[2021] Railroad?

Unfortunately a voxel engine is poorly suited for rails. The rails wouldn't all be straight - you'd want turns and inclines as well. In order to not look ridiculous, those turns and inclines would need to be gentle, over a long distance, which doesn't line up with the rest of a voxel world split into cubic meter increments.

Hmm. So you guys aren’t after railroad crossings and train yards; you just want something to facilitate ore processing? Then perhaps a conveyor belt block would do it.

Each one would occupy one block. You could orient it N/E/S/W. It wouldn’t be expected to handle curves or inclines. It would work with the existing electricity system. It could also be really fun to incorporate into zombie traps. You’d need special code to move a storage chest or other block along it, and performance may be an issue when you have a hundred of these in a tunnel. But other than that, I think it’s feasible.