Skip to main content

Bombardier high speed train wins design awards in USA and Germany

Bombardier Transportation has won the iF Product Design Award as well as the Good Design Award for its ground-breaking very high speed (VHS) train currently being developed for leading railway markets in Europe, Asia and North America.
March 13, 2012 Read time: 2 mins

513 Bombardier Transportation has won the iF Product Design Award as well as the Good Design Award for its ground-breaking very high speed (VHS) train currently being developed for leading railway markets in Europe, Asia and North America. The Zefiro train platform combines the highest capacity in the industry with pioneering levels of passenger comfort and employs leading-edge technologies and advanced aerodynamics to reduce energy consumption. The company says the technology exists to meet virtually any high speed requirement anywhere in the world.

The Zefiro high speed train platform can accommodate speed performance from 250-380 km/h (155-235 mph) and is highly flexible. Trains can significantly reduce travelling times between major cities and boost interregional economic growth.

The iF Product Design Award from Germany recognises design quality, finish, choice of materials, degree of innovation, environmental impact, functionality, safety as well as brand value.
This is also the third time in five years that Bombardier has won the Good Design Award for its train design. The award is conferred annually by the Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design together with the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.

"These prestigious awards are testament to the Zefiro VHS train's innovative approach to very high speed travel," said Michael Sohn, team leader industrial design, Zefiro project, Bombardier Transportation.

The unique aerodynamic design of the Zefiro train family leads to superior cross wind stability, aerodynamic drag and pressure pulses. Bombardier Transportation is the first company in Europe to develop and apply an aluminum carbody for driving cars as well as trailer cars in the high speed segment, resulting in reduced weight and lower track wear as well as full compliance with stringent safety requirements. Other innovative developments include the Bombardier EBI Drive 50 driver assistance system and the company’s thermo efficient climatisation system. The company claims that these and other energy saving measures mean that Zefiro trains boast the lowest energy consumption per seat of any VHS train.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Bombardier to extend People Mover System in Phoenix
    March 27, 2018
    The City of Phoenix has selected Bombardier Transportation (Bombardier) to upgrade its Sky Train automated people mover (APM) system at the Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport as part of a second stage project. The 2.5-mile extension to the airport’s rental car centre, valued €248m (£217m), aims to support the airport in meeting its future mobility requirements in which the rail technology provider will supply 24 of its Innovia APM 200 vehicles. In addition, the agreement also covers two new stations
  • No bumps in the road for Edeva
    March 31, 2022
    Actibump, an active speed bump, is now available worldwide after a decade and 100 installations in the Nordics. A special demonstration is available to visitors at the stand of Edeva, which developed and manufactures Actibump. During Intertraffic the accompanying software platform will be shown live.
  • Green requirements of traffic video systems
    February 2, 2012
    Traficon's Head of Product and Application Management Robin Collaert offers up a discussion of the likely future green requirements of traffic video systems. At the most basic levels, ITS has the potential to significantly reduce the amounts of time which vehicles spend waiting at intersections, and less time spent waiting means less in the way of vehicular emissions. All of that will hardly come as news to most laypeople, let alone transport professionals. However, the reality is that even today too many r
  • Elevated mass transit about to get real
    June 27, 2014
    Tel Aviv, Israel is about to become the first city to implement the futuristic skyTran system of magnetic levitation (maglev) high-speed personal transit. US company skyTran, headquartered at the NASA Research Park (NRP) in California and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) have entered into an agreement to construct a skyTran Technology Demonstration System (TDS) on the grounds of IAI's corporate campus. Developed by skyTran CEO, Jerry Sanders, skyTran is a high-speed, elevated, levitating, energy-ef