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.

The train wheels lift the front tires off the track while the rear wheels stay down to propel the DMV onto the railway.

The chief executive officer of Asa Coast Railway, which operates the DMVs, said the vehicles could help small towns like Kaiyo with an ageing and shrinking population, where local transportation companies struggle to make a profit.

"This [DMV] can reach the locals [as a bus], and carry them onto the railway as well," CEO Shigeki Miura told Reuters on Friday.

"Especially in rural areas with an ageing population, we expect it to be a very good form of public transportation."

The DMV can carry up to 21 passengers and runs at a speed of 60 kilometers per hour on rail tracks and can go as fast as around 100 kph on public roads, Asa Coast Railway said.

Powered by diesel fuel, the small fleet of vehicles, which come in different colors, will run along part of the coast of Shikoku Island in southern Japan, connecting several small towns and offering passengers attractive seaside scenery.

Miura said he hoped the project would encourage railway fans from around Japan to visit.

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