Detector Rail

Detector Rail
Renewable	Yes
Stackable	Yes (64)
Tool
Blast resistance	0.7
Hardness	0.7
Luminous	No
Transparent	Yes
Waterloggable	Yes
Flammable	No
Catches fire; from lava	No
Map color (JE)	; 0 NONE

The detector rail is a type of rail that produces a redstone signal while a minecart is on it.

Obtaining

Breaking

The suitable tool to break detector rail is pickaxe.

Block	Detector Rail
Hardness	0.7
Tool
Breaking time (sec)^[A]
Default	1.05
Wooden	0.55
Stone	0.3
Copper	0.25
Iron	0.2
Diamond	0.15
Netherite	0.15
Golden	0.1
Options
Efficiency	000
Haste	001 1JEBE

Legend

incorrect tool, drops nothing
correct tool, drops nothing or something other than the block itself
correct tool, drops the block itself
italicized can be instant mined

↑ These durations ignore any other influential factors (e.g., Mining Fatigue) and are measured in seconds. For more information, see Breaking § Speed.

Detector rail drops itself when it's destroyed.

Generated loot

Item	Structure	Container	Quantity	Chance
Java Edition and Bedrock Edition
Detector Rail	Mineshaft	Chest	1–4	27.1% { "item": "Detector Rail", "stacksize": "1–4", "chance": 0.271, "structure": "Mineshaft", "container": "Chest" }

Crafting

Ingredients	Crafting recipe
Iron Ingot + Stone Pressure Plate + Redstone Dust	6

Usage

To place a detector rail, use a detector rail item while pointing at a surface facing the space the detector rail should occupy.

A detector rail can be placed on top of any block whose top face has a rim around the edge, such as any full block, hopper, top slab, upside-down stairs, or top trapdoor. A full list of compatible blocks can be found here.

If a detector rail is updated while on an opened top trapdoor, the rail breaks and drops as an item. Placing a minecart on a detector rail on top of a closed and unpowered trapdoor opens the trapdoor and updates the rail, causing the detector rail to break. If the top trapdoor is powered and closed when the minecart is placed, the trapdoor does not open so the rail does not break. The minecart on the detector rail then powers the trapdoor, meaning the external power source can be removed without causing the trapdoor to change state and break the rail.

When placed, a detector rail configures itself to line up with any adjacent rails (including activator rails, powered rails, and other detector 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 detector rail lines up in the east-west direction. If there are no adjacent rails, a detector rail lines up in the north-south direction (but if a rail is later placed to the east or west, the detector 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 detector rail slants upward toward it (with multiple options to slant upward to, a detector rail "prefers", in order: west, east, south, and north). Other configurations can be created by placing and removing various rails.

Mobs avoid walking across a detector rail (or other rails), but can be pushed onto them.

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

Rail

Detector rails (and other rails) act as "roads" for minecarts. A minecart that enters a detector rail's space from either end of the detector rail continues to move, losing only a little velocity (which can then be increased again with powered rails). A minecart that enters a detector rail's space from the side turns east or south (depending on the detector rail's orientation), or in the downward direction for a slanted detector rail.

Redstone component

Example for signal strength of a full minecart (right) and a half-full one (left)

A detector rail becomes powered when any part of any minecart's bounding box comes into contact with it. Every 20th game tick after the rail first becomes powered, it checks whether any minecart is still present and depowers if there are none in contact at that time. This means that the duration of the signal is always a multiple of 20 game ticks (10 redstone ticks). While powered, a detector rail:

sets adjacent redstone dust to power level 15
activates adjacent redstone repeaters facing away from the detector rail
activates adjacent redstone comparators facing away from the detector rail to a level corresponding to the fullness of the minecart if it is a minecart with chest or a minecart with hopper
strongly powers the block supporting the detector rail if that block is conductive
activates any adjacent mechanism components, including above or below, such as pistons, redstone lamps, powered rails, hoppers, etc.

Comparators give a signal for a minecart with chest or a minecart with hopper

If the minecart on the detector rail is a minecart with chest or minecart with hopper, an adjacent redstone comparator facing away from the detector rail outputs a power level proportional to the container's fullness, possibly power level 0. For any other type of minecart (including a regular minecart with a mob riding it) the comparator's output is zero.

A comparator can read the contents of a minecart with hopper or with chest on a detector rail through a solid opaque block, as it can with other container blocks.

Mob interaction

Like other types of rails, spiders, cave spiders, and wardens are the only land mobs that can walk onto detector rails.

Piston interactivity

Detector rail can be pushed by the piston, and can be pulled by the sticky piston. However, detector rail breaks and drops as an item when it is unsupported because of being moved.

Sounds

Java Edition:

v t e `metal` sound type
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	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
	Something falls on a block	Entity-Dependent	Falling on the block with fall damage	`block.metal.fall`	`subtitles.block.generic.fall`	0.5	1.25	16
	Footsteps	Entity-Dependent	Walking on the block	`block.metal.step`	`subtitles.block.generic.footsteps`	0.15	1.5	16

Bedrock Edition:

v t e `metal` sound type
Sound	Closed captions ^{[upcoming: BE 26.0]}	Source	Description	Identifier	Translation key ^{[upcoming: BE 26.0]}	Volume	Pitch
	Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	`dig.stone`	`subtitles.block.generic.break`	1.0	1.1-1.2
	Block placed	Blocks	When the block is placed	`use.stone`	`subtitles.block.generic.place`	1.0	1.2-1.25
	Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	`hit.stone`	`subtitles.block.generic.hit`	0.3	0.75
	Footsteps	Players	Falling on the block with fall damage	`fall.stone`	`subtitles.block.generic.footsteps`	0.4	1.0
	Footsteps	Players	Walking on the block	`step.stone`	`subtitles.block.generic.footsteps`	0.35	1.0
	Footsteps	Blocks	Jumping from the block	`jump.stone`	`subtitles.block.generic.footsteps`	0.12	1.0
	Footsteps	Blocks	Falling on the block without fall damage	`land.stone`	`subtitles.block.generic.footsteps`	0.22	1.0

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

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

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Form	Item ID^{[i 1]}	Translation key
Detector Rail	`detector_rail`	`28`	Block & Giveable Item^{[i 2]}	Identical^{[i 3]}	`tile.detector_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

Videos

History

Java Edition

Java Edition Beta
1.5		Added detector rails.
Java Edition
1.0.0	Beta 1.9 Prerelease 6	Detector rails are now broken faster using a pickaxe.
1.3.1	12w21a	Detector rails are now renewable, due to redstone dust being obtainable from trading.
1.5	13w10a	A texture for active detector rails has now been added.
1.8	14w28a	Sloped detector rails no longer decrease their hitbox to 2 pixels of a block when activated.
1.9	15w38a	All sloped rail types' hitbox heights have been decreased from 10 pixels of a block to about 2.5 pixels of a block.
	15w44a	Detector rails can now be found in chest minecarts in mineshafts.
	15w46a	Mobs no longer spawn on detector rails.
1.10	16w21a	All sloped rail types' hitbox heights have been increased from about 2.5 pixels of a block to a full block.
1.11	16w32b	All sloped rail types' hitbox heights have now been decreased from a full block to a half block.
1.14	18w43a	The textures of detector rails have now been changed.
1.14	19w12b	Detector rails can now be placed on glass, ice, glowstone and sea lanterns.
1.17	20w45a	All rail types can now be waterlogged.

Bedrock Edition

Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.13.0	build 1	Added detector rails.
v0.14.0	build 1	Detector rails can now be found inside minecarts with chests in mineshafts.
Bedrock Edition
1.7.0	beta 1.7.0.2	Rails are once again broken by flowing water. Previously it flowed through the rails.
1.10.0	beta 1.10.0.3	The textures of detector rails have now been changed.

Legacy Console Edition

Legacy Console Edition
Xbox 360	Xbox One	PS3	PS4	PS Vita	Wii U	Switch
TU1	CU1	1.00	1.00	1.00	Patch 1	1.0.1	^[verify] Added detector rails.
TU46	CU36	1.38	1.38	1.38	Patch 15	1.0.1	All sloped rail types' hitbox heights have been increased from 10 pixels of a block to a full block.
TU54	CU44	1.52	1.52	1.52	Patch 24	1.0.4	All sloped rail types' hitbox heights have now been decreased from a full block to a half block.
TU69		1.76	1.76	1.76	Patch 38		All types of rails can now be waterlogged and are no longer destroyed by flowing water. Instead it flows right through them.
			1.90				The textures of detector rails have now been changed.

New Nintendo 3DS Edition

New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0							Added detector rails.

Data history

Java Edition

1.8

14w10a

Detector 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

Detector rails are now defined via block states rather than by numerical metadata. Prior to this version, the numerical metadata variants of the detector 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