An electronic system having a backplane defining a plurality of slots each for demountably holding a respective one of a plurality of plug-in modules. The backplane includes a power trace extending to all of the slots for supplying power to all of the slots and a signal trace for carrying a daisy-chained signal to all of the slots. Associated with each of the slots is an arrangement for selectively bypassing the daisy-chained signal past the slot when no module is present in that slot. The arrangement comprises a controllable signal transmission device coupled to the signal trace for selectively providing a conductive path bypassing the slot and a current sensing switch coupled to a branch of the power trace which extends to the slot. The current sensing switch is responsive to current flow through the power trace to the slot for controlling the transmission device to close the conductive path in the absence of current flow and to open the conductive path in the presence of current flow.