Rust – How to Drive a Train

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There are a lot of vehicles in Rust that many players will never use or even see after hundreds of hours of gameplay. The train is one of these vehicles that many don’t even know they can use.

You can only find trains on the tracks either outside or in the tunnels, and you can use them to quickly get from one location to another. The only problem is that everyone will hear you as you go from one spot to another.

Recommended Read: Where to Get and Use a Red Keycard in Rust

Still, you can get a lot of wagons on the tracks if you use the outside train to collect a lot of resources that you can collect at the Train Yard.

To drive a train in Rust, you will need to find a Work Cart, place Low Grade Fuel in the Fuel Tank, and mount the front to start the vehicle.


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How to Drive a Train in Rust

To drive a train in Rust, you will need to find a Work Cart. The Work Cart is the “front” side of the train that will allow you to move around the tracks.

You can tell you’ve found a Work Cart if you see a cabin where you can mount it and a tank behind it where you can place Low Grade Fuel. The Work Cart uses around 4 Low Grade Fuel every minute at the highest speed.

Once you mount and start the Work Cart, you will see a few things appear on the screen in front of you:

  • Fuel
  • C
  • Throttle

The Fuel will just tell you how much Low Grade Fuel is left in the tank. You can dismount the train at any time to place some more fuel as the Work Cart will continue going forward (or backward) until you stop it or jump off it.

The C stat stands for how many carts or wagons are attached to the train. It will usually be 1 if you only have the Work Cart. However, you can attach the Work Cart to other wagons by just touching them with the rear or front ends.

You can collect 8 carts until the train will start moving slower. Once you attach a ninth wagon, the train will significantly slow down. Players can get rid of wagons by going to the clasps holding the carts together and interacting to Uncouple them.

Throttle Options

The Throttle will tell you what speed you are going at and what direction you are driving. This is the most important thing to understand when driving a train in Rust. There are 7 Throttle options for a train in Rust:

  • Fwd_Hi
  • Fwd_Med
  • Fwd_Lo
  • Zero
  • Rev_Lo
  • Rev_Med
  • Rev_Hi

Fwd stands for forward, Rev stands for reverse, and Hi, Med, and Lo, stand for high, medium, and low. You can change between these Throttle options by using the forward and backward movement keys.

The lower-intensity options will use less fuel and will also be useful in different situations. When you want to stop the train, just change the Throttle to Zero. 

There will also be moments when you can choose to go left or right. When this happens, you will have to hold down one of the left or right movement buttons on your keyboard to change the way you are going.

You will notice you are doing something right if arrows appear in the lower part of the screen, showing the way you are changing directions.

If you are using the Work Cart in the underground sections of the map, you can also bump into barricades set up by the NPCs. When this happens, you will need to slow down and use the Med or Lo options. Hitting a barricade at high speeds can severely damage your cart.

Fixing your Train

Since Rust players will often shoot after you or scientists will attack you in the underground sections, you will need to fix the train. The Work Cart has 1k HP, and you can easily fix it using a Hammer.

You will need Metal Fragments in your inventory to actually increase its HP. To fully fix a Work Cart, you will need 50 Metal Fragments.

The other wagons can also take damage and can be destroyed. Since most of them aren’t useful, that won’t be a problem. However, if you collected an Unloadable Train Wagon, then you probably will want to take it with you to the Train Yard for some amazing loot.

You can also fix the wagon at any time using the Hammer. However, it only has 750 HP, so it can be destroyed much easier. With only two Rockets, someone can destroy both your wagons and Work Cart, so be careful.


That’s everything you need to know about how to drive a train in Rust!

Have any input or suggestions for this guide? Let us know in the comment section below.

Adrian Oprea

Based in London, United Kingdom, Adrian Oprea is a Guides Writer. As a professional single-player RPG player, Adrian has often been stigmatized. He has decided to pour his frustration into writing guides!

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