Korea Railroad Wins Gold at iF Design Award... First Among Public Enterprises

The concept design of the 'Eurasia High-Speed Train,' which Korea Railroad submitted to the international design competition 'iF Design Award 2020' and won the Gold Award. Provided by Korea Railroad

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL) has won the Grand Prize at the ‘iF Design Award,’ one of the world’s top three design awards. This is the first time a domestic public enterprise has received this honor.

KORAIL announced on the 10th that it participated in the international design competition ‘iF Design Award 2020’ and simultaneously won the Gold Award in the Concept Design category for the Eurasia High-Speed Train and the Main Award in the Product Design category for the Ticket Vending Machine.

The ‘iF Design Award’ is the world’s largest design competition, started in 1953 under the International Forum in Hanover, Germany, and is considered one of the three major design awards alongside Germany’s ‘Red Dot’ and the United States’ ‘IDEA.’

This year’s competition received 7,300 design entries from 56 countries, of which 74 works were honored with Gold Awards.

Among them, the ‘Eurasia High-Speed Train’ is a concept design envisioned by KORAIL’s Design Center, representing a Korean-style high-speed train running along the Trans-Siberian Railway.

This work was designed based on a streamlined shape, inspired by the image of solidity and a strong shield, and features an automatic adjustment of the wheel spacing to match the actual railway tracks on which the train runs.

Product design of the automatic ticket vending machine that won the main prize at the 'iF Design Award 2020'. Provided by Korea Railroad.

Additionally, the ‘Ticket Vending Machine’ received high marks for drastically reducing the size of existing products while optimizing the user interface (UI), making the processes of ticket purchase, refund, and payment easier and faster.

Jeon Kyung-hee, head of KORAIL’s Design Center, said, “KORAIL has achieved the remarkable feat of being the first public enterprise to have a dedicated design organization recognized globally for its capabilities. We will continue to expand the scope of public design so that users can use trains more easily and comfortably.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.