Thanks for raising this, Mark A.

For what it's worth, I find that I can just about tolerate these appalling seats for the time it takes to get from Bristol to London. The bar you refer to directly aligns with what I believe are referred to as my 'sit bones' - the part of the hip that carries the weight - and it is hard to imagine how anything that claims to be a 'seat' could be less comfortable.

A couple of weeks ago I had the misfortune to travel from St Erth to Bristol on an IET. I had a very thick jumper with me, and by sitting on this and moving it around from time to time I was able to stay in my seat until somewhere around Tiverton Parkway, at which point the discomfort was too much to bear and I had to stand up.

It is plainly possible to make seats which are comfortable and meet safety requirements. Someone made a terrible design choice here. I will be watching this topic with interest!

 
Keep us up to date with your progress please?

 
Hi Chris. 'Uncomfortable' in relation to seating becomes a passenger safety issue when 'Discomfort' crosses a threshold and the sitter experiences pain, which is the body's way of signalling that it's being damaged, reversibly or irreversibly.

An issue with discomfort progressing to 'Pain when sitting', is that the vulnerable systems involve nerves and also blood circulation, so this gets into 'Deep vein thrombosis' territory among other things. Certain individuals are more vulnerable than others and this is not necessarily related to age.

The IEP seats, once the filling has suffered inelastic deformation, become uncomfortable, but when this has progressed enough to result in the passenger being supported by other structures within the seat that are ill-designed for that purpose, that's become a safety issue.

An aspect of this is that the effect can be cumulative (on the passenger). That's not necessarily good news for someone who uses these trains on a daily basis.

Having received a quick response from GWR on this, the current perception from them is that this is a 'Comfort' issue rather than involving passenger safety, and I'll respond.

Mark

 
Where does "uncomfortable" = "safety issue"?

 
More seriously, suspecting that seat comfort is classed as 'Convenience', it would be good if GWR were moved to address this particular defect as the passenger safety issue it surely is.

If anyone has ideas on how to raise this defect's status from 'Inconvenience' to 'Passenger safety issue', I'm all ears.

Mark

 
:-)

Mark

 
Apologies but I don't think so.

 

Is the Instructor/assessor's seat bookable by passengers please?

Mark

 

Must not laugh...

Must not laugh...

As I think of the stock delivered to ČD over the last couple of years.

Never mind, enjoy the full Super Hitachi Intercity Train experience.

PS The only truly comfortable seat on the whole train is the instructor/assessors seat. I didn't like the drivers seat especially with the random lowering of the height adjuster piston.

 
But surely the metal bar is an ergonomic metal bar, designed by experts so as to ensure passenger comfort.

 
I've also recently encountered this new discomfort feature on the IET seats.  Thankfully it wasn't on a particularly long journey but it felt ever present.

 
Fainsa (the seat makers). Their company history to be found on the link below. I can't copy and paste the 2016-17 chapter but it tells a tale.

As Fainsa have made seating since 1903, I'm surprised that they're not mortified at that failure mode for a product that's widely deployed.

https://www.compinfainsa.com/corporate/history

Thanks for bringing up the question of temperature - a couple of hours into the run and with a fresh train manager joining us, an announcement went out apologising for that, it being chilly, it was not responding to attempts to adjust it, and carriage 'K' being particularly chilly, people in it might like to move to 'L'.

Mark

 
My guess is the maintenance contract (courtesy of DfT) with Hitachi allows it, either that or GWRs legal team are not turning up at depot exit with a spirit level and measure, and saying the sag is excessive either side of solid bar.  (Do legal they ever turn up unannounced and actually check work meets maintenance contract standards to the millimetre, if not why not, getting away with only doing about 90% of a job defeats purpose of detailed contract spec, if there is a contract it should be enforced 100%, not they did some of it so it's ok)

Of course if the maintenance contract allows such worn things, what else are they allowing to be worn or unacceptable and not fixed (eg brake pads, faulty thermostats etc).   And yes I am sure I have walked through an IEP and different carriages are different temperatures)

 
A seat defect that's actually visible, and one that doesn't make for a good seated experience. The seat upholstery has compressed and whatever structure it is - some sort of metal bar - that runs across the seat ahead of that red arrow ... these are beyond use (as a seat) and this urgently needs addressing. People shouldn't be expected to have to bring their own seat cushions. I'll raise this with GWR.

Mark