Hybrid rail bus

[caveatemptor]

IRISH RAIL is considering replacing the Waterford to Limerick Junction services with a “rail bus” – a hybrid vehicle which can run on road and rail.

The vehicle, which has double sets of wheels, is one of a number of cost-cutting options on the route which has passenger traffic of only 54,000 people a year.

The rail bus, similar to an ordinary mini bus, is able to drive on either railways or roads and Irish Rail believes its capacity of about 20 seats would meet demand.

Rail bus operations around the world traditionally allow high-cost signalling to be removed from the line, and a rail-mounted vehicle with the operational characteristics of a bus can then run instead. The rail bus offers significant fuel savings.

The Irish Times understands Irish Rail is studying reports on the introduction of such vehicles on little-used routes in Japan

It is also understood that the company is looking at a second tram-like rail carriage which is employed on some low-usage lines in the UK.

Full story at http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ire ... 49959.html

Does anyone have any experience with these vehicles?

[Kevo00]

I assume the 'tram like rail carriage' is the Parry People Mover used on the Stourbridge Town branch, referred to muchly elsewhere on this forum!

[Dave]

I assume the 'tram like rail carriage' is the Parry People Mover used on the Stourbridge Town branch, referred to muchly elsewhere on this forum!

PARRY PEOPLE MOVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Don't invest. They're s***.

[JamieLei]

What are they like to ride? I still have to find some excuse to goto Stourbridge and ride it. But I don't tend to travel around for the hell of it (the only time I ever did it was a novelty thing to celebrate winning a train pass).

[Dave]

What are they like to ride?

Pacerish.

[Fizzy Mash]

What are they like to ride?

Pacerish.

Having recently started a regular commute by train for the 1st time ever, I'm having to revise my opinions of pacers- 141s were always hideous (I pity the Iranian commuters using them nowhttp://www.phantasrail.com/Iran/130%202 ... heranu.jpg), but the refurbished 144s do a job, and on welded rail (i.e. Leeds-Hudd stoppers, even long stretches of HUD-DBD) the ride quality isn't bad. If IR want to buy up the remaining unrefurbished 142s (and come to think of it, the ex-MerseyTravel & Northern Spirit ones too) & re-gauge them tho, they're welcome to the bloody things...

[Dave]

What are they like to ride?

Pacerish.

Having recently started a regular commute by train for the 1st time ever, I'm having to revise my opinions of pacers- 141s were always hideous (I pity the Iranian commuters using them nowhttp://www.phantasrail.com/Iran/130%202 ... heranu.jpg), but the refurbished 144s do a job, and on welded rail (i.e. Leeds-Hudd stoppers, even long stretches of HUD-DBD) the ride quality isn't bad. If IR want to buy up the remaining unrefurbished 142s (and come to think of it, the ex-MerseyTravel & Northern Spirit ones too) & re-gauge them tho, they're welcome to the bloody things...

On welded rail they're not too bad at all.

Sadly, the Stourbridge Branch doesn't have welded rail either

[Toni Babelony]

Greetings from Japan:

[noofnoof]

Toyota Coaster much?

[JamieLei]

What's the point!
You might as well just run a bus!

[caveatemptor]

What's the point!
You might as well just run a bus!

Someone asked this over on another website. My guess is that they ideally want to run a bus service on a dedicated route without public traffic getting in the way. Of course there is no dedicated road, only a dedicated rail network. So they make this rail bus because otherwise they would have to run a bus through public routes, which would add to congestion and slow down the service, or build a dedicated road for the bus which would obviously be quite costly.

[Kevo00]

Well don't forget that there is evidence that more people switch to rail based transport because the presence of the rails reassures them that the rail vehicle will actually turn up.

There is something a bit Colonel HF Stephens about the whole thing though!

[JamieLei]

Well don't forget that there is evidence that more people switch to rail based transport because the presence of the rails reassures them that the rail vehicle will actually turn up.

Indeed actually - I love the railways in that sense. Even though my local route now has satellite tracking and real-time info, it's not as reassuring as knowing that the train is meant to arrive at X time and will be here in Y minutes.

[L&Y Man]

IRISH RAIL is considering replacing the Waterford to Limerick Junction services with a “rail bus” – a hybrid vehicle which can run on road and rail.

The vehicle, which has double sets of wheels, is one of a number of cost-cutting options on the route which has passenger traffic of only 54,000 people a year.

The rail bus, similar to an ordinary mini bus, is able to drive on either railways or roads and Irish Rail believes its capacity of about 20 seats would meet demand.

Rail bus operations around the world traditionally allow high-cost signalling to be removed from the line, and a rail-mounted vehicle with the operational characteristics of a bus can then run instead. The rail bus offers significant fuel savings.

The Irish Times understands Irish Rail is studying reports on the introduction of such vehicles on little-used routes in Japan


The LMS tried this in the 1930s, intending that the bus could use the railway for the main part of the journey, then transfer to road from the station to the village centre, which might be some way away. It finally dawned that the bus might as well stay on the road all the time, especially as in those days there was very little other traffic. Perhaps things might be different on today's congested roads.


L&Y Man

It is also understood that the company is looking at a second tram-like rail carriage which is employed on some low-usage lines in the UK.

Full story at http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ire ... 49959.html

Does anyone have any experience with these vehicles?

[ostlandr]

Over here we're coming at it from the opposite direction- "Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)." Dedicated lanes for buses, pre-boarding ticket sales, etc.
There are even a few sections of some new innovation called "fixed guideway" where the bus will automatically track along it like those little cars at the carnival that run around the track. I presume that's to let buses dip into Federal "fixed guideway" transit funding.
They're even proposing hybrid buses and electric buses powered off dual catenary- like I saw running in Toronto in the '80s.
But some other folks are figuring out that, with the huge stations, new ramps, etc., BRT is more expensive and obtrusive than light rail.

[JamieLei]

Yes but BRT can extend into the centres of cities with minimal infrastructure, if not any at all.

There's one under construction between Cambridge and Huntington, the longest one in the world. More info here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridges ... ded_Busway

[Kevo00]

I do think trolleybus might actually be something worth looking at for UK cities where we have a high density of service, particularly on central London routes where multiple busses could use the infrastructure, getting rid of diesel fumes in some streets where the traffic is dominated by busses.