diff --git a/railties/lib/rails/script_rails_loader.rb b/railties/lib/rails/script_rails_loader.rb
index 8fbd3bf492af217824425d2bcbb09548f8184737..91672e5d81dcb5c7def797d0632649dfd83b7d2c 100644
--- a/railties/lib/rails/script_rails_loader.rb
+++ b/railties/lib/rails/script_rails_loader.rb
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ module ScriptRailsLoader
 
     def self.exec_script_rails!
       cwd = Dir.pwd
+      return unless in_rails_application? || in_rails_application_subdirectory?
       exec RUBY, SCRIPT_RAILS, *ARGV if in_rails_application?
       Dir.chdir("..") do
         # Recurse in a chdir block: if the search fails we want to be sure
@@ -18,7 +19,7 @@ def self.exec_script_rails!
     end
     
     def self.in_rails_application?
-      File.exists?(SCRIPT_RAILS) || in_rails_application_subdirectory?
+      File.exists?(SCRIPT_RAILS)
     end
     
     def self.in_rails_application_subdirectory?(path = Pathname.new(Dir.pwd))