Cut-price train operator Lumo replacing 'tired' seat upholstery after just three years

[och aye]

I have to say that when I travelled with them a couple of years ago after 1 year of operation, I already noticed the state of the seats were already looking bad with worn out fabric, missing caps that covered the screws for the armrests that connected with the rest of the seat etc.

I recently travelled with them again a couple of weeks ago and some of the seats were looking in really poor shape. Usable, but they looked like they had been used for more than 3 years.

Hopefully the new seats last a lot longer.

Cut-price train operator Lumo replacing 'tired' seat upholstery after just three years​

Cut-price train operator Lumo replacing 'tired' seat upholstery after just three years

Rivals LNER says the seats in its twice-as-old trains remain in “really good condition”

www.scotsman.com

Scotland's newest train operator Lumo is replacing seat upholstery because it is becoming worn after just three years - in stark contrast to rival firms which expect up to decades of use before theirs need refurbishment.

The move was announced days after a reviewer of the Edinburgh-London service for the consumer watchdog Which? found his seat had “more stains on it than a two-year-old’s bib at dinner time” and the others “all look the same – filthy”.

Another reviewer, marketing consultant Roger Edwards, praised the comfiness of Lumo’s seats, but said their cloth covers were “prone to staining”.

The service was launched in October 2021 using similar Hitachi trains to those introduced on the route by rivals LNER three years earlier. LNER has moquette - dense woven fabric - seats, which the operator said remained in “really good condition”.

Avanti West Coast last year completed a seat refurbishment of its Glasgow-London trains for the first time in some 20 years.

Lumo told The Scotsman: “We were mindful the original fabric had reached a point of needing to be refreshed with an upgraded material.

“We’re now in our fourth year of providing our popular service and as our fleet approaches one million miles per train, we have taken the opportunity to re-trim the seats, which were originally trimmed in an at-the-time innovative new weave, as they were looking a little tired.

 

[takno]

I have to say that when I travelled with them a couple of years ago after 1 year of operation, I already noticed the state of the seats were already looking bad with worn out fabric, missing caps that covered the screws for the armrests that connected with the rest of the seat etc.

I recently travelled with them again a couple of weeks ago and some of the seats were looking in really poor shape. Usable, but they looked like they had been used for more than 3 years.

Hopefully the new seats last a lot longer.

Cut-price train operator Lumo replacing 'tired' seat upholstery after just three years​

Cut-price train operator Lumo replacing 'tired' seat upholstery after just three years

Rivals LNER says the seats in its twice-as-old trains remain in “really good condition”

www.scotsman.com

The padding is holding up okay, which is the important thing. As Transpennine have also found though, plain cloth isn't really up to the job as a covering.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

LNER are very cheeky to say their seats are in “very good condition” when they all seem to be broken with metal bar syndrome, as it’s come to be referred to.

 

[Towers]

Is it regular practice in Scotland for the press to report on train maintenance activities? Seems a rather odd story, unless of course Lumo customers have been writing into the paper in their droves to complain about tired seating?

I look forward to next week’s headline about an oil filter change on a Scotrail 158!

 

[edwin_m]

Unlike an oil filter change, it's something that will directly affect passengers. Lumo's press release doesn't directly mention the condition of the seats but they would wish to reassure passengers who might have found them to be tatty that something was being done about it. They also look to be going for a harder-wearing fabric and launching a seat selector. https://www.lumo.co.uk/who-we-are/lumonews/lumo-begins-roll-out-of-bolder-and-brighter-new-look

In addition to its seat selection tool, Lumo seats will also be debuting a brand-new design from this spring, with a comfier and harder wearing material to further enhance customer comfort while staying true to Lumo’s bold blue look and feel.

 

[stuu]

Is it regular practice in Scotland for the press to report on train maintenance activities? Seems a rather odd story, unless of course Lumo customers have been writing into the paper in their droves to complain about tired seating?

I look forward to next week’s headline about an oil filter change on a Scotrail 158!

Newspapers routinely regurgitate press releases, it's cheap copy for them. Regardless of importance or otherwise of the content.

 

[supervc-10]

Definitely looks like moquette in the images on their website. Having a seat selector will be handy too, avoiding 'window' views of a plastic pillar!

How many more operators though are going to make the flat cloth mistake? GWR have switched on their 80x, Northern on their CAF units IIRC, now Lumo...

 

[yorksrob]

It's the oldest story in the book.

Train company gets bored of using moquette..

Train company experiments with flat cloth.

Train company finds the flat cloth isn't up to it and goes back to moquette.

To quote Pete Seeger "when will they ever learn".

 

[edwin_m]

It's the oldest story in the book.

Train company gets bored of using moquette. notices flat cloth is cheaper.

Train company experiments with flat cloth specifies flat cloth without a proper trial.

Train company finds the flat cloth isn't up to it and goes back to moquette.

To quote Pete Seeger "when will they ever learn".

I think it's more likely as above.

 

[yorksrob]

I think it's more likely as above.

Yes, you've probably hit the nail on the head there !

That said, I do like the slightly zig-zaggy design of moquette Lumo have chosen. Puts me a little in mind of the Southern Railway's Boomerang design.

 

[swt_passenger]

If the Lumo seat coverings ‘story’ seems a bit familiar, it’s because it’s already covered in the thread about the Which magazine article here:

Lumo - passenger experience criticised in Which? review

I've never travelled on Lumo or any other open access operator for that matter. I was quite surprised by how unpleasant the reviewer's experience was. They compared it to Ryanair but I frequently travel with them and I cannot say it resembles the Lumo experience as described here in any way at...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[43096]

I think it's more likely as above.

Agreed. Although the comeback is that you replace it twice as often, which more than nullifies the initial saving.

 

[Via Bank]

Buy cheap, buy twice.

 

[tfw756rider]

LNER are very cheeky to say their seats are in “very good condition” when they all seem to be broken with metal bar syndrome, as it’s come to be referred to.

Exactly what I was thinking. They probably meant the moquette, but it's bad that they haven't acknowledged the metal bar problem.

 

[DanNCL]

LNER are very cheeky to say their seats are in “very good condition” when they all seem to be broken with metal bar syndrome, as it’s come to be referred to.

Well they are in good condition on the Mark 4s! But indeed, the condition of the seats on the 80xs, whilst granted it’s not as bad as GWR, is still dreadful.

 

[Yorkshire09876]

I think it's more likely as above.

And they ignore all the evidence from the previous times it has been tried - it's never a success because it always shows stains and wears out quickly.

 

[Furrball]

Same thing noticed with new standard class seats on Pendolinos with many of them looking worse than the seats they replaced

 

[Bletchleyite]

Same thing noticed with new standard class seats on Pendolinos with many of them looking worse than the seats they replaced

Can't say I've noticed that aside from the armrest leather issue. The covers are moquette.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Well they are in good condition on the Mark 4s! But indeed, the condition of the seats on the 80xs, whilst granted it’s not as bad as GWR, is still dreadful.

It’s an article about London to Edinburgh trains though.

 

[DanNCL]

It’s an article about London to Edinburgh trains though.

I’m aware of that, my point stands, if LNER want to claim they don’t have issues with the condition of their seats then the Mark 4s are the only part of their fleet where that is genuinely the case. The seats on their 80xs (and therefore every journey they compete with Lumo on) definitely aren’t in good condition, even if the moquette itself isn’t too bad.

 

[yorksrob]

Only Holdsworths have the answer !

 

[Russel]

Buy cheap, buy twice... Long term planning is something we seem to have given up on.