A significant step in timetable planning is drafting the track diagrams and detecting traffic conflicts. A track diagram is made up of a list of stations and a list of trains indicated on a chart. The trains outlined on the diagram are charted automatically, in relation to the stations in the diagram.

Items that make up a track diagram:

• the list of stations that border the diagram at its left and right endpoints;
• the hours between which the diagram is mapped, at its lower and upper margins. Diagrams may be created for any lapse of time;
• stations, as displayed by run-through horizontal lines. Line color and thickness is station status-dependant;
• trains - in this mapping system, they bear the color of their associated class;
• arrival and departure times/minutes are displayed in each station where the train halts, the first and the last station included;
• train operating numbers as displayed at train ends;
• line blocks, represented by rectangles which indicate the intervals when the line is closed;
• the dwell chart - may be viewed in any station. The in-station display of trains is configured as a rectangle, with its length indicating the train dwell time.

Any train on the chart may be edited. Train edit operations are rendered on the spot in the diagram. Diagram conflicts occurring when a train route is edited may also be redetected automatically.

Each diagram may be customized by changing the following values:

• diagram size (length, width);
• diagram mapping times - diagrams may be created only for specific intervals;
• diagram margins;
• the train display mode in the diagram: train segment color and thickness, as well as the size and the color of train number and times;
• the sttion display mode in the diagram: the thickness and the color of the axes displayed along each station, the display color and size of station names;
• the display mode for axes corresponding to diagram hours: axis color and thickness, font size and display color for charted hours.

The conflicts that may be detected on a chart are outlined in the following table.

Conflict type	Plotted as
Station reception line conflicts
Precedence conflicts
Cross conflicts
Overlap conflicts

The times used to detect conflicts are customizable:

• spaced arrival times may be indicated for each particular station,
• crossover intervals may be indicated for each link in the geography,
• and monitoring intervals as well as the authority regrant time may be indicated in an option window on a diagram chart.

Each type of conflict may also be described by selecting a specific color.

A diagram is created in much the same way as a train route is outlined. The list of stations in a diagram provides the following information:

• station name and code (in geography);
• the length of running track from the previous station to the current station; This distance may be edited with no bearing upon the distance between stations in geography. It is only used in diagram display. The longer the running track between 2 stations, the longer will the charted station running track be. To avoid overlaps between adjacent stations on a diagram, the distance may modified (only on the related diagram);
• the percentage value (derived automatically) corresponding to the running track between the current and the previous station on the diagram.
• a check box is available along each station - it will serve to select the trains displayed in the diagram;
• a diagram station may be hidden (the station is used to chart trains, but it does not feature on the diagram);
• station order is not necessarily the one described in geography, and it can be modified.

The diagram list includes all diagrams in the system.

The Track Diagram module has available the following operations:

• adding, editing, deleting diagrams;
• filtering the diagram list by name and regional subsidiary;
• duplicating a system diagram.