Trains of the future will have golf courses and dog carriages, say children

Personal pods, floor-to-ceiling transparent walls and robotic luggage racks are also on the wish lists of future travellers, according to Virgin Trains, who asked the youngsters to imagine what rail carriages would look like when they grow up.

The designs, including two by 13 year-old Luqman Hussain of Leeds and Elliot Crofts, nine, from Hull, are somewhat removed from Virgin’s forthcoming “Azuma” trains, which it will introduce on the east coast route from Yorkshire to London in two years’ time.

They boast increased leg room, faster wi-fi and “mood lighting” for passengers - but the more exotic facilities are still on the drawing board. However, the company commissioned a series of created computer-generated images from the children’s ideas.

David Horne, managing director of Virgin Trains on the East Coast, said: “The Virgin Azuma is set to be the most state of the art train on the network when it arrives in 2018, so what better way to celebrate this than to work with our younger customers to find out what they would like.

“Their ideas have given us a refreshing outlook on what the future could hold and will help us towards our goal of revolutionising every element of our customers’ experiences.”

The Azuma trains are being built by Hitachi in County Durham.