RSSB2655 - T1140 Defining the requirements of a seat comfort selection process

The Rail Technical Strategy (RTS) provides strategic guidance to industry, underpinned by the 4Cs: Cost, Capacity, Carbon, and Customer. This research presents an opportunity to improve the customer experience, through enhancing passenger satisfaction of seat comfort. Passenger comfort during rail travel is an important aspect of the customer experience, and forms part of the rolling stock vision for comfortable and attractive train interiors (RTS, 2012). One key aspect of passenger comfort is the seat, and the comfort of the seating area may contribute up to 5% of the overall impact on customer satisfaction (Transport Focus, 2016). Recent passenger satisfaction scores revealed that 67% of passengers (n = 24,767) rated the comfort of the seats as satisfied or good (Transport Focus, 2017). This was below the national average of 83% passengers satisfied with their journey, and the industry wide target of achieving 90% satisfaction by 2035 (Long Term Planning Ahead Framework, 2010). Improvements in seat comfort may contribute to reaching this target, through offering passengers better value for money and comfort during their journey experience.

Research, guidance and testing methodologies to determine seat comfort have previously been undertaken by the University of Southampton and the Roll2Rail programme . The Roll2Rail Attractiveness & Comfort Features Report (2017) called for future work to develop a seat comfort methodology to measure a range of design values that can be objectively assessed. However, as noted in the RSSB Knowledge Search (S240, 2016) on seat comfort, while few measures exist to quantify passenger seat comfort, a standardised specification is yet to be established. The lack of quantifiable parameters available to sufficiently assess and demonstrate passenger seat comfort may risk underperforming seat comfort, and thereby negating the customer experience.

Quantifying seat comfort is a complex area that may depend on: (a) the human, (b) the product, and (c) the context (de Looze, 2003 ). Perceptions of comfort and discomfort occur through the interaction between the passenger and seat within a particular context. As such, passenger anthropometry and the activities performed while sat in the seat (e.g. reading, sleeping, working on a laptop), can have a bearing on the level of comfort experienced. The physical constraints of the seat design are also considered to impact passenger comfort. These include: (a) static factors (e.g. seat pan, backrest and armrest dimensions), (b) dynamic factors (e.g. vibration and pressure, cushion material), and (c) temporal factors (e.g. variation in journey length). Through assessing these parameters, it is expected that seat comfort can be quantified, and a seat comfort selection process can be developed, tested and validated. The seat comfort selection process should determine the minimum requirements for seat comfort, a defined testing methodology, and scoring system.