Publié pour la première fois dans Rail Magazine
Is this the train of the future, as imagined by an Applied Futurist for LNER? Andy comfort reports.
Passengers boarding trains at London King’s Cross have been given a glimpse of what the future could hold for rail travel.
As part of the Railway 200 celebrations, LNER has been trying to predict what train travel could look like in the year 2075.
The East Coast Main Line operator has been working with an Applied Futurist, Tom Cheesewright, and 2,000 people were asked what they would most like to see on their trains in 50 years’ time – including wellness carriages and odourless food.
Whether an odourless bacon roll will ever catch on is debatable, but a glance at the images shows a large, comfy-looking futuristic armchair, which might be something passengers on the oft-criticised Department for Transport-specified Azuma seats can indeed dream of.
In the year 2075, we might not need to be scrabbling for our paper ticket, or trying to find somewhere to charge our phones to show our virtual ticket – new advancements could mean facial recognition technology replacing ticket barriers.
Just how your face would determine whether you’re travelling First or Standard Class, or on an Advance single not valid on that next train, is no doubt one for the experts to work on!
We could see individual travel pods designed for platform pick-ups and much reduced journey times. Carriage might include floor-to-ceiling windows providing 360° views of the landscape (popular with 57% of people questioned.)
Another idea is an augmented reality layer, with surreal scenes and gaming options, for those who prefer to stare at their phones.
Cheesewright predicts that train carriages in 50 years’ time could be focused on maximum comfort, entertainment and wellness. He believes that train travel might not just be about getting from ‘A to B’ – it could be transformed into a full holistic experience that promotes passenger health and wellbeing.
“Imagining train travel in 50 years means thinking about everything that will be possible, such as new technologies and innovations, but also thinking about what we will want and need from the trains of the future.’ he says.
“Where possibilities and need collide, we see a fantastic vision. The train journey of the future will be smooth from start to finish, aided by Al planning, ticketless travel and floor to ceiling windows.”
“The train of the future will look like a science fiction marvel: swooping and organic, powerful and quiet, and with an onboard experience that connects us to the countryside around us, or the digital world, or even a seamless combination of the two.”
How would the train of 2075 reduce journey times?
For Cheesewright, it’s about new technologies, making the trains more aerodynamic, using quantum computing an AI together, which would allow for thousands of designs to be tested at the same time, rather than one after the other.
He claims that new materials, combined with technologies such as 3D printed metals, would allow trains to be lighter, stronger and stiffer, reaching high speeds with much less energy.
These predictions were brought to life in an installation from LNER at King’s Cross station from July 30 to August 1.
LNER Head of Digital Experience Strategy Rachel Pope said: “LNER has always been at the forefront of railway innovation, so it makes sense that now – while celebrating the last 200 years of the modern railway – we also look forward to what may be ahead.
