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-   -   Intercity Buses operated by various private travels and STUs (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/commercial-vehicles/73526-intercity-buses-operated-various-private-travels-stus-30.html)

407 and 607 chassis is no more allowed officially for stage carriage permit. The minimum wheelbase regulation came in after more and more operators started opting for shorter wheelbase bus in an attempt to reduce their tax figures - this badly affected passengers since the number of seats reduced.

AFAIK, the minimum for a stage carriage permit is 909 or 1112 now. I am not sure of the figure - but its in that range.

Some more pics of Parasuram AC Airbus

Note that the bus does not have any roof support.

Also, note the bus when fully lit and with the night lamps. The blue night LED lamps look awesome

The person behind this bus is Rajashekharan Puthussery (R). The designer of the bus is Rajesh Namboothiri (L). Bus built at Shillibear, Trissur. What an amazing craft manship. A small workshop building such a mind blowing bus is awesome

What an awesome capture Jimmy..Just exclusive is what i can say and really appreciate your travel to Shillybear to capture this amazing vehicle in all night sequences. Also as per the owner, the bus is built all in steel with minimal joints(space frame technology?)Even usage of wood is restricted too. It reduces 70% impact if collided.

It wouldnt have looked more awesome if built on any other chassis other than AL 12M.

Came across this bus in Udumalpet last week.
For the sake of having high deck this bus built alarmingly high and highly not suitable for 912 ( I guess). For the width and height its operating I feel highly unsafe.They should have limited this height to Lynx or older 1109 IMHO.
These kind of bodies will know its fate when bus body code factors in.
This was like to like in height with Marcopolo when I saw another bus of its kind in chennai.

Guys, remember this link ?

Indian Luxury Buses: Roadlink India Volvo B7R crash pictures

The same bus (same reg number) is still in operation (CHE<->BLORE), saw it parked in madiwala yesterday. It looked perfect, no trace of repairs. From the pictures, it is difficult to imagine the ladder frame was not deformed.
Does anyone know whether this bus was repaired or was it replaced with same reg.no ?
Who designs and fits the body onto the frame for all the volvo buses ? volvo themselves or some body-builder ?

The bus was repaired, AFAIK. Volvo has a monocoque design, and not a body built on a ladder-frame chassis. Until recently, Azad coach was doing the body-work for Volvo. Now, Volvo has bought the 30% shares that Azad Coach had in their JV.

Its hard to imagine a car-like "true monocoque" for a bus chassis.
Technical details are explained by Ram in this post -> http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/commer...tml#post428761

Unlike earlier (when ram wrote the post), now if volvo is also doing "body building", they must be building a "frame on ladder" (which may be called "bus chassis" ) and then giving it to azad who might add panels to complete the body.

My guess is, the "bus chassis" would be something like the attached drawing :

From pics what I see was the chassis was not completely deformed, it could have been repaired.
BTW, its not possible to replace with a new bus with a same reg number until otherwise you replace it with a new shell. Here in this case it was not completely damaged for it to get replaced.

Volvo donot have a Monocoque design they have body on frame only but with a space frame in between.

The only Rear Engine chassis in India without space frame (a complete body on frame) is the soon to be launched "12M RE" from Ashokleyland.

Though the OE bodies are made by Volvo, accident repairs and service are done by Jaico even now.

Hi Venky, Volvo is a semi Integral type with a space frame chassis.
The front and rear portion of the chassis is cut and are joined together with a space frame - THis is the belly portion of the bus where yous store your luggages.

The drawing what you attached is a Monocoque type.

From pics what I see was the chassis was not completely deformed, it could have been repaired.
BTW, its not possible to replace with a new bus with a same reg number until otherwise you replace it with a new shell. Here in this case it was not completely damaged for it to get replaced.

Volvo donot have a Monocoque design they have body on frame only but with a space frame in between.

The only Rear Engine chassis in India without space frame (a complete body on frame) is the soon to be launched "12M RE" from Ashokleyland.

Though the OE bodies are made by Volvo, accident repairs and service are done by Jaico even now.

Hi Venky, Volvo is a semi Integral type with a space frame chassis.
The front and rear portion of the chassis is cut and are joined together with a space frame - THis is the belly portion of the bus where yous store your luggages.

The drawing what you attached is a Monocoque type.

Check this page for a Integral bus body chassis posted by me

Thanks for correcting me. Could you (or anyone) explain these terms:
- Monocoque construction, as mentioned in Corona's website
- Integral bus body
- Space frame, mentioned above

Looong loooong ago, some time in early 1970s or late 1960s, at a railway gate at a place called "thammanam", when it was still faar faar away from the city of Ernakulam, a bus met with a train. The bus, and a few lives were totalled.

The bus was carrying a KLE series registration. A new chassis was given by the insurance company (probably they bore the costs post depreciation). . Dunno why the bus was not given a new registration number too.

Those were the days when a registration series lasted 7 years or so. KLE series was followed by KLF and then by KRE series.

In those yonder years, life span of white board vehicles (transport vehicles had black numbers on white back ground, and personal vehicles had numbers in white on a black background) was 16 years. That bus, which continued using the KLE series registration continued to be in operation well after the KRE series transport vehicles were taken off the road. So, the law recignised it as a new bus. But it continued to use the old registration number.

Now, Thammanam is "heart" of the city - well, sort of. The railway gate continues to be there. Probably, the rules have changed now.

Isn't Corona the first?

If the chassis is changed and if the same is endorsed in the RC book, the vehicle can continue with the same reg number.

Corona is a fully built coach unlike 12M RE which is available as a Chassis.

Wanting to know your Inputs on 'Retarders'

I did a bit of Googling and this is what I came up with:-
This is a device which works as an auxiliary brake. It helps in the braking. I was told that it costs 1,50,000 and is available an an option while purchasing a Chassis.

Also read that it increases the life of the braking components.

The main question I have is - is this device necessary in a long-haul Bus? An Inter-city Coach does not brake frequently. VOVLO uses this device as a selling point saying that you can keep the vehicle in operation for 20 hours a day since the brakes will not get heated

I know of ASHOK LEYLANDs that were running between Bangalore and Mumbai for 20 hours a day long before retarders became available, and this is through the Khandala ghats

Totall confused, please help

Dude, if you are a good driver, cruising at 90KMPH on a road with 5 Km visibility and spot a toll gate ahead, what will you do??

Dunno about you, but here is what I will.

1. Take my feet of the accel.
2. Downshift gradually 5 > 4 > 3 (if necessary > 2).
3. Brake

The process is called engine braking.

This is exactly what retarders do. It slows down the engine, thus slowing down the vehicle.

Next time you get in into a Tata HCV, I suggest you have a good look at the part between the engine and driver's left leg / driver seat. You will find a small round disc, about diameter of a 350ML softdrink can (7up/Pepsi/Coca Cola). It will be raised approx 2/3 inches. The driver can press it to close the exhaust, thus slowing the vehicle. This was standard fitment for Tatas, at least from early 1980s.

This is the "exhaust" system described here:-

Retarder (mechanical engineering) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I did a bit of Googling and this is what I came up with:-
This is a device which works as an auxiliary brake. It helps in the braking. I was told that it costs 1,50,000 and is available an an option while purchasing a Chassis.

Also read that it increases the life of the braking components.

The main question I have is - is this device necessary in a long-haul Bus? An Inter-city Coach does not brake frequently. VOVLO uses this device as a selling point saying that you can keep the vehicle in operation for 20 hours a day since the brakes will not get heated

I know of ASHOK LEYLANDs that were running between Bangalore and Mumbai for 20 hours a day long before retarders became available, and this is through the Khandala ghats

Totall confused, please help[/quote]