Doing some serious pounding on the deliveries to make it to this point. How are my fellow mayors getting along?

I initially thought this update was a veteran's nightmare, but after reaching Rank 12 in under a week, I’ve realized that long-term players are actually in the best position to breeze through these ranks—if you use the right math.

1. The One-Trip Breakthrough

The "hidden" secret to speed is matching specialty cars to your Tier 1 engines. By placing a First Class or Economy Sleeper car on a high-capacity engine like the Llama Line 350 (720-passenger base) or Flying Sim, you can clear even the largest deliveries in a single 10-minute dispatch.

2. Critical Milestones

• Rank 5: Unlocks the 3rd train car slot per engine.
• Rank 10: The "Holy Grail" milestone that unlocks the 3rd delivery slot, increasing your total throughput by 50%.
• The XP Cliff: Be prepared for the scaling. Rank 11 requires 5,300 XP, and Rank 12 jumps to a massive 7,600 XP.

3. Inventory & The Shop RNG

• The Sleeper Car: Unlocked at Rank 10, the Economy Sleeper Car is a new bottleneck. Since you likely only have one, prioritize it for the fastest engines.
• Specialty Inventory: Unlike standard green cars ($\infty$), specialty cars (First Class, Economy, Tool, Material) are limited items you must own. Use your Rail Simoleon reserves to buy every Tool and Sleeper car that appears in the shop.

4. Tactical Ad-Watching (#NoSpendMay)

I have reached Rank 12 with $0 spent. The key is using ads only to bypass "Specific Train" traps. If the HQ demands you use the SC Line 9001 (which is hard-capped at 1 cargo capacity), watch an ad to skip it rather than suffering through an 8-trip, 5-hour cycle.

Engine	Level	Max Cargo	Cooldown	Role
Llama Line 350	10	24	25m	The Powerhouse
Flying Sim	10	9	10m	The Speed King
SC Line 9001	1	1	40m	The Bottleneck

Final Verdict

Don't let the 7,600 XP requirement scare you. If you have a Level 21 Rail Wallet and Level 10 engines, you aren't playing the same game as everyone else. Stay focused on "One-Trip" completions and you'll hit the top ranks while the rest of the world is still waiting for their first train to return.

P.S. To support this level of non-stop deliveries, be prepared to drastically increase your factory and shop production. You will need to produce a high volume of nails, lumber, steel, wood, and plastic to keep the slots moving.

Hey Mayors,

I just unlocked the new Mass Transit HQ this morning, and as a Level 99 player with all 10 trains already unlocked (and several maxed at Level 10), I’ve run into a major bottleneck that EA didn't account for.

If you’re a long-term train player, here is what you need to know about the "Rank 2" rollout:

1. The 0/200 XP Glitch for Maxed Fleets To unlock Cargo transport, you need Mass Transit Rank 2. However, it appears Rank XP is almost exclusively tied to upgrading trains. If you already have all the trains and many are at Level 10, you have no easy way to trigger that XP. I’ve dispatched my full fleet multiple times and my bar is still sitting at a flat 0/200.

• The Fix: You have to wait for the Daily Railway Shop reset to buy enough cards to force an upgrade on one of your non-maxed trains. Dispatching passengers alone isn't cutting it.

2. Efficiency is Dead: The 3-Minute Cycle I used to be able to cycle 10 trains in about a minute. With the new "Select" modal and the added HQ animations, that same cycle is now taking 2-3 minutes.

• The UI is cluttered with "Passenger Subsets" (bonuses) that use odd numbers (like 167 or 201).
• Unless you want to sit there with a calculator, you’re going to end up "over-spending" passengers just to get the trains out.

3. Mental Math Fatigue The new interface forces a validation check for every single load. It’s no longer "tap and go"—it’s "look at the train capacity, look at the subsets, calculate the waste, then dispatch." For those of us running large fleets, this adds a level of mental friction that makes the game feel like a chore rather than a hobby.

My Advice: If you’re stuck at 0/200, don't waste your time over-optimizing the passenger subsets. Just spam your fastest trains (Flying Sim, etc.) to grind for Rail Simoleons and buy every card you see in the shop. We need those upgrades just to trigger the rank progression that the game should have given us credit for based on our existing fleets.

Is anyone else with a full fleet seeing progress on their Rank bar without an upgrade, or are we all "parked" at the station until the next card shop reset?