A children's playground located within the upper floors of one of Swtizerland's commuter rail lines. Image by Steven Dale.
What you’re looking at above is a children’s playground located in a Swiss train. I came across this purely by accident yesterday so I have little to no information about what can only be described as every child’s public transit fantasy wonderland.
We’re assuming this is a relatively new development, but have no confirmation of the fact.
If any of The Gondola Project’s large number of German-speaking readers has any details on this (or knows where to get details), please post any information you have in the comments section.
Of particular note, we’d like to know the following:
- Is this a new program?
- Is it a pilot program?
- What was the impetus behind the idea?
- Has it proven useful?
- What’s the public’s reaction to it?
- Is it as amazing as we hope it is?
10 Comments
I rode those trains in 2001…so it’s not that new…but it’s certainly awesome!
Weird . . . I’ve been riding that line fairly consistently for the last 2 years and this was the first time I ever saw it.
But, yes, awesome.
I’ve been meaning to suggest this idea to Amtrak, so it’s cool to see that it’s been done. The train really is a great way to travel with a kid, but I need to know which car is the noisy car so I don’t have to fret that my three-year-old is disturbing the other passengers.
Whenever I used to travel by train with my parents to visit relatives in the States, my mom would always buy me a cheap lego set to keep me occupied for the 12 hour journey.
Seems ridiculous, but it worked – more importantly, I knew that if I continued to behave on those train trips it meant I was going to score another lego set!
Even kids need motivation.
Love the idea. I always pictured a children’s section of an airplane, especially for long flights.
Long (long, long) ago, you could ride a train from Seattle up to the ski slopes. The train had a dancing car.
For kids? I wouldn’t mind a lounge area for adults on an airplane!
Ah, back in the days before they charged for pillows.
Have you been watching Pan Am?
I want to ride that NOW!
Sorry, all of the 747 second decks were converted to boring 1st class seating long ago.
It’s just too expensive to waste space on airplanes. But trains are comparatively cheap, so lounges still exist. Like this one on the Coast Starlight that runs from Seattle down to L.A. The space is free to access if you pay for a sleeper car.
Austrian railways too…
they offer a “Kinderkino” , a carriage section dedicated for kids with a large screen and cartoons and films on railjet trains.
http://railjet.oebb.at/#/economy/