How do you get more people to switch from cars to public transport? The expansion and repair of the rail network is of course an important point here. But it is also very important that people feel comfortable on the trains. That they are transported as comfortably as possible to work, shopping or going out in the evening. Climate protection and comfort do not have to be mutually exclusive, as Deutsche Bahn demonstrated today. It presented the IdeenzugCity, a walk-in 1:1 model of a future S-Bahn. It is intended to set new standards for rail transport in metropolitan regions. The demands on local transport will change and the IdeenzugCity is intended to meet these in an innovative way. It offers solutions with which the quality and capacity of local transport on climate-friendly rail can be significantly increased. The IdeenzugCity is intended to make travel even more reliable, comfortable and flexible for commuters and day trippers on regional and suburban rail services.
And this is how it is to be achieved: Seating landscapes can be retracted or extended at the touch of a button. The available capacity can thus be flexibly adjusted to the passenger volume and the time of day, and additional space for bicycles and strollers can be created as needed. LED strips help passengers to orient themselves better in and around the train. New types of displays and digital foils on windows and doors improve passenger information. A 180° train destination display in the windscreen adapts to passengers' viewing angles on the platform by moving the destination from the centre of the display to the side so that it can be easily read by all customers. Passengers who want to work on the train will find an integrated display as a second screen for a laptop and a comfortable folding table.
DB Regio CEO Dr. Jörg Sandvoß said of the new concept: "Innovation is the key to more passengers and more climate protection. With the IdeenzugCity, we are making the entire mass transit industry concrete offers for the further development of S-Bahn trains, with which we at DB Regio alone transported more than 1.3 billion people a year in Germany's largest metropolises until the outbreak of the pandemic. The flexible space concept with automatically adjustable seating and standing areas is unique in the world. At the touch of a button, we can increase capacity by up to 40 percent. This is how mobility change works, this is how we win new passengers for the environmentally friendly railway."
The IdeenzugCity is already DB Regio's second 1:1 model, financed from its own funds, that brings innovations to life for customers and operators in regional transport. DB has since expanded the IdeenzugRegio, which was presented in 2018, to include redesigned WC areas and a flexible interior concept for bicycle transport. The first implementations of the IdeenzugRegio can be found on the Munich S-Bahn and, in the future, on the Stuttgart S-Bahn, the Hamburg S-Bahn and the Südostbayernbahn.
