The future of the cabin experience in high-speed trains in 2040
Challenge
To recreate the travel experience in the cabin of high - speed trains in 2040 for the Access Community: This includes the elderly (65+), people with disabilities, parents travelling with children, and people with medication needs (Diabetes, Allergies etc.).
Outcome
Created an Ideal Traveller service blueprint with future scenarios and storytelling that illustrated AI-driven physical and digital solutions, enhancing travel personalization and support. Travelers reported an increased sense of autonomy, safety, and security.
Client: Siemens Mobility - A leading provider of sustainable and efficient transport solutions.
Duration: 6 months
Team Members: Camilla Merino, Bercah Stanly, Kristin Fung.
Context
This project was initiated as Siemens mobility sought to enhance the cabin experience of high-speed trains by addressing the evolving needs of passengers, particularly those with accessibility requirements. As a leader in transportation innovation, Siemens aimed to ensure that future cabin designs not only catered to the elderly, people with disabilities, and individuals with specific medical needs but also provided a universally improved experience for all passengers.
Our role
01
Research to map the current traveler journey from trip planning to station arrival, identifying key challenges they face.
Trends research in the travel industry to identify innovations enhancing the experience for travelers with accessibility needs.
02
Ideation to identify design opportunities for improving the travel experience, leading to the creation of an ideal service blueprint.
03
Prototyping proposed solutions through future scenarios, incorporating AI-generated images and mobile app screens, to validate concepts with travellers.
Research
01
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Trends research.
We researched and analysed the micro trends affecting the travel industry and disabled travelers to understand new trends and innovations that could impact their travel on a train. We did this through desktop research and cultural brailing in Barcelona City.20 in-depth interviews.
We interviewed travellers in 30-minute to 1-hour interviews to understand their personal experiences travelling on high-speed trains. They shared insights on their pain points and expectations for the future.Service Safari and AS - IS Traveller Journey.
We went on 2 train trips. One to Madrid on a Siemens high-speed train and also on a train within Barcelona city. We looked around the trains to understand the layout and the tools available to the access community and we also observed the ways they were travelling. We looked out for their pain points and journey as they travelled and even spoke to some people on the train. We created an AS IS service blueprint.
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Traveller Personas.
We came up with three personas.A mother called Mariana travelling alone with a toddler and a baby.
An elderly couple, Sara and Andreas and he has mobility limitations.
Pablo is a young man who has a severe peanut allergy and may need emergency care on board.
Insights
All our research was synthesized and we came up with 4 research Insights;Facing moments of panic during the journey.
Fear of feeling vulnerable: People do not ask for help because they are afraid of other people's reactions.
Basic movement is an exhausting action.
Its beyond feeling vulnerable.
Design opportunities and ideal service blueprint
02
Ideation Workshop.
To come up with ideas the team came together in a workshop where we played a game called “I Wish”. This helped us gather more than 150 ideas which we evaluated and chose only 5.
Design Opportunities.
We used the research we gathered and the ideas we generated to come up with Design Opportunities that meet the needs of the traveller within the coach/cabin and also align with Siemens objectives.
The Cabin experience
Planning the trip
Moving to the Station
Arriving to the Station
Post -service
Future Scenarios and prototyping
03
Robots to help passengers move their luggage through the station and load them onto the train.
A bathroom that self-sanitises after every use to kill viruses.
A robotic arm that delivers food from the cafeteria to the travellers seat.
A Siemens and Glovo collaboration puts vending machines in the train allowing passengers to browse and order items on their phones.
Design Principles and recomendations
03
We then proposed a set of design principles that should be followed when innovating for this group of travellers
Accessibility
Universal Design
User testing and feedback
Smart Personalised and Assistive Technology
Ergonomics and Comfort
Staff Training
Learnings
To show empathy to the target group that you're working with and taking all steps possible to understand their experience.It was great to come up with numerous ideas allowing ourselves to go as wild as possible and then evaluating ideas and merging ideas to create something possible.