Main Station for bus

[Springfresh]

Hello everyone,

I've built the station shown in the picture to supply my bus system. Trains (1-2) unload on the right side, and on the left side, trains wait. I have two questions:

a) I placed a signal before each station because I thought trains heading to the respective station would advance to that point. However, they all wait in the waiting area on the left side and only move to the station when it's completely clear.

b) Sometimes in the waiting area, trains with different cargo end up on the same waiting track, and the front train blocks the path for the one behind. How can I ensure that only trains with the same cargo wait on a waiting track?

Thanks for your help!

[FuryoftheStars]

a) Use additional signals between the two you already have in place by the offloading area. Specifically, having at least one more signal closer to where the end of the train sits will allow one more to come around and wait in that space you have until the current one clears.
(Edit: Actually, something that'd probably be a bit better (instead of what I said above) is putting another rail signal at the start of each branch (just after the split itself), potentially moving your one signal in the middle up a bit closer. I'm sure there's a better, optimal way to do it all, but it'll be several hours before I would even have time to attempt recreating your setup and laying out signals myself to screenshot and show.)

b) Use intermediary train stops at one end or the other of the different lines that are named accordingly for the resources. This will restrict each line to one resource only, but that's the price that would have to be paid. Alternatively, use shorter waiting bays or longer trains, so only 1 can fit in each, anyway.

[Tertius]

The tracks connecting the waiting area with the station area is one big block, and the space right before the stations where you expect one train to wait for each station also belongs to this one block. Since one block can only be occupied by one train, only one train can wait in this area instead of 4, 1 in front of each station.

There is not even one train in this block, because you put a chain signal in front of that block, so it mirrors the next signal, which are all red for the station lanes.
So add a regular signal right after each exit from the straight line to create a small block in front of each station, just big enough for one train.

You have an issue with your waiting area. You see 3 trains (iron, coal) waiting behind copper trains. Imagine your copper demand drops temporarily, so no copper trains are being emptied, so these 3 copper trains stay somewhat indefinitely. Now the 3 trains behind them are blocked and cannot satisfy the iron and coal demand. And what's even worse, these 3 trains eventually reserve a slot in their unloading stations, so not even an iron/coal train from the front line is able to proceed to their starving stations. So your whole station area is deadlocked.

To avoid this, it's important you make sure that trains that are waiting on a single track all have the same schedule, thus the same next destination. The easiest thing in your case is to shorten the waiting area on the left so only one train can wait in each lane and not 2. This is of course not true for the space in front of the stations - here can wait more than 1 trains, because trains getting on these lanes all have the same next destination.

[Springfresh]

Hello everyone,

Thank you for your tips! I followed them and added the signals as well as reduced the size of my waiting area so that only one train fits in each. Thanks for your help!