Train interior and livery

Project overview

Network Rail has undertaken a programme of enhancements on the East Coast Main Line which, once complete, will create the potential for additional train capacity. To meet growing customer demand, LNER has purchased a fleet of ten new Class 897 trains from CAF. These new trains will operate alongside LNER’s existing Hitachi Rail Azuma fleet, for which DCA designed the interiors in close collaboration with LNER.

At the outset of this new project, LNER asked us to focus on the overall feel of these new trains by reviewing existing customer touchpoints and CMF (colour, materials, and finishes). This approach built on the established Azuma design themes, refining what already works well to ensure a consistent and recognisable brand experience across all LNER services.

Our design team began by working closely with LNER’s internal teams to define the end-to-end journey experience their customers were looking for, ensuring it reflected LNER’s distinctive brand identity while meeting evolving customer expectations.

Standard Class

The Standard Class saloons have been designed to feel inviting, calm and comfortable, while remaining easy to clean and maintain. LNER’s signature red was used as a unifying colour, from which a palette of vibrant reds was developed, expressed through a linear graphic motif, conveying movement and connectivity, that is repeated across the seating and carpet, and defines the distinctive Standard Class identity.

DCA worked closely with LNER and the material suppliers’ design teams to maximise both aesthetic quality and long-term performance of every fabric and material used in the Standard Class environments. By working together to quickly realise and test our design concepts using the final production materials, we were able to achieve timely stakeholder sign-off.

Harmonisation between the classes

To visually unite Standard and First Class under the LNER brand, a bespoke 3D textured wood laminate was developed in collaboration with a specialist supplier. While subtle in detail, the material has a significant impact, adding perceived quality to the saloons. It provides a shared visual language across both classes while still allowing each to retain a distinct character.

First Class

The First Class interior concept draws inspiration from the early days of intercity rail travel, when service and refinement were central to the journey experience. Working closely with the LNER brand team, a rich oxblood colour palette was evolved to strike a balance between luxury and practicality.

Traditional tones were reinterpreted in a contemporary context, creating an interior that evokes the heritage of rail travel while feeling modern and purposeful. Compared to Standard Class, the First Class CMF is more restrained, complemented by reclining seats and height-adjustable leather headrest cushions to enhance passenger comfort.

Passenger seat comfort

From the outset of the project, enhancement of passenger comfort was a key priority for both Standard and First Class seating. DCA has developed in-house Human Factors expertise in seat comfort, using bespoke tools including pose capture cameras, pressure mats, machine learning software and specialised analytical techniques to objectively assess predictors of comfort.

Throughout the seat development, DCA worked closely with seat manufacturer Compin-Fainsa using  workshops to assess a series of evolving prototypes. This collaborative process allowed comfort levels to be optimised for a wide range of passengers, while balancing critical technical requirements such as compliance with standards, passing flammability and toxicity testing, meeting durability and foam longevity targets, and the minimisation of pressure hot spots.

The virtual reality mock up

As part of the mock up process, DCA developed an immersive virtual reality simulation of the driver’s cab and key passenger and crew areas. This allowed stakeholders to familiarise themselves with the proposed train layouts and configurations, and start to make some crucial design decisions early in the programme, before committing time and resources to physical mock ups.

Volumetric / ergonomic mock ups

Following positive feedback from the virtual reality reviews, DCA produced a series of full-scale volumetric and ergonomic mock ups. These were dimensionally representative of the design intent in all the areas subject to physical and ergonomic assessment, but, due to the nature of these evaluations, they were left in an unfinished, “as-made” state.

The models were presented to large groups of relevant stakeholders for review and alignment at full day workshop events. Their construction allowed for rapid modifications to be made by DCA’s expert model making team during the workshops, enabling design ideas and stakeholder proposals to be tested live. This dynamic approach supported faster decision-making and avoided the delays that are typically associated with deferring decisions to later workshops.

Train layout and passenger experience

The contribution of DCA’s Human Factors team goes far beyond identifying potential compliance issues. They call upon unparallelled rail industry experience to provide informed design recommendations that address such compliance concerns and offer best practice solutions that will improve the overall passenger experience. Early stage desk-based assessments of the train layout helped identify potential risks and opportunities for improvements and optimisation. They also formed the foundations for our structured documentation of the Human Factors process, building and logically presenting the structured evidence base required to demonstrate full human factors compliance of the final train design.

All Human Factors assessment procedures and process documentation were developed in close alignment with the Human Factors requirements defined in the Train Technical Specification supplied by LNER and CAF, as well as all the relevant industry standards and regulations.

Presentation mock ups

Building on the confidence gained from the volumetric and ergonomic reviews, DCA’s workshop team progressed to the construction of the fully finished presentation mock ups. These accurately demonstrated the final design intent and selected CMF (colour, material, and finish), providing a clear and tangible representation of the completed interiors that all stakeholder groups were able to sign off on. 

Even in these later stages of the programme, the flexibility and responsiveness of DCA’s model making team was crucial as last minute modifications and additions had to be incorporated into the final mock ups.

Design of the mock ups

To provide the basis for both the virtual reality and physical mock ups, DCA’s design and engineering teams created dimensionally accurate, simplified versions of the 3D CAD production data, generating dedicated layout models for each interior zone. 

The mock ups were constructed on a series of individual welded steel chassis bases, each fitted with integrated lifting and transportation features, including fixings for castors and adjustable feet. These bases provided fixing points for structural elements such as seat frames and formed the primary structure of the mock ups.  They could be assembled to create a integrated train mock up and separated again to facilitate transportation and storage. A complex lattice structure of CNC profiled MDF ribs was mounted to the chassis bases, to which the interior panels and design features were fixed.

The design of the mock up interiors was tailored to reflect their construction techniques and materials, with GRP mouldings, CNC machined model board and MDF, and rapid prototyped materials being used for the various wall, window, ceiling and vestibule panels. Acrylic was used for glazing elements, including exterior windows, internal doors, stand-back panels and partitions.