Example:

Rails that are placed with the set block command seem to be defaulting to a north_south direction when placed without any adjacent rails, and when there are rails adjacent to the set rail it defaults to what it would if placed by hand (i assume)

What I Expected to happen:

As in previous snapshots, i was expecting the rails to be set to the direction specified until changed by some redstone signal or other factor.

What actually happened:

Rails that are set with setblock and a direction tag face a default way that i assume is the games default for intersections it varies on the direction the track faces.

Further Breakdown:

take this setblock command for example

/setblock ~2 ~ ~ minecraft:rail[shape=east_west]

when ran through a command block (with no adjacent rails where the rail is to be set) the first time it sets the rail facing north_south as does any other direction specified, and if you run the command a second time then it updates to said direction.

when ran through a command block (with adjacent rails where the rail is to be place it will default to a direction that usually is not the specified direction and as stated above if ran twice it does update to said direction.

this affects all directions that can be used and may affect inclined rails as well.

so far i know north_south, north_east, north_west, east_west, south_east, south_west are affected.

In the photos provided i showed the command in a command block and what direction the tract would place as the first time the lever is flipped and then the correct position is set to after the lever is placed.  i also show a 4 way intersection that shows the same concept where the rails should have placed east_west the first time.

A little bit more info the world i am in was working in the snapshot before the 1.13 pre updates.