Train Station Staff Simulator

STOP THE RUNNER, OR WAIT?

The departure bell stops. Someone is running down the stairs. Blow the whistle to stop them, or wait until they're aboard?

The setting is Japan: a new station in a town that is still being built. You're one of its staff, not just a stationmaster giving orders from an office. From opening up in the morning to closing after the last train, you work the platforms and the ticket window yourself.

WORK ONLY STATION STAFF DO

An IC card that won't read, a passenger who rode past their stop, someone who missed the last train: all kinds of passengers come to you every day.

When the timetable falls apart, write the dispatcher's updates on the whiteboard and hand out delay certificates at the window. When another line stops, check the tickets of passengers sent over on alternative transport, one by one. If someone falls onto the tracks, stop the train and get them out. At night, arrange track closures for engineering work, then hand the track back in the morning.

From the ticket window and guidance to cleaning, equipment checks, first aid and office work, you cover every kind of station job. The same job rarely plays out the same way twice.

FROM ONE PLATFORM TO A TERMINAL

It starts as a station with a single platform. Bring housing to the town and attract all kinds of facilities, from schools and offices to a hospital or an arena. Which facilities you bring in decides when the station gets busy.

As passengers and income grow, you can expand the station. A South Exit opens, rapid trains start stopping, a subway line comes in, and in time an airport line. Shops line up inside the gates, and the empty lots around the station turn into a town full of people.

On the station plaza, you're free to set up money-making equipment such as coin lockers, work booths, capsule toy machines and e-scooter ports. You can also plan commemorative ticket sales, a morning market in front of the station or advertising deals.

YOU CAN'T RUN IT ALONE

You can only do one job at a time. Hire station attendants, cleaners and security staff, see what each one is good at, and give them their posts. You won't know who turns up until you recruit.

Your crew handles the routine work and radios you when a decision is needed. Leave the departure signals to them and head to a first-aid call yourself. The bigger the station gets, the more you depend on your crew.

THE FEEL OF A JAPANESE STATION

Point at things and call out "Yoshi!" like Japanese station staff. Wave at a stopped train and the driver answers with a toot of the horn.

Make the calico cat that visits the station its honorary stationmaster, grab a bowl at the soba stand inside the gates, or try your luck at the vending machine. Now and then, a rare yellow inspection train passes through without warning.

EVERY ANNOUNCEMENT, FULLY VOICED

Arriving trains, closing-door warnings, concourse notices: every announcement is voiced in English. You can also switch to Japanese followed by English, as at stations in Japan. You can also make your own announcements from the PA console.

PLAY AT YOUR OWN PACE

While you're getting used to the controls, turn on assists for each kind of work, such as a guide line on the floor showing where to go, more time for the departure signal or automatic change at the ticket window. You can also fast-forward the clock.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

• Work as a station attendant at a Japanese train station, in first person

• Over 60 kinds of station work, from before the first train to after the last

• Grow a small station into a terminal served by a subway and an airport line

• Set up money-making equipment freely on the station plaza

• Hire your crew and decide their posts and what to hand over

• Station announcements fully voiced in English, or in Japanese followed by English

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