RUSSIA: A mock up of a design concept for ‘capsule’ accommodation on long-distance trains has been unevield by TMH Engineering at the PRO//Motion Railway Fair at the Shcherbinka test centre near Moscow.
TMH said the design draws on Russian and international experience as well as feedback from passengers and staff.
It is envisaged that there would be a 56 individual capsule places per coach, arranged on two levels. The berths would be 150 mm longer than the current standard, with individual curtains and an ergonomically shaped backrest.
Facilities include a table, USB sockets and light switches. The curtain rods have built-in LEDs for lighting, and there are number of brighter LEDs as individual lights.
The layout of the luggage storage space could be reconfigured by passengers to match their needs.
The capsule car is designed for loading gauge T, which allows for 280 mm more width and 730mm greater length than the more common 1-VM. This enables passenger capacity to be increased by 11%.
The vehicles’ design speed is 160 km/h, and it is envisaged that maintenance intervals could be increased from 3 000 km to 25 000 km.
