I installed today the pluging “minecart mania”. It makes it easier to steer minecarts and allows for a more comfortable control without complicated boosters and other strange mechanisms. You place certain blocks under a minecart track which determines the speed and direction of a cart. The system works as follows:

• GoldBlock Boosts carts by 8x, disabled by redstone power.
• GoldOre Boosts carts by 2x, disabled by redstone power.
• SoulSand slows carts to 1/8 speed, disabled by redstone power.
• Gravel slows carts to 1/2 speed, disabled by redstone power.
• Iron Blocks eject passengers/mobs, disabled by redstone power.
• Cloth reverse minecart direction, disabled by redstone power.
• Unpowed Obsidian stops minecarts
• Powered Obsidian Launches stopped minecarts
• Signs with a direction (north, south, east, west) adjacent to obsidian can override the standard NESW direction selection.
• Pressure Plates act as rails
• Minecarts that collide with animals/mobs will kill them

I also built a 8000 blocks long double-track minecart line with railway stations every 200 blocks all around the map. I still have to find a way for people to be able to use it without a possibility for vandalism…

Attention: Do NOT build any infinite loops or other mechanisms that run without you being there!