Kazuyo Sejima and Associates
Architect Kazuyo Sejima has designed a reflective train to "coexist" with changing surroundings.
Story highlights
The Japanese commuter train will blend into changing scenery as it moves
Award-winning architect Kazuyo Sejima created the design
CNN
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It’s a train out of a “Hunger Games” world.
Except it could actually happen.
A nearly invisible train designed by one of Japan’s leading architects is scheduled to debut in Tokyo in 2018.
08:00 - Source: CNN
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Designed by award winner Kazuyo Sejima, the commuter train uses semi-reflective and semi-transparent materials to blend into the scenery whether it’s traveling through the city or the countryside, according to a Newsweek report.
The train “travels in a variety of different sceneries, from the mountains of Chichibu to the middle of Tokyo, and I thought it would be good if the train could gently coexist with this variety of scenery,” Sejima said.
Courtesy Utsunomiya Terunobu
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Courtesy Kyushu Railway Company
The interiors showcase the best in Japanese craftsmanship, such as walls of rosewood and maple, walnut floors, shoji paper screens as window coverings and sliding glass doors etched with flowers and birds.
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India's Maharajas' Express first hit the tracks in 2010. The week-long Delhi to Mumbai journey takes in plenty of national highlights, including the Taj Mahal, the Ajanta Caves, Jodhpur and the Amber Fort.
Maharajas Express
The decor of the Maharajas' Express was inspired by the golden days of the Raj, when Maharajas traveled with opulence and pomp in ostentatious carriages.
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Russia's Golden Eagle is a luxury version of the famed Trans-Siberian Express. The two-week passage, which travels from Moscow to Vladivostok, feels more like a cruise than a train ride as it stops for daily excursions along the way.
Golden Eagle Luxury Trains
The Golden Eagle features both a restaurant car and a separate lounge. The restaurant car, pictured, serves a breakfast buffet, while lunch and dinner menus feature local specialties such as black sturgeon and red pacific salmon caviar.
David Noton/Belmond
Belmond's Royal Scotsman offers several round trips from Edinburgh lasting between two and seven days, but the classic voyage is the four-night passage to the Scottish Highlands. It includes visits to distilleries and castles.
David Noton/Belmond
The UK's only luxury sleeper train, the Royal Scotsman hosts a maximum of 36 guests per journey.
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Blue Train
The Blue Train offers two styles of suites -- Deluxe and Luxury.
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Belmond
The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express menu features fresh ingredients taken on board at stops along the route. This can include lobsters from Brittany, tomatoes from Provence or saltmarsh lamb from Mont St Michel.
Steve Strike/Outback Photographics/Steve Strike
The Ghan is a three-night, 2,979-kilometer tour from Darwin to Adelaide (or vice versa) that cuts through the middle of Australia, rolling through some of the most unforgiving wilds on the planet. The Platinum service offers more cabin space, chauffeured transfers, access to an exclusive dining carriage, breakfast in bed and five-course meals.
The Ghan
The Ghan's Queen Adelaide Restaurant. The menu highlights Australia's exotic local fare, like saltwater barramundi fish and grilled kangaroo fillet.
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Via Rail
VIA Rail's new Prestige class bedrooms feature ensuite showers, a washroom, TV and minibar. Alcohol is included in the ticket price.
Rovos Rail offers a series of journeys in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Tanzania that allow passengers to encounter the region's spectacular scenery and wildlife. Because the train never travels more than 60 kilometers per hour you can open your windows for fresh air or to photograph the landscapes.
Courtesy Rovos Rail
Each of Rovos Rail's 16 square meter Royal Suites take up half a carriage. Not surprising given they all come with a private lounge area and full bathroom with Victorian bath and separate shower.
Transcantabrico Gran Lujo
Transcantabrico Gran Lujo is basically a luxury roll through the best of northern Spain -- stops include the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, the prehistoric cave of Altamira, the Picos de Europa National Park and the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.
Transcantabrico
The Transcantabrico Gran Lujo stays parked at the station every night to help passengers get a good night's sleep. Deluxe Suites come with a living room, bedroom and ensuite bathroom.
Sejima founded the SANAA architecture firm with Ryue Nishizawa in 1995.
The company is known for its use of light and space.
Sejima was commissioned to design the train in honor of the Seibu Group’s 100th anniversary.
The company owns Seibu Railways, which operates train service around Tokyo and Saitama prefectures.
Among Sejima and Nishizawa’s notable designs are the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York; the Serpentine Pavilion in London; the Rolex Learning Center in Lausanne, Switzerland; the Toledo Museum of Art’s Glass Pavilion in Toledo, Ohio; and the Christian Dior Building in Omotesando in Tokyo.
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Sejima and Nishizawa were named Pritzker Architecture Prize laureates in 2010, architecture’s highest honor.
“They explore like few others the phenomenal properties of continuous space, lightness, transparency and materiality to create a subtle synthesis,” according to the jurors’ citation.