HS2 Ltd has unveiled test designs for its high-speed trains, including what it hopes will become the most comfortable seats on any UK rail service.
Standard class seats will have market-leading legroom of 87cm, according to full-size concepts at train manufacturer Alstom’s Derby factory.
Airline-style seats will give each passenger easy access to a large fold-down table, a shelf for small electronic devices, a reading light with three brightness settings, a coat hook, a USB-C socket and two three-pin plug sockets, the latest version shows.
The bottom part of HS2 seats will be able to slide forwards, enabling passengers to recline without encroaching on the space of the person behind them.
Passengers travelling on some existing trains run by operators such as Thameslink and Great Western Railway have complained that thin padding makes the seats uncomfortable for long journeys, comparing them to ironing boards.
HS2 Ltd senior rolling stock engineer James Dawson said the ambition is for HS2 services to have “the most comfortable seat on trains in the UK”.
“We know there been issues with some recent seats, we know the failure, we know why that is.
“We’ll start off by looking at what’s in the cushion to make sure that’s comfortable and robust, and look at the geometry of the back.”
Simon Aslett is rolling stock director at the West Coast Partnership Development, a joint venture between FirstGroup and Trenitalia which is responsible for preparing to run initial HS2 services.
He said that as an industry “we have done a pretty bad job with some of the previous inter-city seat designs, and there’s been a lot of public backlash. These will be much better.
“It’s hard though, because if you’re buying a car, you buy a car that’s comfortable for you.
“If you’re designing a train, the challenge is to try and get it as comfortable as possible for different groups.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if you get some people who say ‘I don’t know what you’ve done, it’s uncomfortable’.”
Aslett said the industry has made progress in designing more comfortable seats, citing examples from FirstGroup-owned operators Lumo and Avanti West Coast.
He added that a combination of future testing on the HS2 concepts and passenger insights from journeys on existing trains will lead to further…
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