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Industry executives reckon the cities of the Gulf are the most obvious target for off-beat designs and gadget-packed trains.
Global manufacturers are eyeing the possibilities as countries across the region set in motion plans to link up by rail with a series of bridges and tracks currently in the planning stages.
Yeshpaul Soor, managing director of Volo TV, a UK company that provides onboard entertainment solutions, said: “Promising markets lie in the traffic-jammed cities across the Middle East and Asia, where authorities want people to switch to mass transit.
“They could say: why would you want to be sitting in a car? Look how good this is.”
Volo TV has already equipped long-distance trains in Australia and the UK with individual touch-screens featuring music and video on demand. For shorter journeys – on metros, trams or intercity trains – it offers an entertainment server which passengers can connect remotely via their smartphone and, from there, access the same features on their own mobile screen.
Trains are likely to become more like long-haul planes, with customised carriages and tablets embedded into hi-tech seats, as Western manufacturers fight back against cheaper Chinese rivals and Europe’s railways open up to greater competition.
All was revealed by exhibitors at last week’s InnoTrans trade fair in Berlin, the world’s biggest venue for rail equipment suppliers. Companies flaunted their latest innovations at the expo on a site as big as 28 soccer fields.
At the stand of France’s Alstom, maker of the high-speed TGV train, visitors were invited to try out a prototype of new seats for long-distance trains, with headphones embedded in the headrest and a table converted into a multimedia tablet.
From there you could read the news, watch videos, check on your travel itinerary, order food, dim the lights and even convert the windows into a giant screen.
“Beyond speed, we’re looking to make the journey a pleasant moment – less noisy, cooler, more connected and personalised,” said Benoit Perrin, vice-president of marketing at Alstom Transport.
In the past few years, China’s CNR and CSR have overtaken Alstom and its larger Canadian rival Bombardier to become the world’s top makers of rail rolling stock by revenue.
Struggling to compete on price, the Western firms have identified passenger comfort as a potential way to fight back.
Like Alstom, Bombardier exhibited electro-chromatic glass windows which can be dimmed – by passengers or automatically – to reduce glare and heat on a sunny day.
The market is worth fighting for. According to UNIFE, the European Rail Industry Association, the world market for rail supplies including trains and infrastructure will grow at around 2.6 percent per annum to reach $216 billion a year in 2017.
The focus on innovation could also appeal to Europe’s train operators as they gear up for greater competition.
By 2019, the European Union wants the rail market to be fully deregulated, so passenger train operators from one country could compete for tenders in another member state.
That could lead to demands for greater customisation of carriages from rail companies seeking a competitive edge.
Alstom is already on the case. In Morocco’s capital, Rabat, it decorated tramways with mosaic patterns, while in Reims, France, it gave them a V-shape reminiscent of a sparkling flute.
In Dubai, it designed them with a diamond-shaped nose and three classes: Gold, Silver, and women and children.
