The future of sustainable travel
Luna Rail is developing a new generation of night & day trains optimizing space usage, comfort and economics all at once, providing a sustainable alternative for airline passengers and the best possible travel experience.
Comfortable.
Our night train design offers individuals and small groups privacy and comfort, with lie-flat beds at night & seats during the day.
Affordable.
Optimizing the usage of space allows reduced operating cost per passenger, which in turn enables more affordable tickets for everyone.
Available.
Our design is based on rebuilding existing passenger rail carriages to quickly meet the rising demand for night trains.
The Hotel Pod
The Hotel Pods offer the feeling of being in a cozy room. In day-mode, passengers sit on large couch-like seats with padded back and sides. It could be your office. Or your living room. Various sitting positions are possible, from concentrated-for-work to relaxing on the sofa. During the night the seat lowers down and, together with additional space below the aisle, converts into a comfortable bed.
hotel pod images by büro+staubach
The Seat Pod
The Seat Pods are the smallest cabins of Luna Rail. They provide a big private seat during the day and a lie-flat bed at night. The pods are similar to „herringbone“ configurations used in business class seats on air planes. For Luna Rail, it is the most affordable option, enabled by the efficient stacking of the pods. They allow the same seating density as six-passenger couchettes – but with more space, direct aisle access and individual privacy for all.
The Hotel Pod: Twin and triple
While the focus of the Hotel Pods are individual travelers, there are also variants for two or three passengers. These larger cabins allow couples, small families or friends to travel together. Two seats face each other during the day. At night they can be lowered into a sleeping position. A third bed can be folded out in the upper part of the cabin.
The Hotel Pod car
More Density than Sleepers.
- Sitting (during the day) and lying down (at night) possible
- Lockable, private compartments
- Compartments for One, two or three passengers
- 35-40 vehicle spaces in the converted passenger coach (RIC)
- 25-35 compartments per coach
- Patent pending
The Seat Pod car
More Privacy than Couchettes.
- Sitting (during the day) and lying (at night) possible
- Stacked pods with individually lockable mini compartments
- Direct aisle access for all seat-pods
- 60-70 pods per converted passenger coach (RIC)
- Patent pending
Usability Tested
200 participants were invited to an intensive 90 minute test of our various pods. Each user also answered a standardized questionnaire after testing the pods
Daytime quality
of our test users consider a day trip in a Seat Pod to be more attractive than the 2nd class of a high-speed train. 32% consider the Seat Pod more attractive than 1st class.
of our test users consider a day trip in a Hotel Pod to be more attractive than the 2nd class of a high-speed train. 49% consider the Hotel Pod more attractive than 1st class.
Nighttime quality
of our test users rated the quality of the sleeping position in a Seat Pod to be “good” or “very good”. 88% rated them „satisfactory“ or better.
of our test users rated the quality of the sleeping position in a Hotel Pod to be “good” or “very good”. 94% rated them „satisfactory“ or better.
Competitiveness
of our test users consider traveling over night in a Seat Pod attractive, while
- 35% consider a bed in a shared couchette (with 3 others) attractive
- 40% consider a flight with a budget airline attractive
Assuming a leisure trip of 1000Km with a ticket cost of 100€.
of our test users consider traveling overnight in a Hotel Pod attractive, while
- 25% of our test users would consider a flight with a full-service airline attractive
Assuming a leisure trip of 1000km with a ticket cost of 150€.
One App.
Manage the entire journey with the Luna Rail app.
This includes the booking process, travel information, ticket validation, controlling the cabin including unlocking doors, as well as ordering service. The design of the app, the cabin and the company is all integrated into one. A consistent design language across app and physical product provides a seamless experience through the whole user journey.
Less CO2 per Passenger-Km
The attractiveness of Luna Rail’s offer will promote a mode shift from aviation to overnight rail. This will reduce the greenhouse gas impact of travel. Further reduction of emissions compared to existing night trains is enabled by high passenger density in each carriage.
of European flight passengers would consider switching to a night train given a reasonable offer (Germanwatch 2021).
of carbon emissions for Seat Pod compared to similar existing offers such as the Nightjet mini cabin.
of carbon emissions for a hotel pod compared to existing sleeper taking into account the effects of single occupancy.
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