A rail drill drive train can include a common drive end between a single drive motor and a common gear. A speed train end can extend from the common gear to rotate the drill spindle. A feed train end can independently extend from the common gear to advance and retract the drill spindle. The speed train end can include a sprag gear so that, without unmeshing any gears, the drill spindle is not unnecessarily rotated in the reverse direction when the drive motor is reversed to retract the drill spindle. A rail drill control circuit and related sensors can enable automatic operation throughout the complete drilling cycle without any manual input from the user other than starting the cycle. Such a fully automatic drilling cycle can minimize overall cycle time to preserve battery life and can free the user to perform other tasks between drill moving and clamping operations.