Rail replacement bus service

Not to be confused withRailbusorRailroad bus.

MetrolinePlaxton PresidentbodiedDennis Trident 2rail replacement bus inLondon

Arail replacement bus serviceusesbusesto replace apassenger trainservice on a temporary or permanent basis. The train service that is replaced may be of any type such aslight rail,tram,streetcar,commuter rail,regional railorheavy rail,intercitypassenger service. The rail service may be replaced if the line is closed because ofrail maintenance,a breakdown of atrain,arail accidentor astrike actionor to simply provide additional capacity or if the rail service is deemed noteconomicallyviable.

Terms for a rail replacement bus service includebustitution(aportmanteauof the words "bus" and "substitution", orbustitute)andbus bridge.Substitution of rail services by buses can be unpopular and subject to criticism and so the termbustitutionis often used pejoratively.

Examples

Australia

Traffic inSydney,Australia,after the replacement oftramsbybuses,1962

InAustralia,a permanent or temporary rail replacement service change is often referred to asbustitution.

In November 1941, theWestern Australian Government Railwaysintroduced its first rail replacement service, which operated a service fromPerthtoKojonupviaBoddington.By 1949, there were 28 buses,and by 1959, there were more than 50.

TheSydney MetroNorthwest line used human-driven single-deck buses late at night from Wednesdays to Sundays and operated a red Metro bus-like service with a frequency of approximately every 10 minutes until November 2019. That measure was in place since the line was deemed "ready" 10 months ahead of schedule.

On theQueensland Railnetwork, to relieve congestion on the single trackSunshine Coast line,the rail service is supplemented by a bus service operated byKangaroo Bus Lineson weekdays betweenCabooltureandNambouras route 649.NSW TrainLink,TranswaandV/Lineall introduced extensive networks inNew South Wales,Western AustraliaandVictoriain the 1970s and the 1980s that replaced regional trains.

Canada

Via Rail,the operator of the national passenger rail network, uses the term "bustitution" to refer to rail replacement with buses.

China

Beijing Public Transportrail replacement bus from Xi'erqi to Zhuxinzhuang after the Changping Line train collision, December 2023

After thetrain collisiononChangping line,Beijing SubwaybetweenXi'erqi stationandLife Science Park stationon 14 December 2023, train services betweenZhuxinzhuangand Xi'erqi were temporarily suspended on the following day. Beijing Public Transport provided free shuttle bus services between Zhuxinzhuang and Xi'erqi.

Czech Republic

Rail replacement bus service in theCzech Republic

Substitute bus transport (Czech:náhradní autobusová doprava) is governed by the Road Traffic Act (111/1994 Coll.), which allows the operator of a national, regional, tram,trolleybusorspecial lineto operate substitute transport for up to 90 days in the case of interrupted or temporarily-restricted traffic on the line without the requirement to apply for a bus line license and have approval of the line's schedule. The law also mandates vehicles used for substitute transport to be marked as such.

In municipal public transport, substitute transport often takes on the number of the line that it replaces, prefixed by the letter X, and the original line is detoured. In cities with trolleybus systems, rail replacement buses also occasionally used for substitute transport and is then called substitute trolleybus transport (Czech:náhradní trolejbusová doprava).

Ireland

As in theUnited Kingdom,buses have replaced rail services on closed lines. The most recent example can be found inCounty Wexford.where upon the suspension of rail services betweenRosslare EuroportandWaterfordin 2010,Bus Éireannroute 370 was introduced. However, the bus takes considerably longer than the train journey and fails to serveWaterford railway station.

Japan

Rail replacement bus inHigashi-Shikagoe Station,Minamifurano,Hokkaido,Japan.(September 2021)

Busses have replaced rail in Japan when rail service must be suspended because of disaster, accident, economics, or engineering works. Notably, in some cases. those rail lines are closed permanently, and some of the formerrail rights-of-wayare converted into bus rights-of-way to provide grade-separatedbus rapid transitservice.

New Zealand

Whentrain servicesoperated byTransdevinAucklandtrain services are sometimes replaced by a bus, the resulting service is calledRail Bus.Historically,New Zealand Railways Road Servicesreplaced many train routes with buses.

Sweden

While the reconstruction ofSlussen,the western terminal ofSaltsjöbanan,is in progress, trains on line 25 run only toHenriksdal,one station short ofSlussen,with the segment betweenSlussenandHenriksdalserved by a replacement bus 25B that is timed to match the train times atHenriksdal.

A bus running on Spårväg City tram line 7

Sometimes, buses can be seen running on line 7, theSpårväg Citytram line, even when trams are running normally.

In the night after 01:00, there is no service on the Stockholm Metro and the commuter rail, and night buses run along the line instead.

United Kingdom

Stagecoach LondonAlexander ALX400bodiedDennis Trident 2in London in 2013

Roselyn CoachesVan Hool TX16 AlicroninTauntonin April 2018

During theBritish Railways Board's railway rationalisation in the 1960s, known as theBeeching cuts,bus substitution was an official policy for replacing train services on closed lines. The policy was largely unsuccessful, however, as the bus services were usually far slower than the train services that they replaced, and many passengers gave up on public transport altogether.A report published in 2018 identified successful, and surviving, examples of this policy as the presentExcelroute operated byFirst Eastern Countiesbetween Norwich and Peterborough,and theBrighton & HoveRegency Routebetween Brighton and Tunbridge Wells, which partly replaces a route closed by Beeching.

Rail replacement bus services have been used to operateparliamentary trainservices.

• WhenNorth London Railwaysservices betweenWatford JunctionandCroxley Greenwere withdrawn in March 1996, to avoid the legal complications and costs of actual closure, train services were replaced by buses. The service was withdrawn when the branch was formally closed in September 2003.
• After the withdrawal ofCentral Trainsservices betweenStaffordandStoke-on-Trent,to facilitate theWest Coast Main Lineupgrade at the request of theStrategic Rail Authorityin May 2003,BakerBusroute X1 was introduced to serveNorton Bridge,Stone,BarlastonandWedgwoodstations.When the train service was reintroduced byLondon Midlandin December 2008, only Stone regained a rail service, and the other stations continued to be served by route X1.In October 2017, theDepartment for Transport(DfT) declared Norton Bridge station closed but continued the partial funding of the replacement bus service until March 2019.As of 2023, Barlaston and Wedgwood stations continue to be served byD&G Busreplacement route 100. The DfT funds the contractual service while it seeks a solution to demands for the restoration of the train service. The bustitution has existed for 19 years, as of 2023.
• After the withdrawal of services byArriva CrossCountrybetweenReadingandBrightonin December 2008, the only passenger services on three short sections of line betweenEaling BroadwayandWandsworth Road,a replacement weekly bus service was introduced.The service ceased in June 2013, after a formal closure process had been completed.

United States

United States:New York City Busprovides shuttle service inthe Bronxbecause of construction on theNew York City Subway.

Rail-replacement bus services occurred on a large scale after the dismantling of thestreet railwaysystems of many cities inNorth Americain the mid-20th century.Replacement of existing rail services with buses afterWorld War IIis one of the largest reasons that so few US cities haverapid transit systems.

The temporary substitution of buses for trains may be done withAmtrak'sAmtrak Thruwayservice.

TheG Line(formerly the Orange Line) of theLos Angeles Metroruns along a paved closed course on the easement from the originalSouthern Pacific RailroadBurbank line, which was later used by thePacific Electric Railway.It may eventually be converted back tolight railwith Measure M funding, but that is not currently scheduled to happen until around 2050.

Singapore

An incident occurred inSingaporeon 7 July 2015 after amass shutdownon theNorth–SouthandEast–West linesafter a power system failure. The operatorSMRTand the rivalSBS Transitdid not activate bus bridging but made all buses free islandwide because of the sheer scale of the disruptions.The Land Transport Authority made travel free available for any bus services passing MRT stations that were affected during the train disruptions, and during a massive disruption affecting at least two lines, bus travel islandwide was made free.

Urban transit

Rail-replacement bus services are common amongurban rail transitsystems, mainly because of unexpected service disruptions. For example, one of theeffects of Hurricane Sandy in New Yorkwas that theNew York City Subwayrequired replacement bus service for several subway routes.As the subway runs24/7/365,replacement bus service is also provided when subway lines were closed for regularly-scheduled maintenance and so interruptions in subway service require replacement bus service, even during off-peak hours.

See also

• Abandonment (legal) § Abandonment of public transportation systems
• Beeching cuts,an example of bus service replacing rail service
• Bus rapid transit
• Effects of the car on societies
• Rail trail
• Transport economics

External links

• Media related toRail substitute bus transportat Wikimedia Commons
• The dictionary definition ofbustitutionat Wiktionary