DMV (Dual-mode vehicle) is to enter service on the 25th of December!

[The Birmingham train spotter]

Appearing on NHK News world Japan - Japan railway Journal the DMV fascinated me when I watched the documentary.  It's been in development since 2002, the DMV system is now being run by Japan's Asa Coast Railway company. It currently incorporates three vehicles, which will travel approximately 123 km (76 miles) between the Awa Kainan Bunka Mura cultural facility in Tokushima prefecture to the Umi no Eki Toromu marina in Kochi prefecture.

Each DMV is a modified diesel-powered bus that can carry 23 passengers (18 seated, four standing) along with the driver. When on the road, it simply moves along on its tires like any other bus. Once it straddles the rails of its DMV-specific track, however, the push of a button causes front and rear sets of steel rail wheels to deploy from its underside.

According to Asa Coast Railway, the DMV's ability to run much of its route on tracks should make it considerably more fuel-efficient and less polluting than traditional buses. It should also require less maintenance, plus it could conceivably help transport people in the event of an earthquake or other disaster, in which either the highways or the rail lines were impassible.

As stated in the Documentary by NHK News world Japan the DMV will only run on special occasions so Christmas day is a prefect opportunity for the DMV!

[cteno4]

Historical topic here