Rail chain signal — Factorio Production Calculator
Rail chain signal is crafted in the assembling machine in 0.5 seconds, producing 1 per craft from 1 × Electronic circuit, 5 × Iron plate. At 60 per minute you need 1 assembling machine, and the chain behind it draws on 2 raw resources: iron ore, copper ore.
Production chain for 60 Rail chain signal / minute
| Item | Per minute | Machines | Machine |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iron plate | 360 | 19.2 | Furnace |
| Copper cable | 180 | 1.5 | Assembling machine |
| Copper plate | 90 | 4.8 | Furnace |
| Rail chain signal | 60 | 1 | Assembling machine |
| Electronic circuit | 60 | 1 | Assembling machine |
Raw materials
| Resource | Per minute |
|---|---|
| Iron ore | 360 |
| Copper ore | 90 |
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 chain signal recipe
| Machine | Crafting time | Output | Ingredients |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assembling machine | 0.5 s | 1 | Electronic circuit × 1, Iron plate × 5 |
What the whole chain needs
60 rail chain signals per minute pulls in 4 intermediate products, and the whole tree comes to 28 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 360 per minute, which is 0.4 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 chain signal
No base-game recipe consumes rail chain signal — it is an end product. Once you build it, the chain stops here, which makes it a good target if you only want to size the sub-factory that feeds your mall.
What rail chain signal is made from
- Electronic circuit — 1 per craft
- Iron plate — 5 per craft
FAQ
How many assembling machines do I need for 60 rail chain signals per minute?
1 assembling machine. One at standard speed produces 60 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 chain signal take?
At 60/min the chain consumes 360 iron ore per minute, 90 copper ore per minute. Those numbers are the theoretical minimum — mining productivity research and productivity modules both reduce them.
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.