Designing the interior of the Beijing Winter Olympic 2022 train

04 February 2022

Fortuitously coinciding with this year’s Lunar New Year celebrations, today marks the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022. We’re very excited to share – after many years under wraps – our interior design for the very special Winter Olympic themed High Speed train, that we created in collaboration with CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles Co. Ltd. and China Rail.

The High Speed train (350km/hr) will whisk athletes, visitors, and the media from Beijing to the mountains in Zhangjiakou for the Games.

The project was developed over 5 years in the UK and China, and was led at tangerine by China Director, Weiwei He and a team of European and Chinese designers from tangerine’s London Studio.

The design takes inspiration from a fusion of Chinese culture and winter sports. The train features a bespoke restaurant carriage with winter motifs and sofa seating that will accommodate journalists travelling to the Games. VIP guests will have the pleasure of travelling by airline-style lie-flat seats with an interior inspired by The Great Hall of China.

Weiwei He says, “We’re thrilled to see the Winter Olympic train come into service. It was such a unique opportunity to create a new High-Speed train platform for China as well as let our creativity really flow to design unique custom elements inspired by China’s culture and the great tradition of the Olympic Winter Games. The project has been a stand-out in a long and trusted partnership between tangerine and Chinese train manufacturer CRRC Changchun.”

Lounge sofa-seating and big tables for Media travelling to the games

Winter sports inspired dining carriage

VIP seating onboard the Beijing Winter Olympic 2022 train

VIP airline-style lie-flat bed

CMF palette inspired by The Great Hall of China