Railbus
A railbus is a lightweight passenger railcar with an automotive engine.[1] They shares many aspects of its construction with a bus, typically having a bus (original or modified) body and four wheels (2 axles) on a fixed base instead of on bogies. Originally designed and developed during the 1930s, railbuses have evolved into larger dimensions with characteristics similar in appearance to a light railcar, with the terms railcar and railbus often used interchangeably. Railbuses designed for use specifically on little-used railway lines were commonly employed in countries such as Germany, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, and Sweden.[2]
Today, railbuses are being replaced by modern, light
Usage by country
Argentina
Locally manufactured TecnoTren railbuses are in use around Argentina, most notably on the University train of La Plata. They are mostly used in rural parts of the country where the tracks have not yet been repaired and so can't handle the weight of regular trains.[3]
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Australia
In 1937, the NSW Department of Railways added six
engine, they were given the designation FP1 to FP6. When the railbus service wasn't popular, several of the buses became mobile pay cars used to pay railway employees at stations and working on tracks.In December 1941, one of these railbuses (FP 5) was destroyed when dynamite was placed on railway tracks near Yanderra. The three-man crew of the railbus were killed in the explosion. Though £2,000 of loose cash was taken, the safe in the railcar could not be opened by the robbers. No one was prosecuted for the offence.[6]
The first railbus, FP1, has been restored where it is on display at the NSW Rail Museum in Thirlmere. Another seven were built by Comeng in the 1960s.[7]
In
Czech Republic and Slovakia
In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, railbuses are used on less frequented rural lines. Most railbuses are based on a former ČSD M 152.0 diesel multiple unit, also known as ČD/ŽSR Class 810.
Canada
The Kaoham Shuttle utilizes DMU railbuses for its daily service between Lillooet and D'Arcy, British Columbia.
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Germany
In Germany, the Schienenbus was developed in the 1930s to fulfill the need for an inexpensive rail vehicle. It was built to standard specifications on Germany's
A number of serious accidents in Germany in the late 1970s involving railbuses resulted in the specification and development of larger, more robustly designed diesel railcars. Although these cars were more similar in size to the U.S. produced diesel railcars, they would not have complied with current FRA requirements, and, like their North American cousin rail diesel cars, are largely railroad-derivative designs. The DB Class 628 exemplifies the contemporary German diesel railcar. This type of car replaced the Schienenbus and locomotive-hauled train consists where possible on branch-line and main-line assignments during the 1980s and 1990s. Both the Uerdingen Schienenbus and the Bautzen railbuses have virtually disappeared from regular revenue service, but its diesel rail car successors are still widely used. DMUs of a third generation in succession after the Schienenbus are now being ordered by the hundreds in a variety of modular design combinations.[8]
Hungary
The first railbuses appeared in Hungary in 1925, made by Ganz Works. From 1934, MÁV started to use railbuses called Árpád, which were also manufactured by Ganz. These vehicles ran on the Budapest-Vienna line. In 1975, the last Árpád was scrapped.
In 1986, due to the lack of
India
Indian Railways operates many railbuses on its branch lines. These railbuses are being replaced by EMUs due to increase in passengers.
There is railbus on the Kalka-Shimla route (train number 72451), Mathura to Vrindavan (train number 72175) and Merta Jn to Merta City (train number 74804) as well, among others.
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Indonesia
Railbuses in
On August 5, 2012, the first railbus service in the country
In 2014, KAI launched Kertalaya railbus in South Sumatra between Kertapati Station in Palembang to Indralaya Station in Ogan Ilir and vice versa to ease road traffic.[11]
In 2016, Lembah Anai railbus was launched in
Ireland
The
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Japan
The president of
Motorization soared in Japan from the 1970s on, reducing consuming passenger numbers on local private railways. Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. in 1982 began development of an "LE-Car" that incorporates significantly the structure of the bus, deficit local lines of JNR has been adopted by many of the railway company that local governments and private companies are operated by joint investment.
Mongolia
The Ulaanbaatar Railbus is a railbus-based public transit system in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar.
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Netherlands
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In the Netherlands, a Michelin car was trialled in 1932.[15]
Peru
Railbuses are used on PeruRail.
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Saudi Arabia and Syria
Syrian railbuses are used in Damascus from Ma'adan to Sarouja, and in Saudi Arabia from Riyadh to Medina and Mecca.
Sri Lanka
Railbuses entered service in Sri Lanka in 1995, using
United Kingdom
British Rail produced a variety of railbuses as a means both of building new rolling stock cheaply, and to provide services on lightly used lines economically.
A variety of railbus known as
United States
There are records of bus bodies being fitted to special Mack Truck chassis built with small four-wheel bogie trucks under the engine and hood, and larger flanged steel drive wheels, as early as 1903. Osgood Bradley Car Company built one of the more popular bodies during the 1920s. Fairbanks-Morse, later a locomotive builder, offered similar conversions fitted to Dodge truck chassis in the mid-1930s, preferring to fit the truck chassis with van bodies and supply a small matching passenger coach trailer. Some railroads built their own bodies on truck or large, powerful luxury passenger car chassis. Most continued the pattern of a small two axle truck in front, and a single drive axle in the rear. One example from the 1930s, built on a White Truck chassis, is preserved at the National Museum of Transportation in Kirkwood, Missouri.
After World War II a number of more modern light train concepts appeared. Few were successful, as many railroads cooperated with highway bus services to eliminate passenger trains from their branch lines. Some, like the
In 1967 and 1968,
In 1985, SEPTA tested an imported BRE-Leyland railbus on the now-closed Fox Chase to Newton section of the Fox Chase Line.
See also
References
- ^ "Railbus". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster.
- ^ "Hilding Carlsson and His Railcar Company". 123minsida.se. Archived from the original on 2011-07-19. Retrieved 2010-04-20.
- ^ "El Tecnotren, el transporte ecológico inventado en Argentina que une pueblos". Alternativa Verde (in Spanish). 4 May 2012. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
- ^ Rolling Stock Improvements in New South Wales The Railway Magazine May 1939 page 368
- ^ "First Fleet". NSW Rail Heritage. Archived from the original on 2010-05-13. Retrieved 2009-12-11.
- ^ "4-wheel Paybuses Pack". coalstonewcastle.railpage.org.au. Archived from the original (TXT) on 2009-09-14. Retrieved 2009-12-11.
- ^ Order for Paybuses Railway Transportation April 1967 page 8
- ^ "Supplementing and Updating TCRP Report 52: Joint Operation of Light Rail Transit or Diesel Multiple Unit Vehicles with Railroads" (PDF), Research Results Digest, Transit Cooperative Research Program, no. 43, p. 27, September 2001, archived (PDF) from the original on 2010-07-06, retrieved 2010-05-01 – via onlinepubs.trb.org
- ^ a b "Икарус на железнодорожном ходу". zddoc.ru. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
- ^ Widjajadi (5 August 2012). "Railbus Batara Kresna Akhirnya Meluncur". MediaIndonesia.com (in Indonesian). Archived from the original on 2013-01-29.
- ^ "26 November, Railbus Kertalaya Kembali Beroperasi". Sriwijaya Post (in Indonesian). 23 November 2014. Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
- ^ Sekretariat IRPS Pusat (23 June 2011). "Kunjungan IRPS Sumbar-Riau ke PT INKA Mendampingi Kadishub Sumatra Barat". Indonesian Railway Preservation Society (in Indonesian). Archived from the original on 2020-03-19. Retrieved 2016-01-31.
- ^ "Rail Buses Developed at Dundalk GNR Works". Independent.ie. 17 December 2012. Archived from the original on 2020-03-22. Retrieved 2015-08-23.
- ^ 南部縦貫鉄道とは [What is the Nanbu Jūkan Railway]. ogaemon.com (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 17 September 2020. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
- ^ "Demonstratie Michelin auto-trein - Open Beelden". www.openbeelden.nl. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
- ^ "Story of Rail Buses in Sri Lanka". Sri Lanka Railway Forum. 2023-02-10. Retrieved 2023-11-20.
- ^ The CRAZY jungle train you’ve probably never heard of..., retrieved 2024-02-22
- ^ "Last Ever Pacer Train Squeaks to a Halt in Wales – After Equivalent of Five Trips to the Moon and Back". Nation.Cymru. 1 June 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-08-22. Retrieved 2021-08-22.
- ^ "This bus rides rail or highway with equal ease". Railway Age, 6 November 1967 page 26