diff --git a/Rakefile b/Rakefile
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index 8c72312f28f..1f3c770c77b
--- a/Rakefile
+++ b/Rakefile
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env rake
 gem 'rdoc', '>= 2.5.10'
 require 'rdoc'
 
-require 'rake'
 require 'rdoc/task'
 require 'net/http'
 
diff --git a/actionmailer/Rakefile b/actionmailer/Rakefile
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index cba6e93c8a6..123ef9bbbf7
--- a/actionmailer/Rakefile
+++ b/actionmailer/Rakefile
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-require 'rake'
+#!/usr/bin/env rake
 require 'rake/testtask'
 require 'rake/packagetask'
 require 'rake/gempackagetask'
diff --git a/actionpack/Rakefile b/actionpack/Rakefile
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index a6ce08113fe..9030db9f7a7
--- a/actionpack/Rakefile
+++ b/actionpack/Rakefile
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-require 'rake'
+#!/usr/bin/env rake
 require 'rake/testtask'
 require 'rake/packagetask'
 require 'rake/gempackagetask'
diff --git a/activemodel/Rakefile b/activemodel/Rakefile
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
diff --git a/activerecord/Rakefile b/activerecord/Rakefile
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index 395c72dfbc1..f9b77c1799c
--- a/activerecord/Rakefile
+++ b/activerecord/Rakefile
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-require 'rake'
+#!/usr/bin/env rake
 require 'rake/testtask'
 require 'rake/packagetask'
 require 'rake/gempackagetask'
diff --git a/activeresource/Rakefile b/activeresource/Rakefile
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index 905241acc00..cf01bc1389f
--- a/activeresource/Rakefile
+++ b/activeresource/Rakefile
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-require 'rake'
+#!/usr/bin/env rake
 require 'rake/testtask'
 require 'rake/packagetask'
 require 'rake/gempackagetask'
diff --git a/activesupport/Rakefile b/activesupport/Rakefile
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
diff --git a/railties/Rakefile b/railties/Rakefile
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index 9504661c0e0..5137bee761e
--- a/railties/Rakefile
+++ b/railties/Rakefile
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-require 'rake'
+#!/usr/bin/env rake
 require 'rake/testtask'
 require 'rake/gempackagetask'
 
diff --git a/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/app/templates/Rakefile b/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/app/templates/Rakefile
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index d83cafc3be5..4dc1023f1f3
--- a/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/app/templates/Rakefile
+++ b/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/app/templates/Rakefile
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env rake
 # Add your own tasks in files placed in lib/tasks ending in .rake,
 # for example lib/tasks/capistrano.rake, and they will automatically be available to Rake.
 
 require File.expand_path('../config/application', __FILE__)
-require 'rake'
 
 <%= app_const %>.load_tasks
diff --git a/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/plugin/templates/Rakefile.tt b/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/plugin/templates/Rakefile.tt
index 733e321c943..77149ae3519 100644
--- a/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/plugin/templates/Rakefile.tt
+++ b/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/plugin/templates/Rakefile.tt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-require 'rake'
+#!/usr/bin/env rake
 require 'rake/testtask'
 require 'rake/rdoctask'
 
diff --git a/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/plugin_new/templates/Rakefile b/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/plugin_new/templates/Rakefile
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index 88f50f9f046..12350309bfd
--- a/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/plugin_new/templates/Rakefile
+++ b/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/plugin_new/templates/Rakefile
@@ -1,12 +1,10 @@
-# encoding: UTF-8
-require 'rubygems'
+#!/usr/bin/env rake
 begin
   require 'bundler/setup'
 rescue LoadError
   puts 'You must `gem install bundler` and `bundle install` to run rake tasks'
 end
 
-require 'rake'
 require 'rake/rdoctask'
 
 Rake::RDocTask.new(:rdoc) do |rdoc|