Customer experience in the rail industry

First and foremost, train interior design needs to be functional. This means being:

• Resilient
• Safe
• Accessible
• Easy to navigate

While making interiors look fancier can be beneficial in terms of making passengers feel more comfortable, increase brand loyalty and provide better value for money, if proposals fail on the passengers’ fundamental needs, they won’t get past the design stage.

A big challenge is creating more space in the same space, with many train operators looking to the airline industry for inspiration. For example, by installing overhead luggage bins rather than baggage racks, reclining seats for sleeping or window benches with seats similar to bar stools.

Improved ambience and a ‘homely’ feel feature high on passenger priorities as more people use their travelling time to also work, relax or socialize. This can be achieved with:

• Color: Different shades can initiate feelings, such as calm, or influence how a space is perceived
• Materials: More luxurious materials look and feel better. For example, there’s a current trend for replacing traditional hard plastic seating with leather
• Lighting: Soft LED lighting is becoming the preference over harsh halogen and fluorescent lamps
• Floor coverings: A textile floor covering can create warmth and comfort, whilst a resilient flooring gives a modern, airy feel

Not only can choosing the right aesthetics enhance customer experience, it can also enrich the brand and have functional benefits.

It is critical to ensure people with ranging abilities are able to access rail services. This is where inclusive design – designing transport that is dignified, accessible, safe and easy to use – needs to work alongside customer-centric to address every touchpoint in the customer journey. This could mean ensuring wheel-friendly access throughout, inclusive toilets – for example with lowered seating and wider doorways – and inclusive signage; so providing information orally and visually, including braille translations and induction loops etc.

Rail itself is an integral part to global efforts to reduce CO2 emissions and improve air quality in cities. Further environmentally-friendly options are then being explored within train interiors, such as:

• Increasing use of lightweight materials
• Energy efficient LED lighting
• Floor coverings made from natural or renewable materials

It’s also important for operators to consider the impact of supply chain, and the benefits of working with sustainably-minded suppliers.

It comes as no surprise that Covid-19 is expected to have a long-lasting impact on train passenger priorities. Covid-initiated requirements already include:

• Better hygiene: Visible evidence and communication that carriages are sanitized; designs that facilitate better cleaning
• Less crowding more social distancing: Both on trains and in stations
• Fewer touchpoints: e.g. using sensors to automate tasks

Global design agency tangerine have already responded to post-Covid 19 travel with their ‘Metamorphosis’ adaptable carrier interior design. Innovative features include sliding screens to create ‘travel bubbles’, an air filtration system and a traffic light-style illumination around doors to aid safe and distanced boarding.