Bedrock Edition:Floating Rails

Bedrock Floating Rails.png

Floating rails are any rail blocks that do not have a valid support block underneath them. There are multiple glitches that make floating rails obtainable.

Obtaining

Generation

From v0.9.0 alpha build 1 to beta 1.6.0.1, mineshaft structures can sometimes generate incorrectly, which causes floating rails to appear in them. Starting in beta 1.2.0.2, mineshafts are affected by a generation bug (MCPE-28485) that makes floating rails significantly more common.

Double tall plant placement

From v0.9.0 alpha build 1 to v0.10.5 alpha, placing a two-block tall plant in a one-block high gap deletes the block above it without causing any surrounding blocks to receive updates. This can be used to create floating rails at almost any location.

Bonemealing grass and ferns

From v0.9.0 build 3 to build 6 and from v0.9.0 build 8 to v0.11.0 build 4, applying bone meal to grass or a fern in a one-block-high gap replaces the block above with the top half of double tallgrass or a large fern respectively. As with double tall plant placement, this does not update surrounding blocks and can be used to obtain floating rails.

Pistons

From v0.15.0 build 1 to 1.0.4, moving rails off of a valid support block with a piston does not cause them to break.

Mining

From beta 1.2.0.11 to 1.2.2, floating rails can be created by mining the support block underneath them.

End portals

From beta 1.16.200.52 to Preview 1.21.100.20 (present), floating rails can be created using end portals. Starting in beta 1.6.0.5, activating an end portal destroys any blocks inside its frame. Starting in beta 1.16.200.52, breaking an end portal frame block that constitutes an active end portal deletes any end portal blocks inside the frame. Both of these actions do not cause any surrounding blocks to receive updates. This means that if the player places a support block inside the frame, places a rail on top of it, and then activates the end portal, a rail on top of an end portal is created. If at least one end portal frame block is then destroyed using an unbreakable block removal method, a floating rail is left behind.

Negative subchunk deletion

Warning: Potentially Dangerous Version 

This method uses a potentially dangerous version. For more information, visit the Potentially Dangerous Versions page. Play at your own risk.

In beta 1.17.30.23, subchunks at negative Y-levels often fail to save properly, which can cause them to get deleted or shifted down. This can be used to create floating rails at Y=0 or Y=-64. If the player places support blocks at Y=-1 and rails on top of them at Y=0, the support blocks can get deleted or shifted down and leave behind floating rails. Once the player updates out of this version, the subchunks containing the rails may also get shifted down, moving the rails to Y=-64.

Downgrading

Warning: Downgrading 

This method uses downgrading which can result in crashes, data loss, or corruption, and uses specific versions. Follow the page instructions carefully.

Floating activator rails can be created by downgrading to a version where they do not exist. Upon downgrading from v0.13.0 build 1 – v0.16.2 to v0.9.0 build 1 – v0.11.0 build 4, any placed activator rails gain the appearance and behavior of cake blocks, but they are technically not the same as actual cake. Double tall plants can then be used to create floating "cake," and once the player updates back to v0.13.0 build 1 or later, the "cake" blocks convert to floating activator rails. The same method cannot be used to create floating detector rails, as once the player updates back to v0.13.0, any detector rails immediately receive an update and break.

Usage

Since rails are a non-solid block, any entities that are not minecarts fall straight through floating rails. Therefore, if the player creates a transportation system that consists solely of floating rails, it is completely safe from non-ranged hostile mobs.

From alpha 1.0.5.0 to beta 1.2.0.9 and from beta 1.2.0.15 to 1.11.4, floating rails can be used to duplicate any rail type. Before beta 1.8.0.8, rails can be duplicated simply by placing a sloped rail next to a floating rail, which causes the sloped rail to break and drop an item without consuming any rails in the inventory. Starting in beta 1.8.0.8, sloped rails placed next to floating rails no longer break, but they can still be duplicated; pushing a sloped rail adjacent to a floating rail causes the sloped rail to break and drop two rail items.