Rail

Obtaining

Rails can be mined with anything, but pickaxes are the quickest.

Block	Hardness	Tool	Breaking "Punch" redirects here. For the enchantment, see Enchanting#Punch. The Player punches trees and gets wood (click to view animation). Breaking, digging, punching, or mining is one of the most fundamental activities in Minecraft, performed (by time
			Hand	Wooden	Stone	Iron	Diamond	Golden	Shears	Sword
Rail	0.7		1.05	0.55	0.3	0.2	0.15	0.1	—	—

1. ↑ Times are for unenchanted tools in seconds.

They also drop as items when:

• the block beneath them falls, is moved, or removed
• a liquid Flowing water and lava. Liquids are special types of blocks that can freely flow to form rivers, falls, and lakes. Contents 1 Properties 1.1 Overview 1.2 Mechanics 1.2.1 Depth 1.2.2 Spread 1.2.3 Flow direction 1.3 flows over them
• a piston Piston Transparency Yes Luminance None Blast resistance 2.5 Tool Any tool Renewable Yes Stackable Yes (64) Flammable No Drops Itself Data values See Data values Pistons are blocks capable of pushing most blocks, depending on moves them into a space with no floor below them

Trivia

• Players may only place Rails on a block. However, it is possible to find floating rails in an Abandoned Mine Shaft.
• There is a glitch that happens when a track sloping downwards with a curved intersection when approached from the side will teleport the player under the block which traps him/her until he/she destroys the track and the block.
• If one is traveling a distance of 50 blocks, it takes an average of 12 seconds to walk, 9.3 seconds to sprint (as much as possible) and 10.6 seconds by Minecart. But if one is traveling the route over and over (e.g. mining) it is worthwhile to invest in a railway system for ease of use.
• There is a glitch that, when a Rail is placed on a block that has an Iron Bar connected to it, it will cause the top texture of the Iron Bar to disappear.
• If one needs to travel very long distances in the Overworld, it is best to build a railway system in the Nether. Not only will one use fewer rails, but they will get to their destination much faster in the Nether than in the Overworld (up to 64₠m/s or 230₠km/h in a straight line, or up to 325₠km/h diagonally). This will often result in Zombie Pigmen spawning on the tracks and stopping or "bouncing" the minecart, however:
  • This is less effective in the PS3 edition, as the Nether has a more similar size to that of the Overworld.
• In an intersection of rails, the middle rail will always connect to the South-East coordinate (check by clicking F5 in the PC version).
• A dropped item on a Rail will stop a Minecart.

Info

Rail

Transparency When leaves are opaque (in "fast" graphics), they completely block rendering. When leaves are transparent (in "fancy" graphics), the world behind them is also rendered. Opacity (and its inverse, transparency) are properties of blocks with	Yes
Luminance Light (or lighting) in Minecraft affects visibility, mob spawning, and plant growth. Contents 1 Brightness 1.1 Spread 2 Sources of light 2.1 Blocks 2.2 Other 3 Light-filtering blocks 4 Effects of light 4.1 Mobs 4.2	No
Blast resistance	3.5
Tool
Renewable A renewable resource (as opposed to a non-renewable, or finite, resource) is a resource that can be recreated indefinitely in survival without exploiting glitches or using commands. While running out of resources isn t likely to	Yes
Stackable	Yes (64)
Flammable	No
Drops See the items that drop from entities and blocks. For drops as in falls, see Fall Damage. Typical drops from a skeleton: experience orbs, an arrow, and bones. Drops are items that	Itself
Data value	dec:66 hex:42 bin:1000010
Name See the definition of the block states. For the files that determine block models, see Models#Block states. Block states are extra pieces of data that further define a block. Contents 1 List	rail

Rails are non-solid blocks that provide a path along which minecarts Minecart Type Vehicles Durability N/A Renewable Yes Stackable No Internal ID PC: 42 PE: 84 Network ID PC: 10 Entity ID minecart Drops Minecart (1) Health points 6 () First appearances See History Data value can travel.

Videos

Trivia

• When walking on a block that has a rail on top, you will hear the sound of the block you`re walking on, but if you jump (while still walking), you will hear the sound of iron.
• Rails are 632⃂mm (approx. 2-foot) narrow gauge. (the gauge is the distance between the rails)

Natural generation

Rails can be found naturally running along the floors of abandoned mineshafts Abandoned mineshaft Biome Any Consists of Wooden Planks Fence Rail Torch Cobweb Dirt Monster Spawner Minecart with Chest Can generate post-generation No First appearances See history "Mine" redirects here. For information about mining, see Mining. and in woodland mansions Woodland mansion Biome Roofed Forest Consists of See Structure. Can generate post-generation N/A First appearances See history This article may need cleanup to comply with the style guide. Please help improve this if you can. .

Rails can be found in 78.4% of chest minecarts Minecart with Chest Type Vehicles Durability N/A Renewable Yes Stackable No Internal ID PC: 43 PE: 98 Network ID PC: 10 Entity ID chest_minecart Drops 1 Minecart 1 Chest plus contents Health points 6 () in abandoned mineshafts Abandoned mineshaft Biome Any Consists of Wooden Planks Fence Rail Torch Cobweb Dirt Monster Spawner Minecart with Chest Can generate post-generation No First appearances See history "Mine" redirects here. For information about mining, see Mining. in stacks of 4⃢₀ₓ8.

Crafting

Ingredients	Crafting Crafting is the method by which many blocks, tools, and materials are made in Minecraft. In order to craft something, players must move items from their inventory to a crafting grid. A 2×2 crafting grid recipe
Iron Ingot⃂+ Stick	16

Usage

See also: Tutorials/Minecarts This tutorial covers basic minecart stations and systems and is designed for those without significant redstone knowledge and only minor experience with minecarts and rails. This tutorial doesn t touch on furnace or storage minecart. Images

A rail can be used as a minecart track and as a redstone component. A sequence of rails (including regular rails, activator rails Activator Rail Transparency Yes Luminance No Blast resistance 3.5 Tool Renewable Yes Stackable Yes (64) Flammable No Drops Itself Data values See Data values Name activator_rail An activator rail is a type of rail that , detector rails Detector Rail Transparency Yes Luminance No Blast resistance 3.5 Tool Renewable Yes Stackable Yes (64) Flammable No Drops Itself Data value dec: 28 hex: 1C bin: 11100 Name detector_rail A detector rail is a block that can transport , and powered rails Powered Rail Transparency Yes Luminance No Blast resistance 3.5 Tool Renewable Yes Stackable Yes (64) Flammable No Drops Itself Data value dec: 27 hex: 1B bin: 11011 Name golden_rail A powered rail is a type of rail that ) is called a track.

Placement

To place a rail, use a rail item while pointing at a surface facing the space the rail should occupy. A rail can be placed on:

• the top of any full solid opaque When leaves are opaque (in "fast" graphics), they completely block rendering. When leaves are transparent (in "fancy" graphics), the world behind them is also rendered. Opacity (and its inverse, transparency) are properties of blocks with block (stone, dirt, blocks of gold, etc.), including full-block mechanism components ( command blocks Command Block Type Block Entity Physics No Transparency No Luminance No Blast resistance 18,000,000 Hardness -1 Tool None Renewable No Stackable Yes (64) Flammable No First appearances See history Drops None Block entity id command_block , dispensers Dispenser Type Block Requirements None Physics No Transparency No Luminance No Blast resistance 17.5 Hardness 3.5 Tool Renewable Yes Stackable Yes (64) Flammable No First appearances See history Drops Dispenser (1) plus contents Block entity , droppers Dropper Type Solid Block Requirements ? Physics No Transparency No Luminance No Blast resistance 17.5 Hardness 3.5 Tool Renewable Yes Stackable Yes (64) Flammable No First appearances See History Drops Dropper (1) plus contents Block , note blocks Note Block Type Solid Block Requirements None Physics No Transparency No Luminance No Blast resistance 4 Hardness 0.8 Tool Renewable Yes Stackable Yes (64) Flammable No, but catches fire from lava First appearances See History , and redstone lamps Redstone Lamp Transparency Partial (when on) Luminance Yes, 15 (when on) Blast resistance 1.5 Tool Any tool Renewable Yes Stackable Yes (64) Flammable No Drops Itself Data values See Data values Name See Data values )
• the top of a hopper Hopper Type Block Entity Physics No Transparency Partial (does not block light, mob spawning possible) Luminance No Blast resistance 24 Hardness 3 Tool Renewable Yes Stackable Yes (64) Flammable No First appearances See History Drops , upside-down slab Slab Transparency Double slab: No Single slab: Partial (blocks light) Luminance No Blast resistance Wood: 15 Stone: 30 Tools Renewable Stone: Yes Wood: Yes (except Fake Wood) Cobblestone: Yes Stone Brick: Yes Purpur: Yes Quartz: , or upside-down stairs Stairs Transparency Partial (blocks light) Luminance No Blast resistance Wood: 15 Stone: 30 Sandstone, Quartz, Red Sandstone: 4 Tools Renewable Cobblestone, Stone Brick, Wood, Purpur: Yes All others: No Stackable Yes (64) Flammable Wood: Yes .

A rail cannot be attached to the side or bottom of any block, but attempting to make such an attachment may cause the rail to attach to the top of a block under the destination space. For instance, if a fence is on the ground, attempting to attach a rail to the side of the fence will cause the rail to be attached to the top of the ground next to the fence instead.

When placed a rail will configure itself to be straight or curved according to rail blocks around it.

• If there are no other rails adjacent it will be placed as a straight track oriented north-south.
• If placed at the end of an existing stretch of track, the new rail will be a straight track section oriented to continue the existing track, either east-west or north-south.
• If placed beside an existing stretch of track (of any type) the newly placed rail will be straight and oriented north-south.
• If there are two adjacent rails on its level, or one level up or down, the newly placed rail will configure itself to connect the other two. This means that it will be placed as a straight or curved track as needed.
• If placed between three adjacent rails (thus always forming a T-junction) the newly placed rail will be placed as a curved track south-to-east, north-to-east, or south-to-west to join those sides.

• 

  T-junction before filling in tracks

• 

  T-junction after filling in tracks

Existing tracks one block up and down are considered for adjacency in the same manner, and the new piece of track will be laid as a curve, but unless space is left for sloping track sections mine carts will only be able to continue past the curve on level or one-block-down corners. In one block up corners the cart will be left buried in the ground.

• 

  Before placing top block

• 

  Top block is placed as curve

• 

  Showing cart getting buried

Some placement of rails will produce track layouts that will cause minecarts to collide and enter blocks.

• 

  Minecarts always buried

• 

  Minecarts will get through

• If placed to form a 4-way intersection with no curved section it will not form a cross-roads connection.
• If placed between four adjacent rails to form a curved intersection it will always curve south-to-east.

• 

  Curve controls minecart passage

Existing sections of track may be re-oriented, become sloping, or even change into curved sections when new rail is placed adjacent to:

• An existing straight, north-south rail will re-orient to east-west when a new block is placed to its east or west sides.
• If placed next to an existing rail that is one block up or down the rail will slant up or down to join it. Rail "prefers", in order: west, east, south, and north. Other configurations can be created by placing and removing rails.
• If a track is placed perpendicular to an existing length of track it will show as a straight rail, but in fact will be curved according to the patterns for tee junctions as seen above and mine carts going through the intersection will turn the corner. Breaking and re-laying track so that the intersection block is laid last will update the intersection block as a curved section.

Redstone component

The intersection rail at a T-intersection may be made to change its direction of curvature by applying redstone power using a redstone torch Redstone Torch Transparency Yes Luminance Yes, 7 (when on) Blast resistance 0 Tool Any tool Renewable Yes Stackable Yes (64) Flammable No Drops Itself Data values See Data values Name See Data values This article or lever Lever Transparency Yes Luminance No Blast resistance 2.5 Tool Any tool Renewable Yes Stackable Yes (64) Flammable No Drops Itself Data value dec: 69 hex: 45 bin: 1000101 Name lever A lever is a non-solid block that can .

Separate tracks laid adjacent but at the next level lower or higher can sometimes cause issues but normally will not interact with the switched rail.

South-east rule

When entering a T-shaped intersection from the "back of" the curved rail a mine cart will travel straight through the intersection. Entering from either of the other two legs it will follow the curve.

In a 4-way intersection constructed to have no curved rail a cart will pass straight through in the direction of the continuous line. When entering the 4-way from east or west a cart will turn according to the south-east rule.

Downhill rule

At non-curve track intersections minecarts will always travel downhill if they can. This is known as the downhill rule and overrides the south-east rule.

Minecart movement

A cart moving with enough speed is able to jump single block gaps in a rail line and continue on travelling.

Ramp clearance/one-way effect

A block placed above the track at the downhill end of a ramp will prevent minecarts from traveling down the slope, but not up. In order for a minecart to move down a diagonal tunnel, there must be just as much clearance as a player needs to walk it.

Curve intersections

A diagram on how minecarts travel according to track curves.

If a straight track piece leads to a curve block and isn`t attached to the curve, a minecart will run over the gap and continue to go straight over the curve. This is not applicable with other types of rails.

Notably, the minecart can exceed the normal 8⃂m/s speed limit while it jumps over the gap. For instance, by placing intersections on every other block of a straight track, it is possible to travel at 10⃂m/s in a straight direction (but it will be a very uncomfortable ride).

Rail performance

The performance of minecarts on a track is affected by the way the track is placed. Running track next to a wall (especially diagonal tracks), placing lampposts next to it, or having hills to climb will adversely affect the speed of a minecart, and consequently its distance travelled.

A minecart with no rider at full speed can climb 10 blocks on unpowered track. This suggests that a powered track is only needed at a height of 10 blocks to keep a cart climbing. Be that as it may, the cart slows so much that it can only reach another 5 blocks high with 2 lengths of powered track starting at 9 blocks high. The minimum number of powered rails to keep the cart climbing is 3 every 6 blocks.

Carts with a rider, or minecarts with chest Minecart with Chest Type Vehicles Durability N/A Renewable Yes Stackable No Internal ID PC: 43 PE: 98 Network ID PC: 10 Entity ID chest_minecart Drops 1 Minecart 1 Chest plus contents Health points 6 () , have more momentum and so climb higher than carts that are unloaded. With a rider, a minecart can climb at least 24 blocks before needing powered rails to go higher. And to ascend from 0 to max speed, you need 7 powered rails.

Data values

Every rail has an ID name of minecraft:rail and stores its orientation in its block data. A rail also has a block state which is expected to replace the functionality of block data in a future version.

Block data

See also: Data values See values from the latest PCPersonal Computer version of Minecraft. For values from Classic, see Data values/Classic. For values from Indev, see Data values/Indev. For values from the Pocket Edition, see Pocket Edition

A rail`s block data specifies the directions to which it connects.

Block state

See also: Block states

Name See the definition of the block states. For the files that determine block models, see Models#Block states. Block states are extra pieces of data that further define a block. Contents 1 List	Value	Description
⃂shape	north_south east_west north_east north_west south_east south_west	The two directions a rail connects to. For instance, a south_east rail is a curved rail which connects to the south and to the east.
	ascending_north ascending_south ascending_east ascending_west	A rail that ascends towards the direction noted. For instance, an ascending_west rail is a straight rail which goes upwards from the east towards the west.

Achievements

Icon	Achievement Pocket Edition & Console Edition only The popup that appears when an achievement is earned. "The End?" and "The End." redirect here. For the dimension, see The End. Certain names of achievements redirect here. For	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Availability				Xbox points earned	Trophy type (PS)
				Xbox	PS	Pocket	Wii U
	On A Rail	Travel by minecart to a point at least 500m in a single direction from where you started.	Travel by minecart to a point at least 500⃂m from where you started. Distance is measured in a straight line.	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	40G	Gold

Video

History

Infdev
Seecret Friday 1					Rails were introduced in the first "Seecret Friday Update" to Infdev.
Alpha
1.2.0					Texture changed slightly.
Beta
1.6					Before this update, parallel tracks could be used to create minecart boosters.
1.8			pre1		Rails are found in the new mineshaft chests.
Official release
1.0.0			Beta 1.9-pre1		Rails are destroyed by snowfall (bug).
			Beta 1.9-pre4		Some rail behavior was affected following changing the south-west rule to south-east rule.
1.3.1			12w25a		Rails can now be placed on upside-down slabs and stairs Stairs Transparency Partial (blocks light) Luminance No Blast resistance Wood: 15 Stone: 30 Sandstone, Quartz, Red Sandstone: 4 Tools Renewable Cobblestone, Stone Brick, Wood, Purpur: Yes All others: No Stackable Yes (64) Flammable Wood: Yes .
1.5			13w04a		Mobs no longer walk over rails unless they are pursuing the player.
1.9			15w44a		Increased average yield from mineshaft chests by more than 20 times. Mobs no longer spawn on rails.
1.11			16w32b		All rail types` hitbox heights are decreased from a full block to a half block.
			16w39a		Rails now generate in woodland mansions Woodland mansion Biome Roofed Forest Consists of See Structure. Can generate post-generation N/A First appearances See history This article may need cleanup to comply with the style guide. Please help improve this if you can. .
Pocket Edition Alpha
0.8.0			build 2		Added rails.
0.9.0			build 1		Rails now naturally spawn in abandoned mineshafts Abandoned mineshaft Biome Any Consists of Wooden Planks Fence Rail Torch Cobweb Dirt Monster Spawner Minecart with Chest Can generate post-generation No First appearances See history "Mine" redirects here. For information about mining, see Mining. .
Pocket Edition
1.1			build 1		Rails now generate in woodland mansions Woodland mansion Biome Roofed Forest Consists of See Structure. Can generate post-generation N/A First appearances See history This article may need cleanup to comply with the style guide. Please help improve this if you can. .
Console Edition
TU1	CU1	1.0	Patch 1		Added rails.

Issues

Issues relating to ⃢₀ₜRail⃢₀₝ are maintained on the issue tracker. Report issues there.

Gallery

• 

  An example of a track with curves and ramps.

• 

  An example of how to use the tracks as a roller coaster.

• 

  A randomly generated misplaced rail found in an abandoned mineshaft.

• 

  Another floating rail in a mineshaft.

• 

  Villagers riding minecarts with rails below them.

Contents

Overview

Rails (also known as Minecart Tracks) are non-solid blocks first seen in the First "Secret Friday Update" to Indev. The block has several sprites depending on their orientation when laid. They appear as a 2D image of straight track in the player`s hand. Tracks do not appear anywhere on a natural map, except for in Abandoned Mine Shafts⃢₀ₔboth as blocks in the passageways and in the Chest Minecarts. If there is no block below it, it will break.

Using Rails

Two directly adjacent tracks will attach inline to each other automatically. If two perpendicular track pieces meet, the track connecting them will turn into a curve.

If a track leads up to a one-block high ledge, the piece placed up against the ledge will turn into a ramp if another track is placed on top of the ledge.

"T" intersections can be powered by Redstone circuits and their direction can change with Switches provided there is no confusion about the 2 directions to switch to. Separate tracks laid adjacent but at the next level lower or higher can sometimes cause issues. Since there are no formal rail junctions, switched T intersections are the only method by which the player can have a track system that leads in more directions than back and forth.

Different variations of the rail are the detector and powered rails. A powered rail can be powered by redstone torches and move minecarts. Detector rails act like pressure plates and can also power powered rails.

Crafting