Siemens has designs on the urban tube train of the future

The futuristic train, known as Inspiro, has been designed with one main focus: efficiency. Its lightweight, aluminium carriages (which cost up to £1m each) are designed to hold more people than today's modern metro trains and it is said to be 30% more energy efficient than our current models. With commuters dreading the thought of a busy rush hour train journey, Inspiro even offers full air conditioning across all of its carriages. The design is semi-articulated, providing more space between carriages and bringing the trains closer to the platform edge. The double doors are wider and carriages have no single doors to allow a faster movement of passengers. Other features include a weight-optimised chassis, an electronic display that shows where the train is on the network in real-time, and sensors that indicate which carriages have space for more passengers. Transport for London says it is considering how the technology could improve passenger space and energy efficiency on the Piccadilly, Bakerloo, Central, and Waterloo and City lines. In the meantime, a full scale model of the Inspiro concept train can be seen at the London Transport Museum until the end of 2013.