Yes, I have done that and it worked fine.
The reason you have continuity is because the rail is designed to handle a higher amperage load. The designer was concerned that the on-board traces were too small to handle the amperage required and so the rail was added in order to overcome this shortcoming. There are still traces present that connect this line (my guess is +5vdc) but they may be insufficient, especially if the board is on for a long time and heats up.