A-Train is a curious blend of genres, heavily influenced by the role private railway corporations played in the development of rail integrated communities throughout Japan. The most recent mainline entries, such as A-Train 9, are at least one part transport game and one part urban development game. As well as the expected transportation of people and goods you can and will branch out into the real estate market, managing subsidiaries, and the stock market.
Essentially, you are the primary driver of urban development in the game. Whether it is providing the power and goods other entities need to develop the land or commissioning your own company-owned developments. At the most basic level facilitating urban development around your stations increases ridership which increases potential profit margins. At a more advanced level developing or owning retail subsidiaries around your stations means you profit off not only any train and bus fares but the commercial activity that people engage in around your stations. Then if you want to take that one step further, developing or owning their homes takes it to the final level by having people also pay you rent to live in the area.
Once demand hits a certain point you start moving into phases of urban redevelopment too as density increases, whether driven by yourself or non-player entities. Low density buildings eventually being replaced with medium and high density buildings, finally progressing into high-density skyscrappers radiating out from the downtown core once demand is sufficient. Over time as density and demand increases you will redevelop lower tier subsidiaries like petrol stations and small convenience stores into higher tier subsidiaries like department stores to enable even greater profits.
Though, people do not want live in a corporate hellhole of just shops and housing so over time you will also have to help provide amenities like shrines, temples and churches to keep the populace satisfied and encourage further population growth. Meaning that eventually you might be commissioning the development of stadiums, theme parks and other amenities throughout the map too.
This progression outwards across the map, through the construction of new transport infrastructure, and upwards in density, with the redevelopment of existing urban areas around your stations, can eventually culminating in constructing one of the International Airport or Shinkasen Station mega-projects. Which can prove to be a major boon to the city as it brings large increases in potential ridership, and unlocks Super-Express trains in the case of the Shinkasen Station.
Since you are a private company rather than a public government entity you pay taxes like any Japanese corporation. This ranges from land tax, affected by the land value of the land your infrastructure is on, through to paying VAT on your yearly profits. Giving you an incentive to not just impulsively buy up everything on the map and hold on to it, since you will only want to hold onto subsidiaries that generate an income above their taxes expenses.
So, yeah, A-Train 9 has a very Japanese sense of verisimilitude to it thanks to developers Artdink being based in Tokyo, Japan. The initial learning curve could make a few Paradox grand strategy fans blush due to some of the ‘power user’ features on offer. However, once you get over the initial hump it definitely has a fairly unique take on the topic. In that regard, on the PC, A-Train Classic can be easier to get into first for anyone new to the series since the overall scope is a bit more laser focused and it has decent tutorialisation for learning many of the mechanics that pervade the series.
Lately Artdink have been busy working on bringing the series to the Nintendo Switch with A-Train All Aboard! Tourism. Funnily enough, the series also has a PSVR compatible port of A-Train 9 on the PS4 in A-Train Express. Development of A-Train 9 wrapped up with A-Train 9 v5.0: Final Edition in 2018, so I’ll be interested to see if Artdink move onto a new mainline entry in the series soon (A-Train 10) and what kind of a leap it might be over A-Train 9.