Indian railways approached GE, leaders in material, technology and design engineering to improve facilities in trains. The enormous scale of this project and business exigencies meant that the project had to be implemented in stages.

The project began with understanding the train system, components, existing manufacturing technology and pain areas- FRP, glass, and M.S. An extensive user study was carried out. Key insights from this research were: the need for accessories like snack trays, plug points at accessible distances and minimalist magazine holders that discourage garbage storage. The huge data collected was analysed to reach tangible design considerations, explicate the constraints and make informed trade-offs. ‘Light-weight berths’ emerged as one of the prime objectives through this study. The scope of the design was narrowed to the side berths.

Working in a corporate office sans a design studio meant no hands-on experience for exploring concepts by means of a physical prototype. This in no way impaired the design development, as designs were assessed in-house with experienced plastic engineers and polymer scientists.

The final design achieves a weight reduction of 9-12 kg per berth in effect improving the train’s fuel efficiency by about 25%. The provision of snack trays allows passengers to eat with dignity. The design highlights the emergency exits of the train thereby contributing to quick evacuation. Separation of the mattress from the berth improves manufacturing and replacement time. Under the given constraints, the design is an incremental change over the existing one, rather than a quantum leap.