Canadian Railroads > VIA HEP II coach seats

I am on such a car now with new seats. I don't like them. Hard as a rock and of sticky vinyl. At least the arm rests lift up. Tray drops from seat in front of you.

Posted from Android

If they are the same as the new seats in LRC cars they are from Germany.  The seats in Economy and Business classes are similar. Those in Business have single seats on one side and considerable space between the double seats so each passenger gets their own arm-rest and there is room for a low table between them.

Although I wouldn't object to a bit more padding in the seat, I find them comfortable. The backs of these seats cradle my back giving the best support I have ever experienced on a Canadian train. Because they are of the "slim-line" variety there is more leg-room than before. Unlike airlines that have installed slim-line seats Via has not  reduced the "pitch" to install more rows. I also like the recline mechanism, which is a combination of slight recline of the back and the forward motion of the seat. This way, a passenger who wants maximum recline takes away some of his/her leg-room and does not put their seat-back in the space of the poor soul behind.

I had a VIA trip Monday of a little over two hours each way. In one direction I had the old plush seats and on the return I had a new single seat in a an LRC Business Class car. The plush seat was comfortable to sit on but my back was quite sore when I stood up. When I stood up from the new seat on the return my back was fine.

In my mind, there was never a better coach seat than the classic "sleepy hollow" seats.  Haven't sat in one since I was much younger, so wonder about the back support factor.

And, I noticed no use of the word "carriage" in place of the more usual, in North America, term "car".  

AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

These seats are so hard, it might as well be a city bus seat with a padded insert.

Then they decided to put a tubular drapery rod 2" above the window side arm rest which gets in the way of your arm.

Does anyone at VIA try these out before they buy them ?

Just my luck we got stuck behind a CN freight east of Drummondville for an hour and a half and have more time to enjoy this seat.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/10/19 14:44 by joemvcnj.