Great that you released this on April 1st because you kept me guessing for a while as to whether you were the most brilliant prankster ever, or in fact the Japanese can keep coming up with 'I-don't-believe-it' ingenuity. Excellent as always.
Finally a kind of DMV I look forward to seeing that isn't the Department of Motor Vehicles! I love the little tune the DMV makes when it switches modes. They didn't need to do the drumming, but it's the little things that truly count, and I'm glad they did. One thing to mention is that it was also designed to help senior citizens in the area move around since Japan has an aging population. As driving becomes difficult for seniors, especially in rural regions of Japan like there, that's when something like this comes in handy. When in bus mode, as shown here, it can do a lot of other stops around town to pick up passengers before heading to the tracks. This can make it a lot more convenient and more profitable, as it dramatically reduces peoples' need for cars. Once a person is in a car, they tend to just drive to their destination. But if a bus is right there and is easier and less stress, they'll often take it. So by making it convenient it for people to use by being both a bus and a train, they dramatically increase the incentive and thus there's profitability. Nancy and Caen in France once had a concept which used Bombardier Guided Light Transit. They're buses that could not only operate independently as a bus but were also capable of turning into trams. So basically a trolleybus that turned into a tram since they still used overhead wires as a bus. But instead of riding on rails, they run on rubber tires. Because of the fact they don't need a guidance rail, calling them a tram is quite debatable (especially compared to the Translohr). Caen got rid of theirs in 2017 in favor of a legit tramway, while Nancy ended theirs in March 2023 in favor of bringing back their trolleybuses. Adelaide has something similar too called the O-Bahn which are legitimate buses that run on their own concrete tracks that opened back in 1986
I may need to be fact checked on this but, If I remember correctly the Change tune was done by a local Awa Kainan school. I remember seeing that somewhere anyhow, it's cool either way!!
For the Japanese driving on the left, Okinawa switched between driving on the left and right as after WWII, Okinawa was once occupied by the US, but after they were returned, they switched back. If Japan driving on the left wasn't interesting enough, as shown on the map, places like Macau, Mozambique, Thailand, Timor Leste, Indonesia, and Suriname which were never British either drive on the left too! Timor Leste did change to right-hand under the Portuguese but switched under Indonesian control, Macau and Mozambique did so because the Portuguese used to as well but also they're next door to what were once British colonies, and Suriname and Indonesia drive on the left because the Dutch used to (being next to formerly British Guyana is also why Suriname does so)! Napoleon enforced driving on the right in the Netherlands but for Dutch colonies, they didn't follow suit. The soundtrack when it switches modes is my favorite part of the whole thing. Totally unnecessary, but the designers thought "might as well make this 15 second process more fun for the passengers!" Fun fact about the DMV: The vehicle was originally prototyped and tested by JR Hokkaido. The project was eventually scrapped as it was too impractical to use for regular service, and many thought it would end up as a failed invention that went nowhere. It was then quite the surprise when the Asa Kagan Railway said that they will be replacing their fleet with DMVs, the failed invention now had a practical use. The main goal of this is novelty tourists, and that's a good way to view it. But I like that they also have plans for disaster response since it's elevated and can deal with tsunamis. And it's there to keep the railways afloat in the area so they don't lose a long-term investment due to demographic shifts!
Pacer - 'I'm the OG railbus lol' Japan's literal rail-bus - 'Hold my sake' (Also, 7:07, you're telling me we could have had a variant of this road-rail system in the UK, but nah, we got Pacers instead. Brilliant 😂)
@@MorpheusMFNice may have to check them out lol I know people like to hate on the Pacers (and in fairness their ride quality was, at times, absolutely appalling) but I still can't get over the bizzare charm of what amounts to a Leyland bus on the chassis of a freight wagon, which somehow lasted for nearly 40 years 😅
Karrier built a road-railer in the 1930s, the LmS used it on services to Stratfod-on-Avon for a couple of seasons . Up till now, the Schi-Stra bus was the most successful .
Thank you for the video. Here are some additions/comments: 2:38 "for cold drinks" Most likely, it's also partially for hot drinks and possibly soup starting around October. 4:22 That's a lot of leg room compared to most buses in Japan (depending on how tall you are). 4:40 Yes, that button's for request stops. 4:48 Yes, you're right again. ¥700 is a bargain, paying for the novelty and the transport. I hope I can give that a whirl someday.
You can definitely find stuff around the UK, not at every station but model trains etc are common. Isle of Man also had lots, but their trains are basically a big tourist attraction rather than an actually useful service.
@@ricklane7007 Yeah thats true. In Japan there are occasional special trains that are operated which are made to appease the rail fans. I think JR East does them the most often...
Very interesting. I've been to Japan a lot over the past 17 years but never heard about this before. Perhaps I should try it out when I return next year.
I’m so happy you found someone that works there for me and I’m happy that you’re doing good with the job I am so happy that you’re getting your new place?
It's a gadgetbahn but it's been good for the town's tourist industry. Ideally this line wouldn't have existed at all if not for the Japanese government's bureaucracy, and would have opened as just a normal extension of the Mugi Line shown at 0:55.
It did open as a normal extension - just converted to this novelty in 2021. Very few people were using the line anyway, and the tech was already developed (by JR Hokkaido, which proceeded not to use it), so making it into a quasi-tourist trap made sense.
@@fura2554 By normal extension I intended to mean part of the JR network and not as the separate Asa Kaigan Railway. If not for the split the line would have seen slightly better ridership with the reduction of ticket prices and continuation of through trains to downtown Tokushima. With the circumstances that the railway ended up in, though, I agree that the DMV made the most sense.
@@LGVRhin-Rhone I would say it is local politics that was the culprit here. This East line was part of the Asa line (as planned back in the 1920s) that was paused and then scrapped during the JNR restructuring in the 1980s. Mugi line was technically a part of this line too. Local government (Tokushima prefecture) resuscitated the mostly finished segment as the East line and kept it on life support since then.... It was a costly mistake. Making it part of the Mugi line could hardly help as JR Shikoku trains had been cruising into the segment until the conversion in 2019.
I'd hardly call a BRT system that just happens to use conventional rail lines instead of dedicated guided tracks a gadgetbahn. It's unusual but it works for the particular situation due to the low traffic. Honestly, people need to stop crying "gadgetbahn" at every single unconventional transportation system. Sometimes it actually fits the niche it's been implemented in. Example: people movers in airports, which are a better choice than conventional steel-on-steel rail for an airport since they have better traction and thus higher acceleration which cuts travel times between the closely placed stations. I've heard people call these things "gadgetbahns" all the time despite that.
@@VestedUTuber If you take into account the resources poured into making the DMV dual mode and the line suitable for its operation (plus how its original advocate, JR Hokkaido threw in the towel after spending almost two decades on the concept), it is nothing but a gadgetbahn. Not to mention how unreasonable it is to have a guided busway in such a sparsely populated area...
Still can't get over how weirdly wonderful this is. When I was in primary school my schoolbus was this type of vehicle, minus the rail wheels and modified front of course. Still ride them occasionally when I take the local buses.
The idea itself is not a new one. In the early 1950s, Deutsche Bundesbahn in West Germany operated a Schie-Stra-Bus, which means rail and road bus, using bogies, which could be slipped under the bus enabling it to ride the rails. Unlike this one, however, the switch from road to rail (and vice-versa) could only be done at dedicated locations. The service ran for a few years only and found to be uneconomical.
The Deutsche Bahn (West Germany's state railway) used to have buses that could change from road to rail in the 1960's. Albeit they had to mount on rai bogies instead of inbuilt railwheels.
I have yet to watch this video, but I'll be visiting Shikoku in a few weeks....and had already been thinking of going to ride this thing but so far removed it from my schedule. Just a bit too far away and doesn't really fit my schedule. But just seeing this video pop up (and surely will watch it) already made me question that decision....
@@SuperalbsTravels well, after having watched the video now, I might just do that! And either skip Naruto entirely or reschedule that for the next day before moving on to Takamatsu...great video, loved it!
Very interesting, I’ve never heard about this. The concept does have some charm to it, but 10min to change modes is quite terrible and in the end it’s just the capacity of a bus.
The Japanese always made the best of what they have to get the most economical and modern solution out of it. Requirement brings always the most creative ideas, I like it.
I see you included a photo of the road rail vehicle designed by the Lucas Aerospace Shop Stewards Combine as an alternative to redundancy when orders for military aircraft dried up. The management rejected all the designs and only a few of them were taken up by other companies.
IAH has weird trains with rubber wheels too... I think its just an alignment track, while the majority of the weight is on the wheels. Is looks strange though as the rubber wheels are at the edge of elevated tracks... If some of the rubber falls off, windshields may crack
I've been on a Toyota Coaster plenty of times before, but I've never seen one with an extended cab before... or one going on the tracks for that matter.
When I saw that Sri Lanka bus-to-train conversion video this was the vehicle that came to mind. For some reason I hope that when those old Leyland bus-trains break down they can be replaced with these
Damn, I wish my country would implement this. The service from my village to the nearby big city stopped in 2012, because it ran parallel to the main road, and the terminus stop was at the edge of my village, near nothing, so the bus that stops in the main square (center) near shops and doctors made much more sense. But this would be perfect! Use the rails to get to the village, also bring service to the nearby factories, and then drive off to the center of the village, where passengers might hop on another bus home. It's quirky, but I love the creativity, and once again, like the train bus you showcased recently, for places that don't get a service, this would be marvelous.
I've seen this before on TV. What I want to know is that when the DMV is going from Bus to Train mode, how do they ensure that they are in the right place so that the rail wheels land on the rails? Obviously if you are going from Rail to Road, its not really a problem where the road wheels land, but you would have to get the rail wheels exactly right, which can't be easy as the wheels and rail are quite narrow.
@@tramcrazyIt must have something like that, but achieving the accuracy you'd need every time seems like a challenge! There must be something 'clever' in the system to tell the driver when he's in the right place, I'd have thought.
@@timbounds7190Maybe it's as simple as a camera in front and rear with a guide line. Possibly the tracks at that point also have elevated guides so you can be even less accurate, and we saw the driver doing a visual inspection before leaving. It shouldn't be too hard to get right for someone experienced, probably much easier than, say, hitting a truck trailer hitch.
Yep, it's a pity that you didn't stay a little longer to film one of them making the transitions from the outside, so we could see how it works. BTW Munich trams have some maintenance vehicles that can switch between flanged wheels and tyres, so they can travel between different parts of the network but also travel on the tracks.
American railroads use trucks for track maintenance that run on the road and have 4 train wheels to run on the tracks as well. We had a fleet of them that had a gas charge account with us here in Portland. this is old technology in the US.
Funnily enough i was reading an article yesterday about freight shunting engines in a steelworks in Wales which are like trucks on rail wheels however they can lower rubber wheels and drive on roads.These devices are going to replace the old Class 08 shunters.
Well, in general, dual mode has been tried in many countries but the added maintenance costs was always unfavourable when compared to just having a dedicated guideway. Japan's formality just allows them to stick to an idea longer and continue to fund the additional maintenance. Note that the UK has buses with dedicated guideways where steering could be passed of to just being guided by the curbs of the pathway.
I love he drum beat as it turns into a train! As I understand it one the limitaions of this system is crash worthyness. This kind of 'train' can't run where there are real ones sharing the same track.
Could do with one of those for myself: engage road mode to take me to Taunton station - or as much as possible to be able to get it onto the railway - then engage rail mode to take me to Middlesbrough (turn right beyond York), then go back to road mode to take me to my sister’s house - won’t need to rely on buses - if we go to Whitby, go to Marton station and get on the train line - only problem is at Battersby, where the trains change direction - unless we can go a bit further and use one of those turntable things!
1:10 Hopefully this is just the winter timetable because If this was on a UK railway I'd say it wouldn't encourage any passengers . 5:16 At first I wondered if this was here for relief at peak hours , but clearly not.
Regarding this Japanese train bus it's copied or inspired from the West German version inside Eisenbahnmuseum Bochum Dahlhausen. For the German version it has BO Plate both front and Rear Bochum.
Until the thing lifted up onto the track wheels I was going to say its a bus, but with the flange wheel set also then its a road rail vehicle but not a train as does not have a loco or coaches.
I always wondered: wouldn't it have been easier to take out the rails and drive a normal bus on the route? Perhaps a guided bus way. Then you could make bit of a ramp at the stations so the bus would have level boarding at the old station platforms.... But I guess they must have thought of that too.... I do like this bus though. On my next visit to Japan I really should visit it.
Even here in Australia we had literal Buses on rails. Specifically in New South Wales described as Pay Buses they almost followed a similar concept to The DMV except that they didn't have the road option. It's a bit hard to describe them further without googling NSWGR Pay Buses first though.
If it can drive on the road, I am trying to figure out what the big benefit is, of using the rails at all. Less traffic congestion? Lack of stop signs? Anyway, this is really fun to learn about and to watch.
Between 1953 and 1955 German Company NWF produced a small series of 50 so-called "Schi-Stra-Bus"es ( Schiene-Straße-Bus, i.e. Track-Road-Bus). These ran on several smaller lines all around western Germany (not in the GDR). Find more information here: de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schienen-Stra%C3%9Fen-Omnibus These buses had 43 seats and space for 24 more passengers standing. As a minor difference to the japanese vehicles the Schi-Stra-Bus didn't carry the extra bogies with it. They left them at the changing stations.
Road-Rail vehicles are quite common for maintenance, there's a project in France where such vehicles would pass through small villages centres and connect them using the nearby abandoned railway
That Is A Railway Bus, Because It Has 18 Seats, It Is A Van It’s A Railway Minibus Railway Buses From The Angloceltic Railway Such As The Pacers Are Platform Leveled With A Rolling Stock Flatbed Chassis RailBuses Like The “LEV” & Platform-Level Bus Trailer Sets Such As Pacer Units I’ll Show What It Makes To Have Couple Of Modes Road + Rail = Railway Road Vehicle Road Vehicles, Replace Road Tyre Wheels With Train Wheels = Railway Guided Road Vehicles Road + Water = Waterway / Seaway Road Vehicles (A Type Of An Amphibious Vehicle) Road + Air = Airway Road Vehicles (ARVs)
I was very confused after seeing a thumbnail with identical font and style and almost the same title (except for saying This is a tram instead of a train) by @simonandersen except his was an April Fools Day video and yours was not. 😂😂😂
Germany used something similar, a mixture of an ordinery bus & a "Schienenbus" (a small train), with deployable train wheels in front and bak of the bus ... Edit: this time table at 1:06 is as terrible as many public transporation options in USA = a shame for Japan ! But the technical solution is interesting for rural areas
Finally, my favourite bus channel has posted!
nice pfp
@@MADpower_TURBO you too!
The Tom Scott special
Yahh but that was soo short and soo
Is he still around ?
@@xr6ladYes, but just recently put his main channel on hiatus.
Do you mean Travis Scott?
Great that you released this on April 1st because you kept me guessing for a while as to whether you were the most brilliant prankster ever, or in fact the Japanese can keep coming up with 'I-don't-believe-it' ingenuity. Excellent as always.
Wait, so the community post WASN'T an april fools joke?
Well not really
In the US we call them road railers
or it could be an elaborate one
Tom Scott made a video on this train bus
@@1994CivicGLilike a double bluff
Finally a kind of DMV I look forward to seeing that isn't the Department of Motor Vehicles! I love the little tune the DMV makes when it switches modes. They didn't need to do the drumming, but it's the little things that truly count, and I'm glad they did. One thing to mention is that it was also designed to help senior citizens in the area move around since Japan has an aging population. As driving becomes difficult for seniors, especially in rural regions of Japan like there, that's when something like this comes in handy. When in bus mode, as shown here, it can do a lot of other stops around town to pick up passengers before heading to the tracks. This can make it a lot more convenient and more profitable, as it dramatically reduces peoples' need for cars. Once a person is in a car, they tend to just drive to their destination. But if a bus is right there and is easier and less stress, they'll often take it. So by making it convenient it for people to use by being both a bus and a train, they dramatically increase the incentive and thus there's profitability.
Nancy and Caen in France once had a concept which used Bombardier Guided Light Transit. They're buses that could not only operate independently as a bus but were also capable of turning into trams. So basically a trolleybus that turned into a tram since they still used overhead wires as a bus. But instead of riding on rails, they run on rubber tires. Because of the fact they don't need a guidance rail, calling them a tram is quite debatable (especially compared to the Translohr). Caen got rid of theirs in 2017 in favor of a legit tramway, while Nancy ended theirs in March 2023 in favor of bringing back their trolleybuses. Adelaide has something similar too called the O-Bahn which are legitimate buses that run on their own concrete tracks that opened back in 1986
Agreed! Also, great seeing you on another one of my favorite channels (see you on Mikey Bustos channels and a couple other! Hola hermano!)
I may need to be fact checked on this but, If I remember correctly the Change tune was done by a local Awa Kainan school. I remember seeing that somewhere anyhow, it's cool either way!!
Why do I find you everywhere
Pacer gone well
facts
Sorry?
@@DavinaTheWeena well at least the dmv doesn’t turn into a bouncy castle that screeches when it goes into train mode
Real @@TFW-507
@@TFW-507The Japanese pacer
For the Japanese driving on the left, Okinawa switched between driving on the left and right as after WWII, Okinawa was once occupied by the US, but after they were returned, they switched back. If Japan driving on the left wasn't interesting enough, as shown on the map, places like Macau, Mozambique, Thailand, Timor Leste, Indonesia, and Suriname which were never British either drive on the left too! Timor Leste did change to right-hand under the Portuguese but switched under Indonesian control, Macau and Mozambique did so because the Portuguese used to as well but also they're next door to what were once British colonies, and Suriname and Indonesia drive on the left because the Dutch used to (being next to formerly British Guyana is also why Suriname does so)! Napoleon enforced driving on the right in the Netherlands but for Dutch colonies, they didn't follow suit.
The soundtrack when it switches modes is my favorite part of the whole thing. Totally unnecessary, but the designers thought "might as well make this 15 second process more fun for the passengers!" Fun fact about the DMV: The vehicle was originally prototyped and tested by JR Hokkaido. The project was eventually scrapped as it was too impractical to use for regular service, and many thought it would end up as a failed invention that went nowhere. It was then quite the surprise when the Asa Kagan Railway said that they will be replacing their fleet with DMVs, the failed invention now had a practical use. The main goal of this is novelty tourists, and that's a good way to view it. But I like that they also have plans for disaster response since it's elevated and can deal with tsunamis. And it's there to keep the railways afloat in the area so they don't lose a long-term investment due to demographic shifts!
Sweden changed to right side around 1967 to confirm to EU.
Thank you for your wisdom, our Friendly Father.
Pacer - 'I'm the OG railbus lol'
Japan's literal rail-bus - 'Hold my sake'
(Also, 7:07, you're telling me we could have had a variant of this road-rail system in the UK, but nah, we got Pacers instead. Brilliant 😂)
There was real Road Rail Busses in Europe. The SchiStraBus (SchienenStraßenBus) from Germany and The Talon Bus from France
@@MorpheusMFNice may have to check them out lol
I know people like to hate on the Pacers (and in fairness their ride quality was, at times, absolutely appalling) but I still can't get over the bizzare charm of what amounts to a Leyland bus on the chassis of a freight wagon, which somehow lasted for nearly 40 years 😅
Karrier built a road-railer in the 1930s, the LmS used it on services to Stratfod-on-Avon for a couple of seasons . Up till now, the Schi-Stra bus was the most successful .
Imagine having a destroyed railway line because of an earthquake, but your trains dont need rails :o
LOL
Thank you for the video. Here are some additions/comments:
2:38 "for cold drinks" Most likely, it's also partially for hot drinks and possibly soup starting around October.
4:22 That's a lot of leg room compared to most buses in Japan (depending on how tall you are).
4:40 Yes, that button's for request stops.
4:48 Yes, you're right again.
¥700 is a bargain, paying for the novelty and the transport. I hope I can give that a whirl someday.
Thanks for that. Glad you enjoyed! :)
First time I’ve ever seen this ,superb,thanks fella 👍
I noticed that Japanese trains is that they have a lot of merch, unlike other trains
Yeah in Japan there’s a lot of rails fans. I even own a lot japanese train merch as well…
You can definitely find stuff around the UK, not at every station but model trains etc are common. Isle of Man also had lots, but their trains are basically a big tourist attraction rather than an actually useful service.
They do actually also have one of the best if not the best train services in the world. Always on time, clean and a pretty dense and frequent network.
Because every where else treats trains and railfan enthusiasts as shit. Only Japan takes us seriously.
@@ricklane7007 Yeah thats true. In Japan there are occasional special trains that are operated which are made to appease the rail fans. I think JR East does them the most often...
Fantastic, and adhering to the correct side of both the rails and road.
Yes exactly! 🥰
What a nice and fun video, thanks!)))
Thank you, glad you like it! 😁
Everything is so CLEAN 👌
I’m so happy you found it so I could get onto it
Very interesting. I've been to Japan a lot over the past 17 years but never heard about this before. Perhaps I should try it out when I return next year.
Yes, you have to give it a go! 😁
I’m so happy you found someone that works there for me and I’m happy that you’re doing good with the job I am so happy that you’re getting your new place?
It's a gadgetbahn but it's been good for the town's tourist industry. Ideally this line wouldn't have existed at all if not for the Japanese government's bureaucracy, and would have opened as just a normal extension of the Mugi Line shown at 0:55.
It did open as a normal extension - just converted to this novelty in 2021. Very few people were using the line anyway, and the tech was already developed (by JR Hokkaido, which proceeded not to use it), so making it into a quasi-tourist trap made sense.
@@fura2554 By normal extension I intended to mean part of the JR network and not as the separate Asa Kaigan Railway. If not for the split the line would have seen slightly better ridership with the reduction of ticket prices and continuation of through trains to downtown Tokushima.
With the circumstances that the railway ended up in, though, I agree that the DMV made the most sense.
@@LGVRhin-Rhone I would say it is local politics that was the culprit here. This East line was part of the Asa line (as planned back in the 1920s) that was paused and then scrapped during the JNR restructuring in the 1980s. Mugi line was technically a part of this line too. Local government (Tokushima prefecture) resuscitated the mostly finished segment as the East line and kept it on life support since then.... It was a costly mistake. Making it part of the Mugi line could hardly help as JR Shikoku trains had been cruising into the segment until the conversion in 2019.
I'd hardly call a BRT system that just happens to use conventional rail lines instead of dedicated guided tracks a gadgetbahn. It's unusual but it works for the particular situation due to the low traffic.
Honestly, people need to stop crying "gadgetbahn" at every single unconventional transportation system. Sometimes it actually fits the niche it's been implemented in. Example: people movers in airports, which are a better choice than conventional steel-on-steel rail for an airport since they have better traction and thus higher acceleration which cuts travel times between the closely placed stations. I've heard people call these things "gadgetbahns" all the time despite that.
@@VestedUTuber If you take into account the resources poured into making the DMV dual mode and the line suitable for its operation (plus how its original advocate, JR Hokkaido threw in the towel after spending almost two decades on the concept), it is nothing but a gadgetbahn.
Not to mention how unreasonable it is to have a guided busway in such a sparsely populated area...
Love these, think Tom Scott did a video about it. Also love the sound of expansion joint track
Still can't get over how weirdly wonderful this is. When I was in primary school my schoolbus was this type of vehicle, minus the rail wheels and modified front of course. Still ride them occasionally when I take the local buses.
What a nice and fun video, thanks!
The idea itself is not a new one. In the early 1950s, Deutsche Bundesbahn in West Germany operated a Schie-Stra-Bus, which means rail and road bus, using bogies, which could be slipped under the bus enabling it to ride the rails. Unlike this one, however, the switch from road to rail (and vice-versa) could only be done at dedicated locations. The service ran for a few years only and found to be uneconomical.
Creative solution for a low capacity transit need. I like it.
I love the DMV! I’d like to visit one day.
for the seatbelt, it's not really needed to wear it by default unless it's on a highway
Such an amazing vehicle. Seems like a conveniant way to travel in those rural areas
Haha! We need some of these in Poland, for those places where there *used to* be rail!
Great video!
Good idea! :)
Very nice view. 🎥✨Thank you for sharing the video. 🙏🌸Have a nice day. 🐧
Great video
I love the drums
Very versatile vehicle the good old Toyota Coaster, I had a camper van version when I visited New Zealand and here we see it as a train!
Muito legal ônibus anda na trilho do trem 1:23 legal
Love the red/blue world graphic, that's actually a useful resource.
The first time you have seen it was a very nice picture and it looks great
The Deutsche Bahn (West Germany's state railway) used to have buses that could change from road to rail in the 1960's. Albeit they had to mount on rai bogies instead of inbuilt railwheels.
8:50 Thanks for the note. You can't be sure what is authentic footage of the 1600s on a day like today. 🧐😝
I have yet to watch this video, but I'll be visiting Shikoku in a few weeks....and had already been thinking of going to ride this thing but so far removed it from my schedule. Just a bit too far away and doesn't really fit my schedule. But just seeing this video pop up (and surely will watch it) already made me question that decision....
It's great fun, you should make time for it! 😁
@@SuperalbsTravels well, after having watched the video now, I might just do that! And either skip Naruto entirely or reschedule that for the next day before moving on to Takamatsu...great video, loved it!
@@WizardOfOssFor what it's worth, I did this as a day trip from Tokushima. Thanks for watching! :)
Germany had a very similar system about 60-70 years ago
de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schienen-Stra%C3%9Fen-Omnibus
Very interesting, I’ve never heard about this. The concept does have some charm to it, but 10min to change modes is quite terrible and in the end it’s just the capacity of a bus.
This thing solves the time issue by not leaving the rail wheels behind when changing modes
Fascinating
Smart idea
Awesome video! 🩵
The Japanese always made the best of what they have to get the most economical and modern solution out of it. Requirement brings always the most creative ideas, I like it.
A Good innovative idea is in action. Best wishes.
In USA only used for Maintenave 0f Way work, and in some industrial settins for moving box coars.
For your next bus review can you ride on flixbus from London to Edinburgh(Via Carlisle)
Excellent vlog, Superalbs. Btw, does anyone else think that the front end of the DMV looks like Brian the dog from Family Guy?. lol!
We have those in the US. They are called hi-railers.
But they tend to be corporate inspection vehicles.
They have been there for ages.
You should check out the Jkoy Class SM5 From Finland
I love the drum music when it changes from one mode of transport to another.
One possible clue____
the TUNNEL SECTIONS from an old bránch RR save long wày around highway sections.
I see you included a photo of the road rail vehicle designed by the Lucas Aerospace Shop Stewards Combine as an alternative to redundancy when orders for military aircraft dried up. The management rejected all the designs and only a few of them were taken up by other companies.
IAH has weird trains with rubber wheels too... I think its just an alignment track, while the majority of the weight is on the wheels. Is looks strange though as the rubber wheels are at the edge of elevated tracks... If some of the rubber falls off, windshields may crack
I've been on a Toyota Coaster plenty of times before, but I've never seen one with an extended cab before... or one going on the tracks for that matter.
When I saw that Sri Lanka bus-to-train conversion video this was the vehicle that came to mind. For some reason I hope that when those old Leyland bus-trains break down they can be replaced with these
Oh my god, this could be so useful to go from suburbs to the central city!
Could you consider travelling with EMR Merdian? That would be nice. Also, a brand new subscriber here!
Damn, I wish my country would implement this. The service from my village to the nearby big city stopped in 2012, because it ran parallel to the main road, and the terminus stop was at the edge of my village, near nothing, so the bus that stops in the main square (center) near shops and doctors made much more sense. But this would be perfect!
Use the rails to get to the village, also bring service to the nearby factories, and then drive off to the center of the village, where passengers might hop on another bus home.
It's quirky, but I love the creativity, and once again, like the train bus you showcased recently, for places that don't get a service, this would be marvelous.
I've seen this before on TV. What I want to know is that when the DMV is going from Bus to Train mode, how do they ensure that they are in the right place so that the rail wheels land on the rails? Obviously if you are going from Rail to Road, its not really a problem where the road wheels land, but you would have to get the rail wheels exactly right, which can't be easy as the wheels and rail are quite narrow.
It looks like the changeover point has guides for the tyres so that they drive into the exact correct position
@@tramcrazyIt must have something like that, but achieving the accuracy you'd need every time seems like a challenge! There must be something 'clever' in the system to tell the driver when he's in the right place, I'd have thought.
@@timbounds7190Maybe it's as simple as a camera in front and rear with a guide line. Possibly the tracks at that point also have elevated guides so you can be even less accurate, and we saw the driver doing a visual inspection before leaving.
It shouldn't be too hard to get right for someone experienced, probably much easier than, say, hitting a truck trailer hitch.
Yep, it's a pity that you didn't stay a little longer to film one of them making the transitions from the outside, so we could see how it works.
BTW Munich trams have some maintenance vehicles that can switch between flanged wheels and tyres, so they can travel between different parts of the network but also travel on the tracks.
Who needs this we have the pacer (the trampoline train)
No. A "train", by definition, must have at least two cars.
Next journey on Tejas express in India ❤
These are actually quite common, here in the US pickup trucks ride on the rails. They basically made a Hi-Rail but for passengers.
American railroads use trucks for track maintenance that run on the road and have 4 train wheels to run on the tracks as well. We had a fleet of them that had a gas charge account with us here in Portland. this is old technology in the US.
Funnily enough i was reading an article yesterday about freight shunting engines in a steelworks in Wales which are like trucks on rail wheels however they can lower rubber wheels and drive on roads.These devices are going to replace the old Class 08 shunters.
Excellent and very nice video
Well, in general, dual mode has been tried in many countries but the added maintenance costs was always unfavourable when compared to just having a dedicated guideway. Japan's formality just allows them to stick to an idea longer and continue to fund the additional maintenance. Note that the UK has buses with dedicated guideways where steering could be passed of to just being guided by the curbs of the pathway.
0
I love he drum beat as it turns into a train! As I understand it one the limitaions of this system is crash worthyness. This kind of 'train' can't run where there are real ones sharing the same track.
Does the line end at the the last stop of the DMV or is there abandoned track further on?
What an interesting clip, you're really good at it!
Thank you 😍
Could do with one of those for myself: engage road mode to take me to Taunton station - or as much as possible to be able to get it onto the railway - then engage rail mode to take me to Middlesbrough (turn right beyond York), then go back to road mode to take me to my sister’s house - won’t need to rely on buses - if we go to Whitby, go to Marton station and get on the train line - only problem is at Battersby, where the trains change direction - unless we can go a bit further and use one of those turntable things!
Absolutely brilliant and fun video and concept!!! Love it!!!!
Nice idea of a railbus and I liked the scenery as well mate. Great video as always. Keep up the great work. Peter.
I think it's a pretty cool idea, we need to see the repair costs for it down the road though.
Yeah, it's not exactly something where there are lots of spare parts available due to its uniqueness. 😂
1:10 Hopefully this is just the winter timetable because If this was on a UK railway I'd say it wouldn't encourage any passengers .
5:16 At first I wondered if this was here for relief at peak hours , but clearly not.
Have you’ve tried the new Dutch ICNG already ?
Invented in 1954 in Germany. " Schiene-Strasse-Bus", Tracks-road-Bus
Nice!
I've seen this! I saw a video about a year ago with this.
Yep, Tom Scott made a vid on it.
Regarding this Japanese train bus it's copied or inspired from the West German version inside Eisenbahnmuseum Bochum Dahlhausen. For the German version it has BO Plate both front and Rear Bochum.
Until the thing lifted up onto the track wheels I was going to say its a bus, but with the flange wheel set also then its a road rail vehicle but not a train as does not have a loco or coaches.
The first one was the first one I 😊 I and my friends were like oh my gosh 😂that was so funny I was like wow that is a lot of fun
😅
"A crazy innovation from Japan" The Denver and Rio Grande Western would like to have a word with you:
I always wondered: wouldn't it have been easier to take out the rails and drive a normal bus on the route? Perhaps a guided bus way.
Then you could make bit of a ramp at the stations so the bus would have level boarding at the old station platforms....
But I guess they must have thought of that too....
I do like this bus though. On my next visit to Japan I really should visit it.
Could you do a sleeper train in Japan
Tom Scott posted this a while ago too! So fascinating!
And honestly, not a bad train of thought for local railway connections...
Old German idea from 1905, small batch of similar RoadRail Busses were in service in West Germany from 1952 - 1967.
Nice video and interesting Train? Bus? Both? Vehicule
Even here in Australia we had literal Buses on rails. Specifically in New South Wales described as Pay Buses they almost followed a similar concept to The DMV except that they didn't have the road option. It's a bit hard to describe them further without googling NSWGR Pay Buses first though.
Spectacular views. The Japanese Dawlish?
I love Japan
If it can drive on the road, I am trying to figure out what the big benefit is, of using the rails at all. Less traffic congestion? Lack of stop signs? Anyway, this is really fun to learn about and to watch.
Between 1953 and 1955 German Company NWF produced a small series of 50 so-called "Schi-Stra-Bus"es ( Schiene-Straße-Bus, i.e. Track-Road-Bus). These ran on several smaller lines all around western Germany (not in the GDR).
Find more information here:
de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schienen-Stra%C3%9Fen-Omnibus
These buses had 43 seats and space for 24 more passengers standing.
As a minor difference to the japanese vehicles the Schi-Stra-Bus didn't carry the extra bogies with it. They left them at the changing stations.
Wow, interesting. Are any of those preserved at all, I'd love to see it in person.
Wonderful video. This makes me more eager to visit Japan.🥰🥰🥰
Road-Rail vehicles are quite common for maintenance, there's a project in France where such vehicles would pass through small villages centres and connect them using the nearby abandoned railway
That Is A Railway Bus, Because It Has 18 Seats, It Is A Van
It’s A Railway Minibus
Railway Buses From The Angloceltic Railway Such As The Pacers Are Platform Leveled With A Rolling Stock Flatbed
Chassis RailBuses Like The “LEV” & Platform-Level Bus Trailer Sets Such As Pacer Units
I’ll Show What It Makes To Have Couple Of Modes
Road + Rail = Railway Road Vehicle
Road Vehicles, Replace Road Tyre Wheels With Train Wheels = Railway Guided Road Vehicles
Road + Water = Waterway / Seaway Road Vehicles (A Type Of An Amphibious Vehicle)
Road + Air = Airway Road Vehicles (ARVs)
I was very confused after seeing a thumbnail with identical font and style and almost the same title (except for saying This is a tram instead of a train) by @simonandersen except his was an April Fools Day video and yours was not. 😂😂😂
A photo of a bike
“THIS IS A HELICOPTER.”
Cool 👍
Germany used something similar, a mixture of an ordinery bus & a "Schienenbus" (a small train), with deployable train wheels in front and bak of the bus ...
Edit: this time table at 1:06 is as terrible as many public transporation options in USA = a shame for Japan !
But the technical solution is interesting for rural areas
So, it's a guided bus.
No, it's not a guided bus.
@@SuperalbsTravels Is it guided by the rails?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guided_bus
"thats just a damn bus.."
"WHAT-"