A car-train could soon drop off passengers at their front door, as well as cover long distances on normal rail tracks. This hybrid vehicle, called "Flexy", is being developed in France.
With its special wheels, the machine can drive on regular streets as well as on rail tracks. Flexy would be used on smaller routes where regular trains would prove inefficient, SNCF, the national railway company, says.
In a first pilot, Flexy would drive along routes that are between 10-30km long. The aim is for the pilot to launch in 2024 and drastically improve public transport connectivity in rural areas, as well as tackle climate change.
In this context, the French railway company want to test another vehicle, "Draisy", a 80-seat train operated by a battery that passengers can stop at any desired location along the route. It looks a bit more like a tram, actually. This test phase should begin in 2025. A third vehicle up for testing is an innovative lightweight train (TLI), which can carry 100 people, reduces rail wear and allows for denser timetables on lines with lower demand.
Car and train hybrids are not new, however. In the 1950s, the Deutsche Bahn already tested a rail-road-omnibus, but the technology was too complex and ultimately the project was halted.
