Rear-facing seats coming to NE Regional
Feb 26, 2024, 4:37 pm
#1
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Rear-facing seats coming to NE Regional
https://www.amtrak.com/alert/new-sea...st-routes.html
As of March 2024, Northeast Regional trains will have "fixed seating," with half of seats facing forwards and half backwards, to reduce crew time spent rearranging seats between train runs. This affects all "greater Northeast regional" routes – not just NER but also other Amfleet trains that travel the corridor, including Carolinian, Empire, Vermonter, and Virginia trains.
Not great for those of us who sometimes get motion sickness, but don't always know when it will strike.
As of March 2024, Northeast Regional trains will have "fixed seating," with half of seats facing forwards and half backwards, to reduce crew time spent rearranging seats between train runs. This affects all "greater Northeast regional" routes – not just NER but also other Amfleet trains that travel the corridor, including Carolinian, Empire, Vermonter, and Virginia trains.
Not great for those of us who sometimes get motion sickness, but don't always know when it will strike.
Feb 27, 2024, 5:57 pm
#3
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Washington DC
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Interesting that the same is not being done for Acela, even though the "flipping of the [non-table] seats" gets done there, too. Amtrak realizes that the monied, influential Acela customers would object, and their objections would count for something, unlike the peons on NER...
/s
/s
Feb 27, 2024, 7:20 pm
#4
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 311
According to the fact sheet linked here, it's coming to Acela later this year. They specifically say "the current Acela fleet" so they don't mean the Avelias.
https://media.amtrak.com/2024/02/fix...kward-seating/
https://media.amtrak.com/2024/02/fix...kward-seating/
Feb 27, 2024, 7:52 pm
#5
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According to the fact sheet linked here, it's coming to Acela later this year. They specifically say "the current Acela fleet" so they don't mean the Avelias.
https://media.amtrak.com/2024/02/fix...kward-seating/
https://media.amtrak.com/2024/02/fix...kward-seating/
"Two of Amtrak’s upcoming fleets – our new Acela and Amtrak Airo™ trainsets, will also feature fixed seating. The current Acela fleet will transition to fixed forward and backward seating later this year"
Feb 27, 2024, 8:27 pm
#6
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 311
Poor phrasing on my part, I should say that I didn't mean the Avelias wouldn't have fixed seating, I just meant they're bothering to do the same to the Acelas even though they're still saying the Avelias will be coming late this year as well.
Can't decide whether I prefer it on the Regional or the Acela as someone who doesn't like to sit backwards. On the Acela you can book forward facing in advance if you buy early enough. On the Regional if you're stuck with a backwards facing seat you can move when someone gets off and not worry that someone is going to claim it at a later stop.
Can't decide whether I prefer it on the Regional or the Acela as someone who doesn't like to sit backwards. On the Acela you can book forward facing in advance if you buy early enough. On the Regional if you're stuck with a backwards facing seat you can move when someone gets off and not worry that someone is going to claim it at a later stop.
Feb 28, 2024, 10:42 am
#8
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There used to be pedals at the base of the seats on the NE Corridor that one could rotate the seat so that it faced the other direction. The Amtrak conductors frowned on using them.
Feb 29, 2024, 6:21 pm
#10
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Location: Washington DC
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Well, about 40 seat pairs in each coach or business car that get flipped (other than seats with tables), each pair of which has to be individually flipped by hand. Multiply that by the # of cars on a train, and you can see why the turn times at WAS are an hour or even two hours.
Feb 29, 2024, 9:57 pm
#11
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With four of the twenty old Acela trainsets out of service, makes sense as a way to turn trains quicker and try to add more service. Of course, this will all be moot once the Avelia Liberty is inducted and then the Airo fleet. But that is years and infrastructure projects away from completion.
Feb 29, 2024, 11:21 pm
#12
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Well, about 40 seat pairs in each coach or business car that get flipped (other than seats with tables), each pair of which has to be individually flipped by hand. Multiply that by the # of cars on a train, and you can see why the turn times at WAS are an hour or even two hours.
Mar 1, 2024, 2:30 pm
#13
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Let's say: ((2 seconds to flip each pair + 2 seconds to walk to the next pair) * 40 pairs + 5 seconds to walk to the next car) * 8 passenger cars = 22 minutes. This is not only pretty slow but also assumes that the work is done all by one dedicated person, not by integrating more efficiently into someone's existing workload like cleaners, which would eliminate the "walk to the next pair of seats" time is which is about half of the total time cost. It really doesn't sound that hard to me.
Mar 1, 2024, 6:30 pm
#14
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Washington DC
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I agree -- more like 30 seconds to 1 minute to flip a seat pair. These are not like commuter trains where only the seat back gets flipped with the seat base remains in place. Instead, the ENTIRE seat gets rotated 180 degrees. It's a fair amount of effort.
Mar 2, 2024, 10:29 am
#15
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I just looked at a BOS-NYP Regional business class car in April: The front half is forward-facing, the rear half is rear-facing.
When they changeover the Acela F coaches later this year, let's hope the seats are better-bolted to the floor than currently, especially the singles. For example, if you're in 13A now with 12A in front of you, every time the passenger in 12A shifts in their seat, your tray table jolts and I've had my glass and tray go flying. Maybe this will help.
When they changeover the Acela F coaches later this year, let's hope the seats are better-bolted to the floor than currently, especially the singles. For example, if you're in 13A now with 12A in front of you, every time the passenger in 12A shifts in their seat, your tray table jolts and I've had my glass and tray go flying. Maybe this will help.