Originally Posted by
newbiztraveler
I was on a business class car on the Northeast Regional on Monday, which had the new seat cushions. It seemed like there were more seats than in the older cars.
I'm in a refurbished coach now (on the inaugural Roanoke-Boston Regional). Seat count is exactly the same: 72. I counted the seats in my car and the non-refurbished car immediately ahead of this one: 18 rows of 4 seats each.
Originally Posted by
diburning
I highly doubt that there are more seats. They simply did a quick cushion change. If they moved the seats closer together, they'd have to redo the entire interior since the reading lights and power outlets would become misaligned.
That's exactly what it looks like. No other refurbishments were done to the car at all. Bathrooms, bins, etc.--everything is exactly the same, except for the seats being reupholstered with pleather.
Originally Posted by
octr202
Certainly looks nice, will be interesting to find out how comfortable the cushions are. As long as they didn't mess with seat pitch should be good.
Amazing to think that these cars are now on their
third interior replacement/refurbishment (at least?). There was the original, then the late 90's/early 00's rehab in conjunction with the Acela brand launch.
Would love to know if they addressed the worst piece of customer-facing engineering though - the dreaded Amfleet "push up" restroom faucet!
Seat
pitch appears to be exactly the same--pitch being the measurement from one point on a seat to the same point on the next row of seats. However, actual leg/knee room appears to be slightly less, because the new seats are actually (opposite of what the airlines are doing now)
thicker and more padded. I would actually say the new seats are more plush and comfortable than the older-style seats, at the cost of an inch or so of stomach/knee/leg room. (I say "stomach room" because it's most noticeable when trying to use a laptop.)
Bathrooms were not renovated, so the push-up faucet wasn't changed. I did notice on my trip yesterday on the Silver Star that some of the Amfleet II faucets are more like normal public restroom (push-down) faucets, so Amtrak has them in stock somewhere, should they ever decide to replace the push-up ones.
Originally Posted by
diburning
I'm in a Business Class car right now. Nothing was done besides the reupholstering. Looking at the seat back where the tray table and footrest are, the back of the seat still has the old carpet-textured fabric, and the footrests are still the same. The seats are still the same. The floor tracks look like they haven't been touched in decades, and the power outlets don't look like they've been moved or replaced, so the seats definitely have not moved.
My experience in coach is identical to yours.