urpert
Member
Ah, is that the FART?One assumes you haven't travelled on the narrow gauge service across from Locarno to Domodossola, then, or any of the buses in that local area?
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Abellio Greater Anglia Class 755s (Regional Trains)
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Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Mordac
Established Member
Thanks for saving me the trouble of googling it! Indeed I hadn't heart of this before.
samuelmorris
Established Member
It's probably about the least dull & depressing interior to be fitted to a UK train for years. I really don't understand that viewpoint.
Martin222002
Member
Having read the article, Ian Walmsley did seem to be nit picking and finding fault for faults sake. His point about the greyness of the interior deliberately missed that there are splashes of colour in the seat moquette and carpets, which as others have said makes for in my opinion a classy interior, and not garish in the slightest. Secondly if the interior had been bargain basement then there'd have been Finsa 'ironing board seats' with cloth fabric rather than the FISA seats we do have with moquette. He also complains about the presence of flip-down seats in the vestibules, which is ironic as 170s have those which he has repeatedly said in the past he was involved in the procurement & specification when he worked for Porterbrook.
F Great Eastern
Established Member
The FISA Lean seats were picked because they were cheaper and took up less room than the standard options meaning you could both save money and fit more people in.
Martin222002
Member
But are they as cheap as Finsa ironing board seats?
Goldfish62
Established Member
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I agree with much of what Ian Walmsley writes, but I don't agree with his views on the choice of colours. I think GA is about my favourite around at the moment.
I think his point about the flip down seats was that there's only one door per carriage.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Don't forget, though, that those carriages are very short, a similar length to Pacer vehicles which themselves only have 1.5 doors per coach per side.
If we think of this in terms of doors per metre, I think the coaches are 16m, so we get:
FLIRT (16m, 1 door): 0.0625 doors per metre
Aventra (24m, 2 doors): 0.0833 doors per metre
...it doesn't look *that* bad.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
They might be 18m, possibly, though they aren't all the same length - the end vehicles are longer.
eastdyke
Established Member
Data sheets at post 39 of this thread:
Show BMU3 at ~65m, BMU4 at ~80m and IC12 at ~236m.
Entrances all 1.3m.
The seats look a lot better than the ironing boards that Northerns new trains are getting and the trains look fantastic but I guess some people will always find something to moan about.
F Great Eastern
Established Member
An intercity train was never going to have commuter style ironing board seats though was it? You're comparing a commuter train with that of an intercity train which is like comparing Apples and Oranges.
I actually like Flirts and I was on one last week in another country, but they've gone for the FISA Lean as they allow them to fit more seats in and save money versus the original Grammer option that Stadler proposed.
samuelmorris
Established Member
Uh, 800s?
F Great Eastern
Established Member
Uh, 800s?
Granted, although that's more to do with the incompetence of the DFT than anything else.
samuelmorris
Established Member
Of course, not saying it's the TOC's fault at all (though arguably in the case of Hull Trains that remains to be seen, as far as I know TPE are still using them which isn't a DfT restriction) but it means it's not like it doesn't happen. A large proportion of the country's intercity trains will have such seats soon, which does set a precedent moving forward. If anything the Anglia IC sets are the exception.
Im not sure thats the case really the Bi-mode flirts are more regional trains and there role isnt that disimilar to the Northern connect 195's infact some of the services the Bi modes will be working would likely be a clapped out 150 or 156 in Northern Land.
The bi-modes are literally replacing 156s (as well as 153s and 170s).
F Great Eastern
Established Member
You are aware that Flirts are replacing the MK3s on the intercity services?
Well yes of course but the Bi-modes are largely replacing sprinters and 170's and look far higher quality with better seats than the new Northern units, and has already been commented the new flirt IC EMU"s will probably be nicer and more comfortable than IETs.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Ironing boards are better than the Class 800 rubbish.
samuelmorris
Established Member
I assume by that you mean the 387 ironing boards? Not sure to be honest. I don't think 800 seats transplanted into a 387 would make much difference one way or the other, apart from the fact that the 387 seats are better looking. I sure as hell would take 800 standard class seats over 700 standard class seats.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
I can’t feel the metal support through Class 700 seats, so I’ll have those please.
FISA LEAN look better than both.
Quite a few people decided everything is doom and gloom the day the new trains and franchise was announced, and it appears will be quite disappointed if it is a success.
samuelmorris
Established Member
I try to be open-minded until I have a chance to try them for myself. I think the main criticism levied against Abellio for these fleets is how ambitious the plan is in terms of how much is being replaced so soon, rather than any issues with the perceived quality of the replacement stock.
class387
Established Member
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I would definitely take the 700 seats (which are the same as the 387 seats) over the IET seats. It's the layout on the 700 that's the problem.
samuelmorris
Established Member
The same as the 387 seats minus armrests. There's also the legroom problem on 700s but let's not open that can of worms. Legroom seems generally accepted to be excellent on the 800s, so it's not as if there is any capacity issue affecting comfort, simply price. I've only done Paddington to Reading on an 800 thus far, whereas I've done Haywards Heath to Farringdon on a 700 (over the old diversionary route, plus a 10 minute delay, naturally) and it was OK but probably no further than that. I'd have to go long-distance on an 800 to make an assessment. Never having sat in a LEAN seat I've no idea how comfortable they'll be but unless Shenfield appears somewhere on the 745's diagrams (seems doubtful) I expect I'll have to make a special trip to travel on one as otherwise all my Anglia travel next decade will likely be on 720s.
class387
Established Member
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Legroom and the lack of seat spacers/armrests are problems with the layout, not the seat itself. While the layout of seats in the 800 is good, the actual design of seat is poor. The 387s have a decent seat and layout.
samuelmorris
Established Member
Funny how things change with a bit of context, I remember the extensive complaints about 387 seats when first introduced compared to, for example, 377 seats.