TL;DR
1x1 equipment placeable into modular (and better) armor, that makes the player occupy rail blocks like trains while standing on them or in a configurable distance from them.Me laying tracks for a new branch off the main line just before i put the signals:
What ?
I propose a 1x1 quality-of-life equipment placeable into modular or better armor.It turns signals at the start of rail blocks red while the player stand on or near such blocks.
Trains would try to stop on signals turned red by the new equipment as they do now when signals turn red for other reasons.
The maximum distance the player could be from a rail block while still turning its signals red should be configurable ingame somehow. A dialog could be opened by a button in the top-left corner of the screen (method is used by some mods). Same dialog could be invokable by a user-defined keyboard shortcut.
Why ?
When changing existing rail lines (like when branching from them), this equipment would make trains wait before the area i am working on and resume after i am done with it. It would therefore allow for more relaxed working on the lines (especially the main lines) without having to disconnect segments from the network by ripping out rail segments or bot-placing impassable signals.I could also just stop right before any rail and after some seconds cross them without zooming out or squinting at the mini map, knowing that no train would dare to enter the segements i am about to cross.