The automobile looks like a minibus and drives on ordinary rubber tires on the road. The minute it reaches an interchange, steel wheels plummet from the vehicle’s underbelly, ultimately, turning it into a train carriage that can operate effortlessly on a rail track. Japan has built the world’s primary dual-mode vehicle (DMV) that can operate on both roads and rail tracks. The railbus is going to be launched on Saturday in the city of Kaiyo in Japan. The front tires are pushed off the track and the back wheels stay down to stimulate the DMV onto the railway. The CEO of Asa Coast Railway company, which regulates the DMVs, said that the vehicles could enable little towns like Kaiyo with a low and shrinking community, where local transport companies toil hard to bring in a profit. The DMV can hold up to 21 passengers and drives at a speed of 60km/h (37 mph) on rail tracks and can go as fast as around 100km/h (62 mph) on public roads, Asa Coast Railway asserted.
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The vehicle is powered by diesel fuel, and comes in several colors, will run along part of the coast of Shikoku island in southern Japan, uniting various small towns and giving passengers desirable views of the seaside. Miura said he yearned that the project would enable railway enthusiasts from around Japan to tour Kaiyo, a small town in Japan’s Tokushima prefecture. This is a great innovation and initiative made by the company. This would attract many tourists and train buffs to visit the small town of Kaiyo and grow the economy there. This would help in connecting several small towns and also provide a livelihood to the people living there. It is important to protect that community from shrinking any further.