The World’s First “Invisible” Train By 2018

To celebrate 100 years in business, Seibu Railway in Japan are planning to launch an “invisible” train by 2018 and they will be commissioning the Pritzker Prize winner architect Kazuyo Sejima (from SANAA) to turn this into a reality.

Kazuyo Sejima is famous for her award winning buildings that blend into their environment such as the Glass Pavillon at the Toledo Museum of Art and the Rolex Learning Centre at EPFL in Lausanne. They usually include cubic forms and slick surfaces made of glass, marble or metals.
These invisible trains will be no different consisting of a reflecting surface, allowing them to disappear into different types of landscapes, from urban cities to the mountains of Chichibu. We can expect these trains to follow on from Japan’s already frighteningly fast railway traditions, with some inner city trains achieving speeds of over 170 miles an hour.  For the moment, the trains are not meant to replace the current ones and Saibu Railway will only be releasing them in limited editions.