19. The Smoking Coach - Inclusivity, the bullet train style

It is obvious that the bullet train will have a majority of smokers, so while having one or two cabins converted into smoking booths in the train in place of toilets maybe an option it would be much better if we had an entire SMOKING Coach (no pun intended here)!!

Obviously, the design will need to cater to beedi smoke and of course the "sin" tax will come into play for such coaches!

18. Pik Daan - The transformed 'air sickness' bag

We, in India, are proud of rich and varied cultural heritage - the indispensible part of which is chewing 'paan'!

Of course, with new hygiene standards and civic sense that may come with the Shinkansen from Japan, and our desire not give up our time tested habits of digestion, the air sickness bag becomes the new "Pik Daan"!

Naturally, fine for littering or spitting in the Bullet train is set at Rs. 5000/-

15. Half ticket - Full bundle of joy

In planes, which are now the benchmark comparison for the bullet train, even a two month old baby is charged a full ticket.

However, in trains in India we go by age for a half ticket and the bus conductors down south would use the height as a metric to charge a half or full fare decades ago!!

Presuming we will have a sizeable number of under three foot toddlers who must pay at least half the fare, the idea of using the space under the overhead luggage rack as a retractable pull down cradle cushioned on all sides occurred to me.

The images below would help to imagine how these cradles might recede into the base of the overhead luggage rack and fit within the allotted row to form a cradle-berth for up to 2 year olds!

Pull down vertical storage as used in kitchens

US Patent 20040123781A1 

Of course the images are only ideas and the US Patent 20040123781A1 maybe requisitioned at minor cost for public utility or circumvented by providing vertical tube-in-tube retractors!

The lighting as you would have guessed by now needs to go into the armrest!

So, even if this idea is adopted for 5 locations in a coach, the lights can still go into the armrest as a permanent movement even for the Shatabdhis right away for a host of conveniences!

14. Lights - Camera, ...Arm rest

The arm rest has been a focus of attention lately for me and among the various uses that it is put to in plane, the utility of storage space for a tray table is universally known to economy class passengers!

The present idea comes out of the need to shift the reading lights from below the overhead luggage compartment which links to the next blog in this series.

So where do we put the reading lights and of so what type should it be? No great guesses required

It goes into the arm rest storage space vacated by the tray table and my choice is the flexible Jansjo type popularized by IKEA!

Why do I not want it below the overhead luggage compartment , which is obviousl time-tried and cost effective? Read the next post!

9. Seats - The awkward position of the arm-rest

This is a request!

Can the design team resolve the swing position of the arm rest in the seats of the bullet train so that it does not stand out like a flagpole when one or both passengers on either side of it reclines the seat from the upright position?

I am sure this simple problem is a matter of adjusting stops on the rotation hinge and a small projection on either side of the seat to prevent movement of the arm rest into the space of the passenger sitting behind!

This is applicable to all seats starting from the state ransport buses to the famed "volvos" of India, to the Shatabdhis, to economy class seats on most airplanes!!

Am I missing something here or is there a deeper problem (cost, patent infringement, etc.,) to this than the one i am able to decipher for it being so in such varied modes of transport across the world!

6. Toilets, bullet train and Swachch Bharat

How many toilets would be required in a train that completes its end to end 508 km journey in two hours?

The point is a local train in Mumbai that travels from CSTM (earlier called VT) to Kasara or Karjat takes about 2 hours today and there is no provision for a toilet in it!!

Obviously, the daily commuters of this type of local train are not senior citizens and children that are above the nappy age but not yet able to control themselves, are some points that need to be factored.

Therefore, airplane toilets are a natural choice and the number should be one per two or may three compartments with free rights of admission to Physically handicapped, children below 10 and senior citizens.

The others can pay a nominal Rs. 50 / - to use the toilet more as a deterrent to prevent the abundant misuse that such provision is likely to attract in our country.

When some of us travel abroad, we do pay 1 Euro to use the public toilet, why should the bullet train toilet charge any less?

The collection proceeds could of course go to the continuance of Swachch Bharat Abhiyan to provide clean toilets for all!