The Swedish infrastructure manager Trafikverket is funding research for timetabling optimization tools as part of their overall mission to utilize the existing infrastructure more efficiently. Currently, Trafikverket is modernizing both planning processes and the IT architecture, and will soon be ready to start using optimization tools on a broad scale. Meanwhile, innovative uses of a prototype developed at SICS have shown how a prototype does not necessarily merely serve to pave way for a future, large-scale implementation. This paper shows how computers in railway planning, coupled with OR techniques, relevant data and apt modeling, can help provide a future user with valuable insights even before the full-fledged tool is in place.