the moment

Proposed

Class Number	Image	Top Speed (mph)	Carriages	Manufacturer	Train Family
Class 323		90	3	Hunslet	Hyper Networker

Notes

• Sometimes, Waterline is crowded on purpose by players. This is considered "Waterline flooding."
• Driving Waterline is the best way to earn/grind points, as most of the stations are significantly close to each other, and there are a number of routes.
• Stepford Airport West is in the Airport Zone, but the map doesn't mention it. This is also the only Waterline station in the Airport Zone.
• The Class 730 is the most common train to be seen on Waterline because of it's price.
• James Street as of 1/6/2021 currently has no ticket machines, barriers or CIS boards.
• The Class 701 was removed because it didn't suit the line.

Depots

Current

• Whitney Green Depot
• Faraday Road Depot

Future

• None at the current moment

Former

• None at the current moment

Sidings

Current

• Morganstown Siding
• Benton Siding

Future

• None at the current moment

Former

• None at the current moment

Stations

Current

• Newry Harbour (step-free)
• Newry (step-free except for Platform 1)
• Eden Quay (step-free)
• Faraday Road (step-free, eastbound only)
• West Benton (step-free)
• Benton
• Port Benton (step-free, eastbound only)
• Morganstown Docks (step-free)
• Morganstown (step-free)
• Whitney Green
• Greenslade (step-free)
• Cambridge Street Parkway
• Ashlan Park (step-free)
• Connolly (step-free)
• Stepford Airport West
• James Street (step-free)

Future

• Extension past James Street, confirmed on the roadmap and by BanTech, release date unknown.

Former

• There are no closed stations on Waterline.

Routes

Waterline South
Route	Code	Calling at
Newry to Greenslade	R010	Eden Quay, Faraday Road, West Benton, Benton, Port Benton, Morganstown Docks and Whitney Green.
Waterline North
Route	Code	Calling at
Newry to Connolly	R011	Eden Quay, Faraday Road, West Benton, Benton, Cambridge Street Parkway and Ashlan Park.
Newry Harbour to Connolly	R012	Newry, Eden Quay, Faraday Road, West Benton, Benton, Cambridge Street Parkway and Ashlan Park.
Suburban
Route	Code	Calling at
Benton to Greenslade	R013	Port Benton, Morganstown Docks and Whitney Green.
Airport Line
Route	Code	Calling at
Newry to James Street	R014	Eden Quay, Faraday Road, West Benton, Benton, Cambridge Street Parkway and Stepford Airport West.
Morganstown Shuttle
Route	Code	Calling at
Benton to Morganstown	R015	Port Benton and Morganstown Docks.

Trivia

• Waterline is named after water because it's services are running around River Ben.
• Many players agree that this operator is dead due to the massive updates which seem to leave out Waterline.
  • Sometimes, more players at one time drive it, but most probably just for earning points. Decoration and general look can be pretty boring for players.
• This is the only operator that does not skip any stations.
• This is the only operator where some trains can never hit their top speed at any point on the line without breaking the speed limits.

• The only Waterline and Express interchanges are Benton and Morganstown.
  • Before 1.7, Benton used to be the only Express interchange.

• Likewise, the only Waterline and Airlink Interchange is at Morganstown.
• This operator was part of Connect, but it no longer is due to Waterline becoming a separate franchise.
• This operator has the least amount of depots, only 4: Faraday Road Depot, Whitney Green Depot, Morganstown Siding and Benton Siding. Before V 1.7, every Waterline route except R010 had only one depot.
  • In V 1.7, Benton Siding opened and now R010 is the only route with 3 places to spawn.
• This operator, along with Connect, are the last operators to see their trains upgraded to Next Generation. This operator also had the most Previous Generation trains prior to Version 1.5.
• This operator is the only one that does not serve Stepford City Zone or call at Stepford Central.
• Newry Harbour was also going to serve trains to James Street, but the developers wanted to keep the station as small as possible.
• James Street had no buffers before V1.6, but they were added in V1.6, most likely temporarily. Before V1.6, if you overshot the platform, your train would be immediately despawned with the despawn message saying "Invalid track detected.", but this message is no longer able to be seen because of the buffer being added. BanTech said on Discord that this was to prevent drivers from losing their experience for that route.
• Before V1.6, R010 used every depot on Waterline, but because of the Morganstown Shuttle being added, a siding was added at Morganstown.

• The Class 195 was the first train on Waterline with coach variants, and the Class 165 was the first train on Waterline with a double configuration, and the second overall in SCR.
• Waterline has the least amount of routes as of 1.7 ( only 6 routes )
  • Before 1.7, Express was having the least amount of routes, more exactly 5 routes. The update brought Express 3 new routes, passing both Waterline and Airlink in the number of routes.
• Waterline is the only operator to own lettered platforms as of 1.7. Newry is only a Waterline station, having platforms 2A and 2B, while platforms 5A and 5B in Morganstown are only for Waterline trains.
  • In fact, R013 is the only Waterline route to not be able to stop at a lettered platform. R010, R011 and R014 have the possibility to finish at platform 2A in Newry, R012 stops westbound at Newry at platform 2B and R015 finishes at platform 5A or 5B in Morganstown.

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