[laurent92]

> I assume that behind that were schedules that weren't so far from being hand-calculated

It’s more than that: The trains are negotiated at political levels! The “8:18 to Marseilles” (fictitious example) could be a headline in the news if the region refuses to fund it, and the worker’s union may have striked to keep it, while inhabitants’ HOA has negociated with the city to keep it under 12€: They are the object of a convergence of fixed interests. They run for generations: the train I took as a kid is still arriving on the same track today (and in one stop, it stops at track E; tracks A-D were dismantled but never renumbered due to this legacy).

The good thing with rails is that they aren’t going away, and trains can be negotiated for decades, they’re far from being scheduled on-the-fly.