ENGCOMM · Bombardier case
Short-Haul Travel Challenge
A six-hour engineering and commerce case on designing a more efficient and sustainable short-haul journey.
The challenge
Re-think the short-haul journey in six hours.
This six-hour Engineering and Commerce case for Bombardier challenged our team to design a new vehicle and system for short-haul travel while considering mobility as a service, integration with current systems, first and last mile and carbon footprint per passenger.
Vehicle concept
An electric van that changes modes.
We identified congestion on roads leading to an airport as a major opportunity. Our concept was an electric van that could pick up a traveller at their current location, transition onto purpose-built tracks using deployable rail wheels and travel directly to the airport while avoiding typical road traffic.
The vans would charge on the rail tracks, removing the need for conventional refuelling and reducing the journey’s carbon footprint.
System integration
The journey continues beyond the vehicle.
A companion app would allow travellers to request a vehicle, plan their trip and complete parts of airline check-in and security tasks during the ride. The project therefore combined vehicle design with the surrounding travel experience.
What the project shows
Engineering decisions in a commercial context.
The case required us to move quickly between technical feasibility, infrastructure, sustainability, user needs and commercial implications — a useful complement to the more technically focused projects in this portfolio.
Project gallery
From concept to evidence.
