Rail — Factorio Production Calculator
Rail is crafted in the assembling machine in 0.5 seconds, producing 2 per craft from 1 × Stone, 1 × Iron stick, 1 × Steel plate. At 60 per minute you need 0.5 assembling machines, and the chain behind it draws on 2 raw resources: iron ore, stone.
Production chain for 60 Rail / minute
| Item | Per minute | Machines | Machine |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iron plate | 165 | 8.8 | Furnace |
| Rail | 60 | 0.5 | Assembling machine |
| Iron stick | 30 | 0.25 | Assembling machine |
| Steel plate | 30 | 8 | Furnace |
Raw materials
| Resource | Per minute |
|---|---|
| Iron ore | 165 |
| Stone | 30 |
Machine counts are not rounded up. Add a little headroom in game — belt throughput and inserter speed usually mean you want 5-10% more than the exact number.
Rail recipe
| Machine | Crafting time | Output | Ingredients |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assembling machine | 0.5 s | 2 | Stone × 1, Iron stick × 1, Steel plate × 1 |
What the whole chain needs
60 rails per minute pulls in 3 intermediate products, and the whole tree comes to 18 machines across 2 machine types, fed by 2 raw resources. The table above already sums demand across every branch — if copper cable is used by two recipes, you see the total, not one of them.
Belt check: the busiest input here moves 165 per minute, which is 0.18 of a yellow belt's 900 per minute. Above 1.0 and you need a second belt (or a faster tier) before the machines themselves become the limit.
What uses rail
1 base-game recipe consumes rail, sorted by how much each one takes:
- Production science pack — 30 per craft
What rail is made from
- Iron stick — 1 per craft
- Steel plate — 1 per craft
FAQ
How many assembling machines do I need for 60 rails per minute?
0.5 assembling machines. One at standard speed produces 120 per minute, so 60 ÷ that number is the count. The calculator above rounds nothing — add 5-10% headroom for belt and inserter losses in a real factory.
How much raw ore does rail take?
At 60/min the chain consumes 165 iron ore per minute, 30 stone per minute. Those numbers are the theoretical minimum — mining productivity research and productivity modules both reduce them.
Is rail needed for science packs?
Yes — it goes directly into Production science pack. Open the science pack page to see the demand that lands on this recipe.
Machine counts assume bare machines at standard speed. Recipe data comes from the game's own prototypes (PlayerCalc, Factorio 2.0 base game). Not affiliated with Wube Software.