Reasons for LHD (left hand drive) rail

[zOldBulldog]

I always thought LHD in Factorio was a choice based on personal preference and what you were used to. Having lived in RHD countries all of my life I naturally stuck with RHD designs.

But after a few hundred hours of Factorio and quite extensive use of trains I am starting to think that perhaps LHD might be a better choice even for people that live in RHD countries. I am in the process of switching in one of my maps to see how well it works.

Here are a couple reasons I found:

- Since signals get placed on the right of the direction of travel, LHD rail systems with one rail going and one coming will place the signals *on the inside* between the two tracks. That can save 2 blocks on the overall width of the rail/power poles system and reduces the risk of placing stuff next to the tracks in a position that might conflict with the signals.
- With RHD I keep finding myself exiting the train on the left... between the tracks, so I often need to cross to the other side of the train to reach my factories. Annoying. An LHD system would not experience the problem.

If you are you an "RHD by default" person that switched to LHD, would you mind sharing your reasons for switching to LHD?

Thanks.

[DaveMcW]

LHD rail systems with one rail going and one coming will place the signals *on the inside* between the two tracks.

That's still 2 blocks too many. I run RHD so I can touch the tracks together leaving no space at all.

[zOldBulldog]

LHD rail systems with one rail going and one coming will place the signals *on the inside* between the two tracks.

That's still 2 blocks too many. I run RHD so I can touch the tracks together leaving no space at all.

Tricky (as you still need to put interleave signals with your assemblers) but I can see the value of that. Especially in a railworld when directly feeding your assemblers from the wagons.

My main use of rail is for long distance transport of goods and pax (I can just imagine exiting from a train onto the oncoming rail and wham!). Plus my rail also doubles as my main power and signal distribution system. So I usually have space between rails anyway.

Still, I might use your no-space RHD for some factories. Feed them from a T-junction and it should be possible to make LHD and RHD coexist neatly

[JimBarracus]

1. Signals on the inside, big plus
2. no space wasted outside the tracks.

The reason I started usid LHD were my walled train tracks.
I leave a gap of two tracks between them and I can fit lasers and roboports between the rails easily.

By now I switched to more massive walled rails (5 lanes, two in each direction and one dedicated for a supply/artillery train.)
which basically makes LHD obsolete but I still stick to it.