Dual Mode Vehicles

[GrimsbyPacer]

http://www.wired.com/2008/05/half-bus-half-t/

DMV's or Dual Mode Vehicles are in use in Hokaido now. The link above is an old story but shows how it works.

Basically it's a bus that rides on rails by using flanged wheels which can be lowered onto the rails after the bus gets lined up on a special guidance frame.

This claims to be cheaper than both a normal bus and train. It also enables through services off the rails

The Bladerunner concept by Silvertip is similar.

Personally I think this could be used to reopen lines bit by bit.
Or to extend rail services on short branchlines.

Does anyone else like this concept for road/rail passenger vehicles?

 

[theageofthetra]

Nothing new- rode on one built in the 60's at the Bochum railway museum in Germany a few years back. Will try and dig out a picture

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

Nothing new- rode on one built in the 60's at the the Bochum s railway museum in Germany a few years back. Will try and dig out a picture

After looking into it a bit some were around in the 30s.
Is there some huge flaw to the concept?

 

[Haydn1971]

Mods, can we delete this thread please - don't want the DfT getting any silly ideas for Pacer replacement haha

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

Mods, can we delete this thread please - don't want the DfT getting any silly ideas for Pacer replacement haha

153 replacement was the main idea. And to reduce costs and improve onward connections.

The Barton Line for example could be run to Hull.
A train could also be run to Louth, Skelmersdale, Whitby from carborough, Colne from Skipton, Buxton to Matlock, Barnstable to Bideford. And many more possible routes.

Wouldn't this be beneficial for short and struggling branchlines?

 

[theageofthetra]

http://gb.fotolibra.com/images/previews/965891-railbus-at-railway-museum-germany.jpeg

 

[Shimbleshanks]

After looking into it a bit some were around in the 30s.
Is there some huge flaw to the concept?

I think the main problem is that you end up with a vehicle that isn't brilliant either on road or rail. The road vehicle has to cart around the massive weight of the railway wheelsets and the lifting mechanism and there's all the added cost and complexity of dual-mode operation. I think some of the early road-railer type vehicles suffered from excessive wear of the rubber tyres.

I could also imagine it causing problems with signalling systems if a train could 'disappear' from a section or suddenly 'reappear' in the middle of a section.

Road-rail systems have their uses for railway maintenance equipment that needs to access the line from a road during a possession, but unless the technology can be made substantially lighter and cheaper, I can't see it catching on for more general use. That said, the gear on the Japanese vehicle does look lighter and more compact than that on the German one.

 

[talltim]

https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/64518788@N05/8607256892/

 

[higthomas]

Brilliant idea if it could be made to work, lots of possible uses.
The problem is how they would be used I.e. As a new pacer, resulting in hundred mile long journeys by bus but paying train fares.
But in rural areas it could be great.

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

http://www.globalrailnews.com/2013/06/17/flying-train-concept-unveiled/

Here's another dual mode vehicle. But this is a flying train!
This one was just a concept of a traincar shaped like the fusilage of a small jet.
It then clipped onto a powered wing to take off.

Would this be useful for an Belfast to Glasgow/Liverpool service??

 

[jopsuk]

Would this be useful for an Belfast to Glasgow/Liverpool service??

Short answer: No



However, there's an element of "not entirely mad and wrong". In the US Boeing transport 737 fuselages from Spirit Aerosystems in Kansas to their assembly plant in Washington state. Earlier this year that went wrong, badly

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

It looks as if these concepts are a bit impratice after reading the responses

But if it is better to run seperate bus and train services, should train companies run connecting buses that are held until the train arrives and goes to an unconnected town?

The Railfuture response to the Northern and TPE franchise consultation suggests this set-up for some Northern areas.

I know before nationalisation train companies ran bus and air and ferry services where needed.

Would this be a good idea for connecting more places to the national network?

 

[DaveNewcastle]

But if it is better to run seperate bus and train services, should train companies run connecting buses that are held until the train arrives and goes to an unconnected town?

As a nation, we are poor at integrating our public transport. However, I'm not persuaded that one of the solutions follows from having the same Company operate connecting rail and bus services.
If they were entirely separate Companies operating in a free market, then they would benefit economically from the provision of services which integrated with the services of other providers - this would follow from passenger demand, and not from regulation.
Where I think we fail, is in regulating our markets to the extent that operators don't have the flexibility to adapt to yhose passenger demands, and instead, they have contractural committments to achieve which are set by the regulating authorities, but which frequently don't serve the interests of the passengers, or the interests of the operators, or even the interests of the regulator. Everyone looses - even, ultimately, the investors!

Returning to the question of dual mode vehicles, it seems to me that most permutations have been attempted, from flying bicycles, tracked cranes, amphibious vehicles (and arguably the space shuttle) to hovercraft; and all have been found wanting. Liverpool's 'Yellow Submarine' which failed spectacularly a couple of years ago might be the last in any kind of public service. Maybe sea-planes have remained effective even if they have negligible demand in the UK.

I think we've had more success, in engineering and operational terms, in moving road vehicles by dedicated trains and ferries than we have in adapting the vehicles themselves. But surely the great success in multi-mode transport is in the global adoption of the universal cargo container? It travels happily by sea, road and rail, and still finds uses elesewhere (as offices, barriers, storeage, etc. even as a micro-brewery : Northern Alchemy ); a chink in that standard container's success might be in the new high capacity car transporter ships (e.g. Ray Carriers with a capacity of ca 7,000 cars).