Uncomfortable seats on newer trains
 

I'm probably not alone in finding seats on trains such as 175s and 185s less comfortbale than the older 158s. As well as new 350s have identical seating to the 185s.

While 175s were intended to be used on shorter routes than Manchester to Milford Haven, 185s were intended to be used on routes such as Manchester Airport to Newcastle as 350s were intended to be used on long distant routes.

This is all to do woth this thing about the newer seats giving better posture for passengers when used, and if you sit in them 'correctly' then they are comfortable.

I like the 175s and they were great when used on the Manchester Airport-Northwest runs, the 185s are good but I am not so sure about them on very long distance (e.g. more than 1 hour). I think te thing with the 185s in my opinionis the fact that they are brightly lighted compared to other units like the 158s.

I think the 185 are very comfortable, I've used them a few times, the longest journey being from Manchester Piccadilly to Darlington. They're a lot more comfortable than some that I've been on, much better than the mk2s we've got on the East Lancs.

Adam

In general I do find seats on newer (Irish) trains to be less comfortable, 2 exceptions to the rule are the 2700 DMU's and the brand new 22000 DMU's, fantastic seats in those.

On the other hand don't get me started about Voyagers and the 0150 ex Holyhead.

You can't beat the passenger railway stock designed and built during the first half of the last century for comfort. It is quite obvious that people, who for a living design seating for modern public transport, never ever travel themselves by that mode of transport. They would all certainly benefit from a visit or three to some of the better heritage railways, where they would soon discover a new and correct meaning for the word "comfortable".

I agree, my favourite for comfort have to be Mk3's. They have a good range of both table and airline seats (not one dominating the other) and the seats are really big.

I think that mk1s are very comfortable,which is good considering that they account for the vast majority of the fleet on most preserved lines!

Adam

I find the seats are harder on newer trains such as 185s. Though, I don’t find the seating on the former Arriva Trains Northern 156s very comfortable. Virgin Trains provide the best seating, but when they run trains from Plymouth to Newcastle I think they need very good seats. Although, with any train someone might be using as part of a long journey, you don’t want to make three 1 hour journeys on Pacer trains one after the other!

In my opinion the problem with these units are that not much space is left between seats around tables, I like the seats and the colour compared to other 156 units but it would be nice if there was a little more legroom.

I think how comfortable you find a train depends on what you’re expecting. For example, the first time I caught a 175 was when I was expecting a 142 or 150. This meant that when I boarded the 175 I was very impressed.

Likewise, when I first caught a 185 I knew the train would be either a 158 or 185, the exterior temperature was about 30oC, this meant that I found the 185 with air conditioning causing a cool temperature on board very refreshing. When I caught a 185 from Blackpool to Manchester, having travelled up to Blackpool on a 156, I found the seats were a bit hard.