BetterRailwaySystem

BetterRailwaySystem is a Fabric mod for Minecraft that enhances the vanilla minecart and rail system without replacing it.

The goal is simple:

keep full compatibility with vanilla rails, powered rails, detector rails, activator rails, and redstone behavior
enhance minecart movement, operation, station handling, and line management
avoid introducing a separate railway system like MTR

Current Scope

This mod is built around the vanilla minecart entity and vanilla track network.

Implemented feature areas:

enhanced vanilla minecart physics and control
operational railway blocks for spawning, stopping, collecting, and announcing
world line recording and line map visualization
in-game configuration, commands, and balise asset management

Features

Minecart Behavior

smooth acceleration on powered rails instead of instantly jumping to top speed
smooth deceleration on unpowered powered rails instead of immediate hard stop
configurable maxSpeed, acceleration, and deceleration in blocks per second
configurable safe following distance for automatic braking behind a minecart on the same track path
automatic recovery and re-acceleration after temporary blocking or rebound
substep-based high-speed rail movement to improve curve and slope stability
slope and high-speed movement tuning focused on keeping momentum on vanilla rails
minecart chunk loading while the train is running
unattended minecart auto-despawn after a configurable timeout
minecart collision and push behavior against entities disabled to reduce traffic jams
vanilla minecart rail friction sound reduced to nearly inaudible

Multi-Passenger Minecart

one minecart can carry up to 24 players by default
all players share the same vanilla minecart entity
each player keeps normal local first-person and third-person rendering
other passengers in the same minecart are hidden to avoid player model overlap
vanilla dismount flow is preserved

Railway Balise

The railway_balise block is a rail-side trigger block for operational events.

Supported balise modes:

arrival
departure
announcement
speed_limit_start
speed_limit_end

Balise behavior includes:

sending title and subtitle announcements to current minecart passengers only
playing custom audio to minecart passengers only
showing a custom HUD image to minecart passengers only
optional image persistence until the next balise or until the player leaves the minecart
updating current station and next station state
optional bossbar updates for onboard passengers
temporary line speed limits with configurable speed limit start and end markers

Stop Rail

The stop_rail block works as a rail-side stop control block for precise station stopping.

Supported behavior:

configurable stop distance
configurable dwell time
wait modes: immediate, timer, redstone
automatic restart after release, including a short launch boost so the minecart does not remain stuck

Train Spawner

The train_spawner block can automatically create minecarts on existing vanilla rails.

Supported settings:

city name
line id
line theme color
spawn direction
interval-based dispatch
redstone-controlled dispatch
circular line flag

Spawner behavior:

spawns only when a valid rail exists at or above the block
refuses to spawn if another minecart is already occupying the spawn area
launches the minecart automatically in the configured or detected rail direction
binds spawned minecarts to city, line, color, route recording, and circular-line state
forces the spawner chunk to stay loaded

Train Collector

The train_collector block acts as the end-of-line recovery point.

Supported behavior:

removes the minecart when it reaches the collector
records visited stations into the saved railway line map before removing the train
saves line color and station coordinates along with station order

Railway Map and Line Map

The mod includes both onboard line maps and world railway map views.

Supported behavior:

open the map with the grave accent key ` / ~
open the current line map while riding
open the world railway map while not riding
city-based grouping of lines
station transfer merging by shared station name within the same city
line theme colors shown in the map and bossbar
station search
mouse wheel zoom
drag-to-pan navigation
station tooltip display with station name, city, line list, and saved coordinates
per-city legends for line color lookup
railway map clear actions for all data, one city, or one line from the config screen

Bossbar and Line Theme

current station and next station bossbar for onboard passengers
bossbar color follows the line theme color
line theme color is also reused by saved line data and map rendering

Balise Asset Library

Custom balise media can be managed from the in-game library UI.

Supported behavior:

image library
sound library
upload new .png images and .ogg sounds
click-to-preview media
select a media identifier directly into the balise editor
automatic local resource pack generation and reload for uploaded assets

Configuration

Available config values include:

maxSpeed
acceleration
deceleration
safeFollowingDistance
maxPassengers
stopRailApproachDistance
unattendedDespawnSeconds

Configuration is available through:

in-game config screen
commands: /betterrailwaysystem config show, /betterrailwaysystem config reload, /betterrailwaysystem config set <key> <value>

Environment

Minecraft 1.21.1
Fabric Loader
Fabric API
Yarn mappings
Java 21

Development

Common commands:

./gradlew build
./gradlew runClient

Project Structure

Source layout:

src/main/java/org/dcstudio/minecart minecart runtime logic
src/main/java/org/dcstudio/renderer client UI and overlay rendering
src/main/java/org/dcstudio/network client/server payloads and sync
src/main/java/org/dcstudio/station railway block and block entity logic
src/main/java/org/dcstudio/config config and command handling

Notes

The mod id is betterrailwaysystem.
All custom behavior is designed around vanilla rails instead of replacing them.
The mod keeps compatibility with vanilla powered rails, detector rails, activator rails, and normal rails.
Train operation, station events, and map recording are all built on top of vanilla minecarts.

License

This repository is licensed under GPL-3.0. See LICENSE.

Author of the 3D model in the icon:Mareon,khj008008