TF3 Calculator

Transport Fever 3 Vehicle Calculator

Estimate line costs and compare all 285 vehicles on the stats that decide profit — free, no account, works on any device.

Line cost estimator

How many vehicles does a line need, what does it cost per year, and what revenue per passenger or ton breaks even?

Cargo payment rates and ticket income are not public game data, so the revenue side is always your own figure. Locomotives and wagons are not in the picker: locomotives carry nothing themselves, and wagon consists vary too much to model as single vehicles.

Vehicle comparison

Every vehicle ranked by economy. Cost per seat/ton is the purchase price divided by capacity; running per seat/ton is the annual running cost divided by capacity. A dash means the figure is not published yet.

Vehicle Class ▲ Years Top speed Capacity Cost Cost per seat/ton Running cost/yr Running per seat/ton
Articulated Cargo Tram tram 2030- 100 320 — — — — Estimate
Bombardier K4000 tram 1995- 80 140 — — — — Estimate
CAF Urbos 3 tram 2018- 70 172 — — — — Estimate
Changchun 3000 tram 2010- 70 240 — — — — Estimate
DresdenCarGoTram tram 2000- 60 256 — — — — Estimate
Duewag Motor Car tram 1955- 50 64 — — — — Estimate
Duewag TYP N8C tram 1978- 70 128 — — — — Estimate
GE 25-Ton Switcher tram 1945- 45 — — — — —
Gotha T1 Motor Car tram 1928- 60 56 — — — — Estimate
Hong Kong Tram tram 1985- 45 100 — — — — Estimate
Horse Tram tram 1890-1915 20 24 $96,882 $4,036.75 $16,147 $672.79 Estimate
Horse Tram tram 1890- 20 28 — — — — Estimate
Italian ATM Series 4000 tram 1935- 40 100 — — — — Estimate
Moscow Vityaz M tram 2014- 70 148 — — — — Estimate
Nuremburg F Motor Car tram 1920- 35 48 — — — — Estimate
Pittsburgh PCC 1643 tram 1945- 45 84 — — — — Estimate
Russian X-Series tram 1925- 40 52 — — — — Estimate
Schoma TM 2/2 tram 1970- 70 — — — — —
Skoda 10 T tram 2000- 70 100 — — — — Estimate
St. Petersburg LVS-86 tram 1986- 70 112 — — — — Estimate
Stadler Citylink tram 2022- 90 200 — — — — Estimate
Stadler Tina tram 2024- 80 240 — — — — Estimate
Stadtbahn Halle tram 1910- 25 44 — — — — Estimate
Steam Tram tram 1900-1930 30 — $127,986 — $21,331 —
Swiss GE 2/2 tram 1920- 40 — — — — —
Sydney 24S Motor Car tram 1910- 35 40 — — — — Estimate
Tatra T4 tram 1968- 55 72 — — — — Estimate
Tatra T4 Box tram 1986- 55 72 — — — — Estimate
Tatra T4 Bulk tram 1986- 55 72 — — — — Estimate
Tatra T4 Stakes tram 1986- 55 72 — — — — Estimate
Tatra T4 Tank tram 1986- 55 72 — — — — Estimate
Toronto CRLV tram 1979- 60 80 — — — — Estimate
Toyama 8000 tram 1993- 60 80 — — — — Estimate
Vienna Type LH tram 1990- 70 — — — — —
Zurich BE 4/6 Mirage tram 1966- 60 108 — — — — Estimate

Why vehicle economics decide Transport Fever 3

Every profitable Transport Fever 3 network answers the same question: does a line earn more than it costs to run? The answer depends on three vehicle stats that are easy to overlook in the buy menu — the purchase price, the annual running cost, and the capacity. A cheap vehicle with tiny capacity can cost more per passenger than an expensive one with room to spare, and a fast vehicle can do the work of two slow ones on the same route. The comparison table above divides both costs by capacity so you can rank vehicles on what actually matters: dollars per seat or per ton, per purchase and per year.

The line cost estimator turns those stats into a plan. Given the route length and how often you want departures, it works out the round-trip time from the vehicle's top speed, the number of vehicles needed to hold that frequency, and the line's annual running cost. Enter the average price you expect per passenger or ton — the game's payment rates are not public, so that side is your own figure — and you get the break-even load factor: how full the line must run before it pays for itself. All 285 vehicles from the release version of the game are covered, and every assumption is stated next to the results.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Transport Fever 3 Calculator?

A free fan-made companion tool for the video game Transport Fever 3. It compares every vehicle in the game on the stats that matter for your wallet — purchase cost, annual running cost, and cost per seat or ton of capacity — and estimates how many vehicles a line needs, what it costs to run each year, and the revenue per passenger or ton required to break even.

How does the line cost estimator work?

Pick a vehicle, enter the one-way line length in kilometres and how often you want a departure (the service frequency in minutes). The estimator assumes vehicles average 60% of their top speed in service and need 10 minutes of turnaround at each end, then works out the round-trip time, the number of vehicles required to hold the frequency, the line's capacity per hour, and the annual running cost. All assumptions are stated next to the results.

Does the calculator know cargo payment rates or ticket prices?

No. Transport Fever 3's payment rates are not public, so the revenue side is always your own input: enter the average price you expect per passenger or per ton and the estimator shows the break-even load factor and throughput for that price.

Where does the vehicle data come from?

From the day-one community vehicle list on Steam, cross-checked by hand, reflecting Transport Fever 3 release version 1.0. The guide is a work in progress, so figures it has not published yet are shown as unknown. See the data sources page for the full citation and how to report a correction.

Why do some vehicles show unknown costs?

The community vehicle list this site compiles is still being filled in after launch. Where a purchase price or running cost has not been published, the table shows a dash and the estimator reports the parts it can compute — vehicles needed and line capacity — without inventing numbers.

Is this site made by Urban Games or Nacon?

No. This is an independent fan site. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Urban Games or Nacon, and Transport Fever is a trademark of its respective owners.