The point then lies more in designing and implementing - Edit 1
Before modification by Floffe at 22/01/2010 09:20:24 PM
1) Breakdowns off
2) Start quite late so that all trains are available, pick one engine type to work with.
3) Trains only
4) Have between 2 and 10 people working on stuff simultaneously
Tracks don't need to be repaired.
I can utterly recommend visiting the link to see how it's done, joining a game requires a recent development version + some extra data files, the wiki explains most of it.
Well, when I said "repairing" tracks, what I really meant was upgrading them from ordinary tracks to monorail, and from monorail to maglev. Do you just start in maglev?
But yeah, working in teams could explain, of course... and no breakdowns sounds heavenly.
They (I used to be a regular but have only been in a couple of times in the last year) usually stick to electrified rail for cargo and never upgrade (vehicles set to never expire either).
I think they do a game with breakdowns on now and then, and force the trains into a depot after dropping off their cargo, but otherwise it interrupts any network with a couple of hundred trains pretty badly.