Billed as ‘the world’s first operational dual-mode vehicle’, the ASA Seaside Railway Corporation in Tokushima Prefecture, Japan, is set to launch a new vehicle into service on 25 December. The vehicle is described as ‘essentially a bus capable of running on roads and railway tracks’ and is expected to enter service towards the end of the month once it has passed safety checks by Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.
The DMV buses will run on a 30 mile route between the town of Kaiyo in Tokushima and the city of Muroto, Kochi Prefecture. Six miles of the route will be along a railway line, with the remainder in bus mode. Three of the new vehicles will be used for the service, each with a capacity of 23 including passengers and crew.
The ASA’s new DMV is a diesel-powered bus fitted with an extra set of rail wheels which can be deployed in about 15 seconds, making it capable of travelling on the railway. The Tokushima prefectural government, which has a 35% stake in ASA, told local media outlets that it hopes the DMV will become a tourist draw and help boost the local economy, which has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. The company said that the vehicles would also be useful in the event of natural disasters such as earthquakes, which are common in Japan and which which may leave sections of roads or railway lines unusable.
London Midland and Scottish Railway ran an experimental ro-rail bus in 1932 from Stratford on Avon and Rotterdam Tramways in Holland also ran ro-railer buses, all built by Karrier Motors Ltd in Huddersfield.
Deutsche Bundesbahn operated Schi-Stra-Bus railroad buses on several lines in Germany during the 1950s.
I did a google image search and found over a dozen old dual-mode railroad buses.
Jason & others
Web page HERE with many photographs, of the LMS Ro-Railer vehicle.
[ 90 years ago … ]