No, they mount to the slate so the rail cushions do not affect that. I have a 10 ft snooker table that I converted to pool a couple of years ago. The rails for snooker have BENDS at the pockets, which are the curved ends used in snooker and they will need to be removed. Then take off the rail cushions which are now too short and replace them full legtn with new cushions. At this point you can recut the rails with the proper angles for pool. I used angles recommended by RKC that are used on Diamond tables on mine. The only real issue I had was that in order to have sufficient meat to cut the angles I had to cut them for like 5 1/2 inch pockets, which seems huge but well it is a 10 footer. I used 3/16 neoprene pads on the face angles to close them a tab bit but they still look big, but when you play on they table, being 10 foot, they don't play like buckets, but rather seem fair. It's a fun table and was worth the effort. I actually have it for sale now in the for sale section because I ran across a deal on a Diamond Professional I couldn't refuse, but yes, it can be done and is worth doing.