Bus or Train? World’s First ‘Dual-Mode Vehicle’ to Begin Operating in Japan

Bus or Train? World’s First ‘Dual-Mode Vehicle’ to Begin Operating in Japan
A 'Dual-Mode Vehicle (DMV)' bus that can run both on conventional road surfaces and a railway track, is seen during its test run in Kaiyo Town, Tokushima Prefectue, Japan, on Dec. 24, 2021. Tokushima Prefectural Government/Handout via Reuters
Reuters
Updated:

TOKYO—It’s a bus, it’s a train, it’s a DMV! The world’s first dual-mode vehicle, equally at home on road and rail, is set to make its public debut on Saturday in the town of Kaiyo in Japan’s Tokushima prefecture.

The DMV looks like a minibus and runs on normal rubber tires on the road. But when it arrives at an interchange, steel wheels descend from the vehicle’s underbelly onto the rail track, effectively turning it into a train carriage.