The Anonymous Widower

Road-Rail Midi-Buses To Start Revenue Service On December 25

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Railway Gazette.

There’s more about this bus in this article on Coach and Bus Week, which is entitled Japan Launches Road-Rail Bus.

Engineers have been trying to design a road-rail busfor decades. Finally, it looks like one is up and running.

December 21, 2021 - Posted by | Transport/Travel | ,

7 Comments »

  1. They might have asked South Wales Fire and Rescue who have this solution to service the Severn Tunnel in case of emergencies.
    R2R Vehicle 3 – South Wales Fire and Rescue Service
    https://www.southwales-fire.gov.uk/newsroom/news/new-road-to-rail-vehicle-to-help-firefighters-and-ambulance-crews-reach-severn-tunnel-emergencies/r2r-vehicle-3/
    The Shikoku Seaside Railway as it’s described in one Japanese article is about 8.5kms long compared with the 7kms for the Severn Tunnel, however when you factor in the tunnel approaches I doubt there’s any difference in the lengths.
    Comparing the above link and a Japanese video the principle design features of the adaption appear to be the same, although the conversion of the South Wales F&R truck was carried out by a North Wales company, They might have asked South Wales Fire and Rescue who have this solution to service the Severn Tunnel in case of emergencies.
    R2R Vehicle 3 – South Wales Fire and Rescue Service
    https://www.southwales-fire.gov.uk/newsroom/news/new-road-to-rail-vehicle-to-help-firefighters-and-ambulance-crews-reach-severn-tunnel-emergencies/r2r-vehicle-3/
    The Shikoku Seaside Railway is about 8.5kms long compared with the 7kms for the Severn Tunnel however when you factor in the tunnel approaches I doubt there’s any difference in the lengths.
    Comparing the above link and a Japanese video the principle design features of the adaption appear to be the same, although the conversion of the South Wales F&R truck have been carried out by a North Wales company, GOS Tool & Engineering Services
    https://www.gosengineering.co.uk/rail/on-track-plant-machines-otp/lorry-based-road-rail-vehicles/
    I wonder whether GOS will be inspired to convert a midi bus

    Comment by fammorris | December 21, 2021 | Reply

    • There are photos of GOS road-rail cranes in an article and advert pages 79-81 in this months December/January issue of Rail Technology magazine. https://mag.railtechnologymagazine.com/publication/?m=62824&i=732143&p=82&ver=html5

      Comment by jason leahy | December 22, 2021 | Reply

    • I just found photos of over a dozen old road-rail buses and coaches on google image search and articles starting with the experimental road-rail coach run by London, Midlands and Scottish Railway from 1931 or 32. Another idea that is supposed to be new but is old like electric buses, prototype Daimler Benz 1885 and production Pope Manufacturing Company, USA 1899-1909 and ev double decker buses Electric Vehicle Company, UK 1906-09 which carried passengers in London 1907-10 and Brighton 1908-17.
      https://railwaywondersoftheworld.com/coaches-for-road-rail.html

      Comment by jason leahy | December 22, 2021 | Reply

  2. NHK TV report at this link

    Comment by Fenline Scouser | December 22, 2021 | Reply


Leave a Comment