vite preview binds to localhost (127.0.0.1) by default which isn't accessible from outside the container. that's why railway shows "connection refused" in the upstream errors. you need to add --host 0.0.0.0 to make it listen on all interfaces.

change your start command to: vite preview --host 0.0.0.0 --port $PORT or add this to your vite.config.js: preview: { host: '0.0.0.0', port: 8001 }.

make sure the port matches what you configured in railway's networking settings. that said, vite preview isn't really meant for production hosting. for a static site you're better off using something like npm install serve and then serve dist -l $PORT as your start command, or deploy to a static hosting service. vite preview is more for locally testing your production build before deploying.