Over recent years, the transportation industry has experienced constant innovations and refinements in the travel experience. However, there is an emerging trend that could completely transform the way we travel by train: the gaming experience. Think of a train ride where the time spent on board is not just waiting for your destination, but turns into an immersive moment of relaxation and entertainment. This idea opens up new possibilities for making train rides more entertaining, interactive and affordable, and is aimed more and more at technology-loving families and younger travellers. From multiplayer games to educational learning, trains could turn into spaces for digital adventures during the ride, providing tailor-made experiences and social connections.

A New Travel Format

Let's suppose that we get on a train and have a dedicated gaming station at our seat that allows us to play a vast range of video games, both single player and multiplayer titles, allowing us to challenge other passengers or even play as a team together with our fellow passengers. This new experience will turn travel time into an immersive and fun experience.

Onboard Gaming Tournaments

Onboard gaming tournaments provide a unique opportunity for passengers to have an exciting and engaging experience during their journey, competing against other travellers in thrilling gaming tournaments and challenging their gaming knowledge and skills.

These tournaments would create an atmosphere of enthusiasm and competition among both casual travellers and enthusiasts who would be attracted to this initiative as it offers them the chance to have fun, socialise and compete in a vibrant and exciting environment. The awards and prizes up for grabs add extra emotion to the competition, pushing participants to perform at their best to achieve victory.

Onboard train tournaments would also generate an opportunity for people to connect and interact, emphasising the social side of gaming. Passengers could make new friends and share their common passion for gaming, creating a sense of community on board.

Educational Gaming and Thematic Spaces for Young People and Families

However, playing on trains is not just restricted to pure entertainment.

Families with children and teenagers could enjoy interactive and challenging games, helping to maintain their focus. This kind of experience could turn trains into family-friendly places, also attracting young tech-lovers who love new technologies and digital experience.

Through the development of programmes that allow young travellers to learn new and soft skills during the ride, the journey would become not only pleasant, but also formative. These spaces would offer interactive and engaging gaming experiences, stimulating creativity and learning, and parents would spend their travel time with their children, participating in games and activities that foster family interaction.

New business and sustainability opportunities

Cooperation between rail transportation companies and entertainment and gaming organisations can lead to the development of opportunities to create a new travel format that differs from the competitive market and attracts new customer foundations. The participating companies might explore partnership opportunities with developers, hardware producers and other stakeholders in the industry as well as the whole non-endemic spectrum to provide even more extensive experiences.

The integration of gaming on trains could turn travel into a more enjoyable, interactive and exciting experience. Passengers would be able to participate in tournaments, challenge other passengers or simply enjoy moments of entertainment during the trip.

In addition to improving the travel experience, this integration could also bring significant benefits both in terms of developing connection infrastructure on trains and in terms of sustainability. An immersive entertainment experience could encourage people to opt for trains over other transport options, contributing to reducing CO2 emissions and the overall environmental impact of travel.

Choosing train transport would not only be practical, but also environmentally conscious. The increasing demand for eco-friendly and sustainable tourism by Millennials and Gen. Z is indeed a key factor for the "green" travel industry. This is according to research conducted by Allianz Partners in collaboration with Foresight Factory, a company that analyses consumer trends, on current and future trends impacting travel and presented at the latest Global Travel Summit.

Gaming on board would be a new frontier in the travel experience providing fun, entertainment, a new type of social interaction and sustainability as well as opening up new markets and creating added value for travellers. No matter whether it is a video game enthusiast, a family, a young person looking for a fun trip or a curious traveller, the experience of gaming on trains promises to make this type of travel a whole new adventure where you can dip into a world of gaming and entertainment as you move towards your destination.