A glimpse into the future: the new Helsinki tram

If you are anything like us trainspotters here at the Kasper Stromman Design Blog, you’ll be excited to know that the new Helsinki tram is on display at the moment at the Hi Design exhibition at Kaapelitehdas. Yey!

So what does this tram of the future look like? Streamlined, and made out of laser-proof material? Propelled by atomic power? Sadly no. In fact it looks kind of like the old Variotram, but with square headlights.

At least the new seats look more wipe-friendly. Sure, the old ones were more comfy, but they were also able of absorbing several litres of human piss, which was inconvenient on the more “urban” tram routes.

We are of course aware that this is prototype where materials and colour schemes might change and blah blah, but doesn’t the future look a bit greyish?

At least it’s not dangerous.

However, it was the cockpit that revealed to us that HSL knows stuff about the future we don’t. Sure, at first glance it looks pretty standard. But then you have a look at the little ticket table, and realize this tram is equipped for the future after all.