A bit larger and you can use these as legitimate standard trains, like this VT 98 from Germany [1]. Either you attach them at the rear of a regular train for longer distances and then separate it to serve a leg on some rural side track, or you attach a passenger car should you face higher demand on a day (e.g. popular tourist destinations), or you attach a freight car for express service to some industry along the tracks [2].
I seriously miss these things, there are so many rural railways that got shut down following the privatisation frenzy in the 90s, and could really be made to work again with a modern variant.
Do you remember "Hält and jeder Milchkanne" (Stops at every milk can)? That's because they did that, which means they collected the aluminum cans of milk at the little stops, which farmers put there, and transported them to the city, or next dairy. Usually on a flatcar in tow, sometimes pigs, goats, sheep, cows too!
But that stopped long before the 90ies. I guess that was over around 1975, or so.
You know with the instantaneous power output of electric drive trains and the low speed of freight trains, you might be able to reverse direction and get back up to a speed where the collision wouldn't be catastrophic. Though it would require rubber coated drive wheels.
I don't think the collision danger should be a reason to not use these. They really could open up a whole lot more rail service on under utilized lines.
I seriously miss these things, there are so many rural railways that got shut down following the privatisation frenzy in the 90s, and could really be made to work again with a modern variant.
[1] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baureihe_798_752-2.j...
[2] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/DB-Baureihe_VT_98