Trains running through stations that are not on their schedule

When main line is congested/slowing down, trains divert through stations that are parallel to the main track. This becomes a big issue when there is a train at the station that is being diverted through, particularly when the one at the station is waiting for arrival conditions to be met at the next station, leaving the diverting train stuck.
Attached picture shows two instances where trains will not be trapped, but in at least one case delayed: Train of electronics 2 on the right had pulled in and wound up with at least one train passing it while it was parked there. The iron ore train to the left is heading through a station that is for pressed waste pick-up. The only reason I can see for it to think that is a good idea is the uranium train ahead of it, which is behind two other trains.
My thought for pathfinding is that stations that are not the target should be an automatic 3 to 5 train length penalty, and if there is a train present within it, then a 10 train length penalty (or entirely impassable). Specifically saying train length and not station length here, as a short station may still not weigh heavily enough to stop a long/fast moving train.
Save file should launch looking at the tracks in question. I also find that trains will divert through the iron/steel plant to the right of the picture, and sometimes get caught behind the train waiting at the crew supplies loading station, which is located by the medical build and food area, way up and to the left of the save launch location.

I'll link my issue in code findings here as well, since they seem
to be basically the same thing: https://discord.com/channels/803508556325584926/1421870154358460541

Here is a link to (what I think is) the issue: https://discord.com/channels/803508556325584926/1260716327015022764/1421852467628478535

My thoughts on waypoint stations helping with this: it will depend on how they are implemented. If they can be set to a generic “this is the main line - use me unless you are going to that station” mode without being set in the schedule, then it could help.
My train network is a many to many set-up, so having to explicitly call waypoints within the schedule doesn’t work well for most of the routes.

I highly doubt that it will work that way, but I have no idea what whey would actually do.

Don't get me wrong that would be a nice addition, but how is the code supposed to work out
which "waypoint station" is attached to which "actual station"?

There wasn't any UI for that so far & I haven't seen any mentions of such a change
(which likely is not trivial to do, unlike just adding train stations with smaller footprints).

Not sure exactly how it would code to do that, unless it gave an incentive (reducing the length of the route when the pathfinder calculates it, maybe?) to the pathfinder to go through it rather than through another station or track. Essentially have it be treated the opposite to a train station for pathfinding purposes.

I had made the post in response to Captain Marek’s answer on the CD#53 thread about waypoints possibly being able to help with the issue.

I don't think that you understood what I meant.

How would the code responsible for mapping these "waypoint stations"
to "actual stations" which belong to which.

Currently there is no UI for that (other than grouping
the "waypoint station"/-s with the "actual" one/-s,
which as you've mentioned won't work for you/this at all).

How would you even implement that?
Would the user specify somehow which is the "waypoint station"/-s
to which "actual stations" they belong to or should that be somehow automatic?
If it's user-specifiable, then how would the UI for that work/look?
If it's automatic, how would it determine which stations should relate to eachother?

No, I did catch what you are asking. The approach I outlined is that they would not be linked. If you have two routes that run parallel, one with a general waypoint and one with a station, the station route looks more expensive/longer to the pathfinder, and the one with the waypoint looks shorter than it actually is, causing the pathfinder to stick to it even with a slow train in the lead.
Which form the waypoint takes could be a simple check box in the UI for it - default form it is used in the schedule just like a station (I would say without the disincentive for routing, most likely), check the box and it changes to a generic “main-line marker” form that could be explicitly called i the schedule, but also heavily favours the pathfinder to go past it.

I am not advocating for this solution, just thinking out loud about it.

I would be fine with just a heavier pathfinding penalty that basically only routes trains through a station if there is no other route to their destination.

I think we need a „Fast Lane Tool“ or a „Main Line Tool“ like the „No Stop Zone Tool“.
I don’t think that waypoints are a good idea, because you have to tell every train line it has to use this waypoint.
With a Fast Lane Tool you force every Train to use this lane if they don’t have to stop at the parallel station.

This is what I was talking about with having the waypoints able to be a “chose this route” marker without being explicitly called in the schedule.