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Rail Switch Puzzle is a free online train track puzzle that runs in the browser with no download and no sign-up. Trains leave one after another and roll one square per tick without ever stopping. You cannot steer them, speed them up or hold them back. What you can do is throw the crossovers, and a train changes lane the moment it reaches one that is open — so the same lever sends one train down and lets the next go straight through. Get every train onto the platform in its own colour without two of them meeting on the same rail.
How to play Rail Switch Puzzle
- Each lane runs left to right and ends at a coloured platform. A train has to reach the platform in its own colour.
- The arrows sitting on the track are crossovers. Tap one to throw it; tap again to close it. An open crossover glows orange.
- Press Start Trains and they leave one after another, moving one square per tick. Nothing you do stops or slows them.
- A train changes lane only when it reaches a crossover that is open at that moment. Throw it early — throwing it as the train arrives is already late.
- You can keep flipping levers the whole time the trains are running. That is how one crossover serves two trains differently.
- Two trains in the same square at the same tick is a crash, and so is two trains crossing straight through each other.
- Get every train onto its own platform to open the next yard. Doing it with fewer lever flips earns more stars.
Tips
- Plan before you press Start. Nothing moves until you do, so work out which lane each train has to end in and which crossovers get it there.
- Count ticks, not squares. A train that left two ticks after another is always two squares behind it, so you know exactly when each one arrives at a lever.
- Close a crossover behind a train you have already sent through. Leaving it open is the most common way the next train ends up somewhere you did not intend.
- When two trains must cross the same corridor, move one of them out of the way early rather than trying to time a swap — trains crossing through each other counts as a crash.
- A lever a train never reaches costs nothing to leave open, so concentrate on the ones actually on somebody’s path.
- Three stars want a run no busier than the reference solution, so a plan that works with three well-chosen flips beats one that works with ten frantic ones.
- Reset gives you the same yard again to run a cleaner plan. New Yard generates a different one at the same size.
FAQ
Is Rail Switch Puzzle free to play?
Yes. It runs in your browser with no download, no account and nothing to buy. All eight yards are here and they unlock as you clear them.
Can I stop or slow a train?
No, and that is the whole design. Trains leave on their own schedule and move one square per tick until they reach a platform. The crossovers are your only control.
When exactly does a crossover take effect?
At the moment a train is standing on that cell and moves off it. So a lever thrown a tick early works and a lever thrown as the train arrives does not — flipping ahead of time is always the safer habit.
Why did my trains crash when they never shared a square?
Two trains that trade places diagonally pass straight through each other, so that counts as a crash as well. If two trains need to change lanes near one another, move one of them a few squares earlier.
Is every yard solvable?
Yes. Each one is generated by driving the trains first and recording which crossovers were thrown, and only then painting the platform colours onto the lanes they arrived in — so a working schedule always exists. Yards that could be won by touching nothing are thrown away.
Can I flip levers while the trains are moving?
Yes, and you will need to. A single crossover often has to be open for one train and shut for the next, which is only possible while the clock is running.
Does Rail Switch Puzzle work on a phone?
Yes. Every lever is a full-size button, the yard scales to the frame, and there is no drag or precision input anywhere.