Nap pods and on-board cinemas: The rail travel of the future

Telegraph

a day ago

You certainly can't fault them for optimism: a British train company organising a Tomorrow's World -style exhibition featuring artistic renderings of how train travel might look by the year 2075.
If you asked the typical train passenger, they'd probably be happy just to see the end of rail replacement buses and faulty loos. But LNER's eye-catching exhibition – which was on display at King's Cross last week and inspired some discussion online – may have helped them to be more ambitious with their vision.
From specially designed 'nap pods' to floating video screens, the designs are about as far from the typical British train journey as the Hogwarts Express.
That's down to the influence of Tom Cheesewright, a self-styled 'applied futurist' whose name has been attached to some of the more headline-grabbing travel predictions in recent years – including low-cost space travel and battery-powered planes.
This time around, Cheesewright has turned his prodigious talents to Britain's railways, foreseeing a total revolution in terms of design and service. In a report accompanying the exhibition, he predicts that the new generation of trains will have aerodynamic, almost bird-like designs, and will be manufactured by 3D printers.
The interior of the train has also been totally overhauled, with cramped carriages replaced by nap pods, floating video screens and cinema rooms. Meanwhile, the installation of 'smart seats' will mean that passengers can choose their preferred temperature and seat firmness, with the train remembering their preferences for next time.
The entire boarding process has been replaced too, with facial recognition making ticket barriers obsolete. Instead, passengers will be able to arrive at their station and go straight to the platform – provided, of course, they've remembered to book their ticket in advance.
'The study findings aren't necessarily what we are working on right at this moment,' says an LNER spokesman, just in case there was any ambiguity on that front. Though they say that the exhibition wasn't just pure science-fiction, given that the designs were inspired by a real-world survey in which passengers set out their travel wish list.
While it's true that 22 per cent of respondents gave a thumbs up to the idea of smart seats, the more common answers were more down-to-earth. Two thirds of passengers said the speed of the train itself was the most important thing, while 44 per cent wanted to be able to relax when travelling. Common bugbears like bad Wi-Fi and a lack of available seats weren't included in the options.
What are the chances of anything like LNER's vision coming true? While the renders might look like fantasy, they aren't a million miles away from Japan's famous Shinkansen N700S, which uses its distinctive bird-like features to reach speeds of more than 200 miles per hour. (If we were being uncharitable, we might even ask if the Shinkansen may have 'inspired' the artistic renderings).
Likewise, a lot of the technology that features in LNER's exhibition is already in use – at least in some capacity – elsewhere in the world. Abu Dhabi's impressive Zayed International airport already uses facial recognition instead of document checks, for example, while Tesla cars have 'smart seats' that enable drivers to save their preferred settings for things like seat and mirror positions.
Some features aren't even really futuristic: Switzerland's Golden Pass Express has floor-to-ceiling windows, for example, while Germany's ÖBB Nightjet has some very impressive sleeper pods. Though, of course, both services will cost you more per mile than your typical ticket from London to Manchester.
If you want a more realistic vision of future trains, you may want to look at China's dizzying progress with so-called 'maglev' (magnetic levitation) trains. Rather than run on traditional rails, these modern marvels levitate above the tracks using magnetic forces. 'This enables extremely high speeds, exceptionally smooth journeys, much lower maintenance requirements, and greater energy efficiency,' says Dr Johannes Kluehspies, president of the International Maglev Board.
The Shanghai Maglev (also known as the Shanghai Transrapid) has been in operation for 20 years now, with a record operational speed of 268 miles per hour. Last month, engineers in Hubei tested a new prototype that managed to exceed 400 miles per hour – more than twice the expected maximum speed of HS2, and not far behind your typical passenger jet.
Another thing the exhibition ignores – perhaps understandably, given the state of industrial relations on the railways – is the concept of driverless trains. While smaller closed-loop metro systems have been unmanned for years, rail engineers are now looking to automate much bigger networks. Rail experts at Siemens have been experimenting with self-driving trains that can respond in real time to their environment (for example, if there is a red signal), and even schedule their own maintenance.
LNER's vision might not be the future of train travel, then, even if some of its ideas aren't totally pie-in-the-sky. But, hey, at least it makes for something interesting to daydream about next time you're stuck on a delayed service on a sticky summer afternoon.