Japan is about to get an actual invisible train

Now that is what you call a ghost train.

One of Japan's leading architects has designed a near-invisible - yes INVISIBLE - commuter train that is expected to debut in Tokyo in 2018. Commissioned by the Seibu Group in honour of the company's 100th anniversary, Kazuyo Sejima's marvel of design uses semi-reflective and semi-transparent materials to mirror its surroundings. The idea is that the train will blend into both countryside and city environments, while passengers relax in luxury carriages designed to "feel like a living room".

(Concept design courtesy of Kazuyo Shejima and Associates)

Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, who together founded SANAA, were named Pritzker Architecture Prize laureates in 2010 - the most prestigious honour in architecture. Some of the duo's other designs include the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York and the Serpentine Pavilion in London. Although the idea of an invisible train is ridiculously cool, we hope concept doesn't catch on too quickly. We miss enough of the bloody things as it is.