Height of carriages

[whole diary]

[froome]

I'm a diminutive 5 foot 7, so it doesn't concern me, but on a journey yesterday I witnessed one especially tall passenger who couldn't stand straight in the carriage, and had to stand with his head bent forward all the time. That must be an incredibly uncomfortable way to travel if he does it regularly. I would guess he was 1 to 2 inches taller than the internal height of the carriage.

So what is the internal height of carriages along the aisles and by the doorways? Is it standard across the country? If so, how did it come to be selected?

[Noggin]

I'm a diminutive 5 foot 7, so it doesn't concern me, but on a journey yesterday I witnessed one especially tall passenger who couldn't stand straight in the carriage, and had to stand with his head bent forward all the time. That must be an incredibly uncomfortable way to travel if he does it regularly. I would guess he was 1 to 2 inches taller than the internal height of the carriage.

So what is the internal height of carriages along the aisles and by the doorways? Is it standard across the country? If so, how did it come to be selected?

I believe that the entrance floor level is now a standard height above rail on NR^» (Network Rail - home page), but beyond that I suspect it's just what can be fitted in. Note that on the new IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train), some carriages have slightly raised floors within the main saloon to accommodate all the stuff beneath. 

[stuving]

I'm a diminutive 5 foot 7, so it doesn't concern me, but on a journey yesterday I witnessed one especially tall passenger who couldn't stand straight in the carriage, and had to stand with his head bent forward all the time. That must be an incredibly uncomfortable way to travel if he does it regularly. I would guess he was 1 to 2 inches taller than the internal height of the carriage.

So what is the internal height of carriages along the aisles and by the doorways? Is it standard across the country? If so, how did it come to be selected?

Recent trains will have been designed against a specification that includes a defined population. The IEP^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project.) requirement, for example, has:

N063 User Population:
Means all users (e.g. passengers, train crew and staff carrying out Maintenance) who shall range from 5th percentile female to 95th percentile male according to 'Adult Data, the hand book of Adult Anthropometric and Strength Measurements: Data for Design Safety, Department of Trade and Industry, 1998 '.

Obviously any percentile limit will leave a small fraction of humankind out - in any measurable dimension. 5% has always seemed to me to be quite a big exclusion, given that this is per limit (and there can be two limits per dimension).

Some percentile limit is, in practice inevitable. That's especially true of height in British trains, with the gauge height being so much lower than (almost) anyone else's.

[Bmblbzzz]

If average heights continue to increase, what is now 95th percentile will in time become a lower percentile.

[The Tall Controller]

The height of some internal vestibules is an issue for those of us who are gifted with height. I'd much rather sit on the floor than have to stand up in a vestibule. The saloons are fine on most trains.

One thing I really struggle with on most trains is leg room. IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train) have excellent provisions, even on the standard (non-priority) seats. However, it is very much the exception to the rule. I don't like occupying the priority seats but these are generally the only places I can sit comfortably.

[Oxonhutch]

I hope Dutch carriages are high.

[Surrey 455]

I hope Dutch carriages are high.

My understanding is that cannabis use is only tolerated in Amsterdam and not the wider Netherlands. So only railway carriages in Amsterdam may be high.