| The train pathfinder searches the rail graph, from both ends of the train when it can drive either way, for any stop with the scheduled name that isn't disabled, scoring each rail segment by its length, plus a penalty for an occupied block of twice its length divided by how many blocks it lies from the start. | Path finding penaltiesPath finding penaltiesPath finding penalties | Wiki |
| On top of length, a path pays fixed penalties: 2000 for each train stop it passes, 1000 for a signal the circuit network holds red, 500 for a train standing at a stop (1000 if it has no other valid stop), 100 for a train arriving at a stop or signal, 100 plus 0.1 per tick waited for a train waiting at a signal, 1000 for a train with no path, 2000 for a manually driven train stopped with a passenger and 7000 without one, and 7000 for an automatic train with no schedule. | Path finding penalties | Code |
| Both games' train pathfinders count a red signal or a busy block for less the farther ahead it lies: Factorio divides the penalty for an occupied block by how many blocks it is from the start, and OpenTTD's default penalty for a red signal that isn't a path signal falls from 500 at the first signal to 5 at the tenth and stops. | Path finding penalties | Wiki |
| Factorio's pathfinder, which costs a route by the length of its rail segments in tiles, adds 2000 for each train stop on the route other than the one at the train's start, while OpenTTD's charges 10 tiles' worth for each tile of station platform a train runs through. | Path finding penaltiesPath finding penaltiesHistory, 0.18.1 | Code |