Satisfactory Trains guide: How to set up a rail network

Trains in Satisfactory are a game-changer. They’re the key to moving massive amounts of resources across long distances, saving you from the endless conveyor belt spaghetti you’ve probably been dealing with.

Once you unlock trains, they’re a great way to level up your production game and give your factory a more “advanced industrialist” vibe. But, fair warning – setting them up can be a bit tricky.

This guide will break down everything you need to know, from unlocking trains to keeping them from crashing (yes, that can happen).

How to unlock trains

Before you can jump into the world of trains, you’ve got to unlock the Monorail Train Technology Milestone, which you’ll find in Tier 6. You’ll need to gather resources like beams and pipes, but once you hit that milestone, the train system is yours to play with.

Powering up your trains

Laying down rails might seem easy, but there are a few tricks to making it work smoothly.

• Rails curve automatically to fit the terrain, which is cool -unless you want perfectly straight lines. For those, build your rails on foundations.
• To place rails, it’s similar to placing conveyor belts, but with a twist: you can only snap rail lines where two segments meet.
• If you need to add an intersection in the middle of a track, you’ll have to break the line into two parts first.
• If you want 90-degree turns, go three foundations out, three to the side, and you’re golden.

Best Locomotive and Freight car composition

When it comes to building your train, balance is key. For every four freight cars, you’ll want one locomotive. If you add more than four freight cars per locomotive, you’ll notice your train struggling, especially on hills.

As a general rule, shorter trains are faster and more efficient, so resist the temptation to build one massive behemoth of a train. Instead, opt for more frequent, smaller trains to keep things moving smoothly.

Setting up train stations and other train settings

Setting up your train stations is pretty straightforward, but make sure the station is facing the right direction – the curved side is the front.

From there, decide whether you need a freight platform for solid materials, a fluid freight platform for liquids, or empty platforms. You can adjust the station inputs and outputs depending on where your belts or pipes are coming from.

Don’t forget to name your stations. Press E while hovering over the station to change its name, making navigation much easier when setting up routes.

How to avoid train crashes with block signals

Now, the not-so-fun part: avoiding train crashes. If you’ve got multiple trains running on the same tracks, you need block signals.

Block signals break your track into different sections, or “blocks,” and prevent trains from entering a block that’s already occupied.

Place block signals at the start and end of each station to create separate blocks, and make sure your blocks are longer than your trains. For intersections, use path signals at the entrances and block signals at the exits.

Powering up your trains

Here’s a cool trick: rails carry power! As long as your first station is connected to a power source, the entire rail network will be powered, including any buildings along the line.

Plus, this means you can use your hover pack anywhere near your rails without running out of juice.

With these basics covered, you’re all set to build a functional and crash-free train network in Satisfactory. Now that you can transport your resources much faster, you might want to focus on spotting the best Pure Nodes and hunting down all hard drives.

Common Train and Signal errors

Setting up a train network isn’t easy – you might get a handful of errors when attempting to use your railway vehicle. Here are the most common errors and how to fix them:

How to fix ‘Signal loops into itself’

Add more signals to the loop to fix this error. When Satisfactory says “signal loops into itself,” it means that the railroad section after the signal leads back to the same signal, likely after completing a full loop. These signals help manage the railway by dividing it into segments. They turn red whenever a train is present on the next segment.

You need to place a signal at every switch your train will pass along its route. This means if your train network stretches halfway across the map, you’ll have a lot of running around and installing to do

How to fix Station unreachable

To fix the Station Unreachable error, try rebuilding both train stations and make sure one isn’t facing the wrong way. This is usually the explanation behind it.

If not, you’re probably using a double-headed train with Electric Locomotives on both ends to move back and forth between 2 to 4 Anchor Train Stations, maybe stopping at some Intermediate Train Stations along the way. Your setup uses a circular or oval railway design where multiple trains travel in one direction, like “clockwise,” for example.