French railway forges a video link between cities to celebrate its new destination

To celebrate its new high-speed rail line direct from Lyons to Brussels, SNCF recently set up a giant cube to introduce the people of Lyons to Belgium's capital through virtual means.

It was just about a year and a half ago that we featured French railway company SNCF’s effort to set up daycare services at train stations, and recently we came across another interesting initiative underway at the firm. Specifically, to celebrate its new high-speed line direct from Lyons to Brussels, SNCF recently set up a giant cube to introduce the people of Lyons to Belgium’s capital through virtual means. SNCF’s new high-speed line links Lyons and Brussels directly in just 3 hours and 20 minutes. To celebrate the launch of the new service, SNCF in late September set up a giant white cube in Lyons’ Place de la République. “Put your head here” beckoned a round opening in the cube; when someone looked into the opening, their face was projected via live video feed onto a screen in Brussels. There, the mayor and townspeople of Brussels asked the person their name and welcomed them with a song. The video shows the display in action: With today’s virtual technologies, it seems that our world is smaller than ever before. Transportation entrepreneurs: one for inspiration?