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Railway timetables are built around a compromise between speed and coverage. Express services skip minor stations to cut journey times but require careful scheduling so they do not catch up to slower stopping trains ahead of them. Where a line has only a single track shared in both directions, timetablers must build in passing loops and precise timing windows, since even a short delay can force a train to wait for an oncoming service to clear the line. Computer-assisted scheduling has reduced human error, though planners still manually review edge cases such as holiday timetables, when passenger volumes shift enough that standard weekday patterns no longer fit. Freight trains, which vary more in speed and length, are typically fitted into gaps left in the passenger schedule rather than given fixed slots of their own.