Powered Rail

A powered rail is a type of rail that either increases or decreases the velocity of minecarts that move over it, depending on its power state.

Obtaining[]

Breaking[]

Powered rails can be crafted, and previously placed powered rails can be broken with any tool or by hand, dropping themselves as items.

Block	Powered Rail
Hardness	0.7
Tool
Breaking time^[A]
Default	1.05
Wooden	0.55
Stone	0.3
Iron	0.2
Diamond	0.15
Netherite	0.15
Golden	0.1

↑ Times are for unenchanted tools as wielded by players with no status effects, measured in seconds. For more information, see Breaking § Speed.

A powered rail also drops as an item when the block beneath it is removed or a piston moves it into a space with no floor below it.

Chest loot[]

Item	Structure	Container	Quantity	Chance
Java Edition
Powered Rail	Mineshaft	Chest	1–4	27.1%
Bedrock Edition
Powered Rail	Mineshaft	Chest	1–4	27.1%

Crafting[]

Ingredients	Crafting recipe
Gold Ingot + Stick + Redstone Dust	6

Usage[]

A powered rail can be used as a rail and as a redstone component.

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

the top of any full solid opaque block (stone, dirt, blocks of gold, etc.), including full-block mechanism components (command blocks, dispensers, droppers, note blocks, and redstone lamps)
the top of a hopper, upside-down slab, or upside-down stairs.

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

When placed, a powered rail configures itself to line up with any adjacent rails (including activator rails, detector rails, and other powered rails), as well as adjacent rails one block up. If there are two adjacent rails on non-opposite sides, or three or more adjacent rails, a powered rail lines up in the east-west direction. If there are no adjacent rails, a powered rail lines up in the north-south direction (but if a rail is later placed to the east or west, the powered rail re-orients itself in the east-west direction even if it is already connected to another rail to the north or south). If a rail it would line up with is one block up, a powered rail slants upward toward it (with multiple options to slant upward to, a powered rail "prefers", in order: west, east, south, and north). Other configurations can be created by placing and removing various rails. Unlike their unpowered counterparts, and like detector and activator rails, powered rails are always straight.

It cannot be placed suspended in midair, even with commands, which is not unintentional.^[1]

Rail[]

Powered rails (and other rails) can be used as "roads" for minecarts. A minecart that enters a powered rail's space from either end of the powered rail continues to move in the direction the powered rail is facing, but its speed may change depending on whether the powered rail is active or not (see below). A minecart that enters a powered rail's space from the side turns east or south (depending on the powered rail's orientation), or in the downward direction for a slanted powered rail.

Redstone component[]

Powered rails can be used to affect the speed of minecarts that travel over them.

Activation

A powered rail is a redstone mechanism and can be activated by:

an adjacent active power component (for example, a redstone torch, a block of redstone, a daylight sensor, etc.)
an adjacent powered block (strongly-powered or weakly-powered)
a powered redstone comparator or redstone repeater facing the powered rail
powered redstone dust configured to point at the powered rail; a powered rail is not activated by adjacent powered redstone dust that is a directionless "dot" or configured to point in another direction.

An activated powered rail also activates any adjacent powered rails it is connected to, up to eight away from the original activation source. Thus a single activation source can activate up to 17 rails (one original in the middle and eight on either side). An activated powered rail does not activate non-connected adjacent rails.

Behavior

An active powered rail:

increases the speed of a moving minecart in the direction it is already moving. Specifically, let the speed in both the X and Z directions (meters / tick) combined be "speed". If speed > 0.01, then every tick the minecart is passing over the powered rail, its x velocity is increased by (xspeed * 0.06 / speed) and its z velocity is increased by (zspeed * 0.06 / speed)
accelerate a non-moving minecart away from a solid opaque block the powered rail is facing (so a non-moving minecart moves away from the block when the powered rail activates, and a moving minecart bounces off a block an active powered rail is facing because it stops and then gets accelerated away)

An inactive powered rail reduces the speed of a moving minecart, usually stopping it within one block's distance even on a downward-slanted track. If a slanted powered rail activates with a non-moving minecart on it, the minecart starts moving downward (because it is no longer being braked by an inactive powered rail) and is then accelerated downward.

Powered rails cannot increase the speed of a minecart to more than 8 blocks per second on either the north-south or east-west axis. The speeds that can be achieved with varying numbers of powered rails or intervals of normal rails between powered rails is complex -- for a thorough discussion, see Tutorials/Minecarts.

Sounds[]

Java Edition:

Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	`block.metal.break`	`subtitles.block.generic.break`	1.0	1.2	16
Block placed	Blocks	When the block is placed	`block.metal.place`	`subtitles.block.generic.place`	1.0	1.2	16
Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	`block.metal.hit`	`subtitles.block.generic.hit`	0.25	0.75	16
None^{[sound 1]}	Entity-Dependent	Falling on the block with fall damage	`block.metal.fall`	None^{[sound 1]}	0.5	1.25	16
Footsteps	Entity-Dependent	Walking on the block	`block.metal.step`	`subtitles.block.generic.footsteps`	0.15	1.5	16

↑ ^a ^b MC-177082

Bedrock Edition:

Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
Blocks	Once the block has broken	`dig.stone`	1.0	1.1-1.2
Blocks	When the block is placed	`use.stone`	1.0	1.2-1.25
Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	`hit.stone`	0.3	0.75
Players	Falling on the block with fall damage	`fall.stone`	0.4	1.0
Players	Walking on the block	`step.stone`	0.35	1.0
Players	Jumping from the block	`jump.stone`	0.12	1.0
Players	Falling on the block without fall damage	`land.stone`	0.22	1.0

Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Form	Block tags	Item tags	Translation key
Powered Rail	`powered_rail`	Block & Item	`prevent_mob_spawning_inside` `rails`	`rails`	`block.minecraft.powered_rail`

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Form	Item ID^{[i 1]}	Translation key
Powered Rail	`golden_rail`	`27`	Block & Giveable Item^{[i 2]}	Identical^{[i 3]}	`tile.golden_rail.name`

↑ ID of block's direct item form, which is used in savegame files and addons.
↑ Available with /give command.
↑ The block's direct item form has the same id as the block.

Block states[]

Java Edition:

Name	Default value	Allowed values	Description
powered	`false`	`false` `true`	True if rail is activated.
shape	`north_south`	`east_west` `north_south`	Specifies the rail's orientation.
shape	`north_south`	`ascending_east` `ascending_north` `ascending_south` `ascending_west`	A rail that ascends toward the direction noted. For example, an `ascending_west` rail is a straight rail that goes upward from the east toward the west.
waterlogged	`false`	`false` `true`	Whether or not there's water in the same place as this rail.

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Metadata Bits	Default value	Allowed values	Values for Metadata Bits	Description
rail_data_bit	`0x8`	`false`	`false` `true`	`0` `1`	True if rail is activated.
rail_direction	`0x1` `0x2` `0x4`	`0`	`0`	`0`	flat track going north-south
			`1`	`1`	flat track going east-west
			`2`	`2`	sloped track ascending to the east
			`3`	`3`	sloped track ascending to the west
			`4`	`4`	sloped track ascending to the north
			`5`	`5`	sloped track ascending to the south
			`6` `7` `8` `9`	`Unsupported`	Unused

Video[]

History[]

Java Edition Beta
1.5					Added powered rails.
1.6		Test Build 3			The effectiveness of powered rails has now been increased as a response to fixing the minecart booster bug.
Java Edition
1.0.0		Beta 1.9 Prerelease 6			Powered Rails are now broken faster using a pickaxe.
1.1		11w49a			Fixed powered rail bug.^{[more information needed]}
1.5		13w02a			The item form of the powered rail has changed from to .
1.9		15w44a			Powered rails can now be found in mineshaft chest minecarts.
1.11		16w32b			All rail types' hitbox heights are decreased from a full block to a half block.
1.14		18w43a			The textures of powered rails has now been changed.
1.14		19w12b			Powered rails can now be placed on glass, ice, glowstone and sea lantern.
1.17		20w45a			All rail types can now be waterlogged.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.8.0		build 1			Added powered rails, which are always powered.
v0.13.0		build 1			Powered rails no longer have intrinsic power, and now need to be powered by an external power source.
v0.14.0		build 1			Powered rails can now be found in minecart with chests inside of mineshafts.
Bedrock Edition
1.10.0		beta 1.10.0.3			The textures of powered rails has now been changed.
Legacy Console Edition
TU1	CU1	1.0	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added powered rails.
		1.90			The textures of powered rails has now been changed.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0					Added powered rails.

Data history[]

Java Edition

1.8 14w10a Powered rails with numerical metadata variants 6, 7, 14 and 15, which are inaccessible through normal gameplay or even commands and as such require the use of external editors to exist, now have no model . Their appearances prior to this point were unknown.

14w25a

Powered rails are now defined via block states rather than by numerical metadata. Prior to this version, the numerical metadata variants of the powered rail were as follows:

	DV	Description
	0	Unpowered north-south
	1	Unpowered east-west
	2	Unpowered ascending east
	3	Unpowered ascending west
	4	Unpowered ascending north
	5	Unpowered ascending south
	6-7	Inaccessible - behavior unknown
	8	Powered north-south
	9	Powered east-west
	10	Powered ascending east
	11	Powered ascending west
	12	Powered ascending north
	13	Powered ascending south
	14-15	Inaccessible - behavior unknown

14w26a Powered rails with metadata values 6, 7, 14 and 15 have now been completely removed from the game.

1.13 17w47a The ID of powered rails has been changed from golden_rail to powered_rail.

Prior to The Flattening, this block's numeral ID was 27.

Issues[]

Issues relating to "Powered Rail" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia[]

Powered rails were originally a suggestion for golden tracks.

Gallery[]

Power on.
Power off.

References[]

↑ MC-182709

Redstone

[breakingtimenote-1] Times are for unenchanted tools as wielded by players with no status effects, measured in seconds. For more information, see Breaking § Speed.

[bugMC-177082-3] MC-177082

[bedrock-item-id-4] ID of block's direct item form, which is used in savegame files and addons.

[bedrock-give-available-5] Available with /give command.

[bedrock-item-form-6] The block's direct item form has the same id as the block.

[2] MC-182709

[A]

Powered Rail

Contents

Obtaining[]

Breaking[]

Chest loot[]

Crafting[]

Usage[]

Rail[]

Redstone component[]

Sounds[]

Data values[]

ID[]

Block states[]

Video[]

History[]

Data history[]

Issues[]

Trivia[]

Gallery[]

See also[]

References[]

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