DCA (www.dca-design.com) and Hitachi Rail Europe (www.hitachirail-eu.com) have won the Stanley H Caplan User-centred Product Design Award 2015 from the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES).

This US-based award recognises “outstanding and innovative practice” in product design, alongside the consumer research and design methods used to develop and evaluate the interior design of the Class 800/801 train for the Department for Transport’s £5.7 billion InterCity Express Programme (IEP).

The design process took into consideration all users of the trains, including employees and passengers. The extensive consultation process involved numerous passenger groups, representing commuters, cyclists, wheelchair users and visually impaired travellers, to name but a few.

DCA technical director Rob Bassil said: “It is a real honour to receive such a prestigious award. The overriding philosophy behind the design of the Hitachi Class 800/801 train was multi-disciplinary, with human factors playing a critical role from the outset. This allowed us to explore opportunities to improve safety, efficiency and the user experience from the earliest stages of development.

"Prototyping played a key role, with the design team and project stakeholders using rigs and mock-ups throughout to explore and evaluate the compatibility of the interior design with identified passenger and staff activities.”
For the cab, a new assessment method was developed to consider explicitly how the control desk layout could be optimised to match the required sequence of driving tasks.

A separate practical test method was also developed to assess the impact on the cab design of glare from both internal and external light sources.

Rail Minister Claire Perry said: “The Government is investing record amounts to build a world-class railway. These ‘state of the art’ InterCity Express trains will transform rail travel between Britain’s towns and cities, with more seats and faster and better journeys.”