What's New in Rust's "Above-ground Trains Update" Update

The Above-ground Trains Update arrived in May 2022 and finally put rolling stock on the surface rail network that had been sitting conspicuously train-less since its introduction. Facepunch was upfront that this was a first pass - mostly reusing existing assets while bigger train content cooked - but between couplable wagons, procedural branch lines and a serious performance push, it was a meatier patch than that framing suggests.

Trains on the Surface

The above-ground Work Cart closely resembles its underground cousin, with one big addition: coupling points at each end that connect to other train cars. Facepunch also took some static train wagon models and made them functional - they didn't do anything special yet, but they spawned alongside Work Carts on the new rail sidings and could be shunted around the network.

The physics were surprisingly thoughtful for a first release. Work Carts run on low grade fuel as usual, with constant target speeds at low, medium and high throttle - but acceleration and pulling power are affected by gravity and how many coupled wagons you're hauling. If your long train can't make it up a hill, you can couple multiple Work Carts together in a multi-engine setup for extra power. Coupling happens automatically when wagons collide at low to moderate speed; slam into a wagon at high speed and instead of coupling you may take damage. Uncoupling is manual - just interact with the coupling point. The bogies (the wheel assemblies) were also updated to rotate with the track more realistically.

Rail Branch Lines

Supporting the new trains, the rail network gained branch lines - secondary lines that split off the main line and merge back into it, generated entirely procedurally with no predetermined prefabs beyond the rail mesh itself. For this release the branch lines were simply where trains spawned, but the flexible system was built with future rail expansion squarely in mind. The foliage alongside rails and roads was optimised at the same time, now spawning in larger clusters with varying coverage - some dense stretches, some open - which let the team cut the total bush count for performance without hurting the visuals.

Zipline Improvements

Ziplines had proven popular since their debut the previous month, but too many failed to connect during map generation, leaving orphaned platforms. This patch made routing smarter - ziplines can now pass through 2 separate mid-points on the way to their destination to dodge obstacles - and added arrival points at Sewer Branch, Stables, Lighthouse and Dome. Combined, the changes boosted the number of ziplines on procedural maps by about 40%.

Death Screen and Client Performance

The death screen got custom icons and proper translations for many NPCs, plus a genuinely useful fix: if you suicided while downed, the screen used to just report a suicide, hiding who dropped you. Now you see your attacker's name and weapon regardless.

Client performance had been flagged as a growing issue, so the whole team spent time on it. A regression from the previous month that generated garbage and caused stutters was fixed urgently in an early-month hotfix; a bug preventing lasers and other heavy systems from budgeting their performance correctly (which hurt servers too) was squashed; and network traffic from sprinklers watering planters was significantly reduced.

QOL and Community Contributions

• SAM Sites can no longer be damaged by bullet-type damage
• Junkpile scientists returned to junkpile spawns (and now despawn properly)
• Bad weather probability was reduced - 90% of days are now clear
• Fixed overly strict antihack configs that could make construction undamageable
• Fixed the junkyard keycard not respawning

The Community UI system used by modded servers also absorbed several community pull requests - blocking keyboard input while typing in text boxes, better item and skin rendering, native item icons and multi-line input fields - with credit to Ailtop, Jake-Rich, shooter46 and Mughisi.

Hapis and Twitch Drops

A quick heads-up in the blog: Hapis Island, broken since the previous year's graphical overhaul, was being aimed at a return in the following month's patch. Meanwhile Twitch drops ran from patch day until May 12th at 23:59 UTC, with unique skins earned by watching Rust streamers and all drops moving to general during the final 24 hours. Streamer-branded items from this period - like the camomo_10 Hammer, isvolcano AR and Lucroan Rocket Launcher - remain collectible today, and you can follow their prices on our skin tracker. With branch lines in place and more train content already in the works, this update was clearly laying track - literally - for bigger things.