Freight Platform

Freight Platform
Freight Cars that stop at the Freight Platform will be loaded or unloaded by the Freight Platform. Loading and unloading options can be set inside the building. Snaps to other Platforms and Stations. Needs to be connected to a powered Railway to function.
Unlocked by	Tier 6 - Monorail Train Technology
Class name	Desc_TrainDockingStation_C
Building
Power usage	50 MW
Overclock­able	No
Conveyorinputs	2
Conveyoroutputs	2
Dimensions
Width	34 m
Length	16 m
Height	20 m
Area	544 m2
Ingre­dients
6 ×  Heavy Modular Frame
2 ×  Computer
50 ×  Concrete
25 ×  Cable
5 ×  Motor

Fluid Freight Platform
Freight Cars that stop at the Freight Platform will be loaded or unloaded by the Freight Platform. Loading and unloading options can be set inside the building. Snaps to other Platforms and Stations. Needs to be connected to a powered Railway to function.
Unlocked by	Tier 6 - Monorail Train Technology
Class name	Desc_TrainDockingStationLiquid_C
Building
Power usage	50 MW
Overclock­able	No
Pipelineinputs	2
Pipelineoutputs	2
Dimensions
Width	34 m
Length	16 m
Height	20 m
Area	544 m2
Ingre­dients
6 ×  Heavy Modular Frame
2 ×  Computer
50 ×  Concrete
25 ×  Cable
5 ×  Motor

A Freight Platform is a building on the Railway where Freight Cars can be loaded or unloaded, based on the setting of each Freight Platform.

It has to be attached to a Train Station to work and only snaps to it (alongside other platforms). It has two inputs and two outputs and 48 item slots for Solid Freight Platforms or 2 400 m³ of capacity for Fluid Freight Platforms, which is 1.5× the capacity of a single Freight Car.

Usage

UI

The Freight Platform UI has a similar look and feel to the Truck Station UI, and depending on if the Freight Platform is set to LOAD or UNLOAD will include information about:

• Outgoing Transfer Rate (Load)
• Incoming Transfer Rate (Unload)

There is NO OPTION to have Freight Platforms do both Loading and Unloading in one cycle.

The Freight Platform is set to LOAD by default. Just toggle the button to set it to UNLOAD (or vice versa).

• 

  Update 4 (and earlier) - Example of Freight Platform UI

• 

  Update 5 - Example of Freight Platform UI

Loading and unloading

During the 27.08 seconds of automatic cargo transfers:

• Manual interactions with Freight Platforms and Cars aren't allowed unless that Platform has nothing to transfer.
• All belts connected to a Platform stop and no items enter or exit.
• Partial transfers only occur when the receiver has a free slot.

Animation

Each of the following transfer animations takes 27.08 seconds:

• Full loading: The 20T crane hoists the container up and out of the freight platform and puts it onto the freight car.
• Partial loading: The 20T crane hoists the entire storage module up from the freight platform and hovers it over the freight car. The doors below the module open and the contents flow from the bottom of the module into the top of freight car container. The storage module is then put back to the freight platform.
  • While the platform storage module is being lifted, the pioneer can walk on the shelf where it normally rests. This is dangerous since the pioneer can be trapped there when the module is returned.
• Full unloading: The 20T crane hoists up the container from the freight car and drops it into the storage module.
• Partial unloading: The 20T crane hoists up the container from the freight car and hovers it over the freight platform's storage module. The doors below the container open and the contents flow from the container to the storage module. The container is then placed back on the freight car.

In all cases, the animation is complete only after the crane moves back to its original position. Continue reading: Train Station#Docking

Viable path requirements

Freight Platforms are only usable when the train has a viable path along the forward direction of the track. One way to avoid this being a problem with terminating stations is to use a loop in your track. Once the path is viable you can begin to insert cargo into the Freight Platforms.

Power

• Freight Platforms only consume full power when transferring cargo with the Freight Car. At rest they only consume 0.1 MW.
• Transferring fluids with Fluid Freight Platforms requires connected powered Train Stations.

Flushing

A Fluid Freight Platform has the 'Flushing' option, similar to Pipelines and Fluid Buffers.

Train throughput

Main article: Tutorial:Train throughput

Head lift

Main article: Head lift

Fluid Freight Platforms apply head lift differently than any other building:

• The bottom output applies a head lift of 10 meters and an actual head lift of 12 meters measured from the platform base (the platform is one meter tall).
• The top output, placed four meters above the bottom output, applies a head lift of 14 meters and an actual head lift of 16 meters measured from the platform base.

Head lift is applied regardless of the Freight Platform's load/unload setting. The generated head lift does not depend on its remaining fluid content, this means it can easily empty itself to Fluid Buffers located at the same level.

Fluid Freight Platforms do not generate opposing head lift when being filled up, and thus a fluid source can easily fill them up as long as the pipe inlet level of the Fluid Platform is within the source's head lift. Because of this, it is advised to always use its lower pipe inlet first, followed by the upper inlet if the desired input rate is higher than a single pipe can handle.

Use of external buffers

It is recommended to build out from Freight Platforms some Storage Containers to act as "buffers".

Trivia

• The stopping (delay) of item loading / unloading was added to prevent issues and is similar in some respects to the delay seen during Autosaves.

See also

• Electric Locomotive
• Freight Car
• Empty Platform
• Railway
• Train Station

Gallery

• 

  A train docking with three train loading cranes (as seen in the E3 trailer).

• 

  Industrial Storage Container with 2 belts connected to a Freight Platform is necessary to maintain the full throughput of a Freight Car.

History

• Patch 0.6.0.0: Optimized Freight Platform loading
• Patch 0.5.1.7: Fixed Freight Cars failing to load/unload correctly with the rule set to Fully Load/Unload which lead to them getting stuck in docking until force cancelled
• Patch 0.3.4.16: Fixed too large Track clearance
• Patch 0.3.4.15: Integrated Station Track should no longer rotate separately from the main building
• Patch 0.3.4.14: Icon updated
• Patch 0.3.4.13:
  • Added a few more details to the meshes
  • Now does the partial load animation when applicable instead of triggering the wrong animation and clipping containers through each other
  • Conveyor Belts and Pipes now connect properly and no longer leave a gap when reconnecting
• Patch 0.3.4.12: Added new meshes
• Patch 0.3.4.6: Now state the correct capacity in their description
• Patch 0.3.4.0:
  • Increased capacity of Fluid Freight Platforms from 500 to 2400 m³
  • Performance improvements
• Patch 0.3.2.0: Changed name from Freight Platform Fluid to Fluid Freight Platform, updated UI
• Patch 0.3.1.1: Increased capacity of Fluid Freight Platforms from 50 to 500 m³ (properly implemented)
• Patch 0.3.1.0: Increased capacity of Fluid Freight Platforms from 50 to 500 m³ (announced but not actually implemented)
• Patch 0.3:
  • Introduced Fluid Freight Platform
  • Clients can now access inventories
• Patch 0.2.1.14: Fixed ladder collision
• Patch 0.1.19:
  • Updated animations and visuals
  • Changed input/outputs of Freight Platforms
• Patch 0.1.17 build 101353:
  • Now can be dismantled again
  • Shift-click support for the inventory implemented
  • Now stops if a power outage occurs, and resumes when powered up again
• Patch 0.1.17: Freight station in the middle of animation work
• Patch 0.1.16: Made the Freight Platform available