Seats on the train are almost always facing each other. why? Have you ever thought about it? Is it to make it easier for everyone to eat melon seeds together? play cards? In fact, they all exist, but the main reason is this~
Improve space utilization and increase passenger capacity
Face-to-face seats mean that two people share one backrest, which saves more space than one person with one backrest, and also saves design costs. One of the reasons for this design is to accommodate more seats.
For example: Compare the 25G air-conditioned car commonly seen on the highway with the Harmony CRH380A: 25G air-conditioned car, hard seat car, 3+2 seat layout, capacity 118 people. Harmony CRH380A, second class, 3+2 seat layout, capacity 85 people. The 25G air-conditioned hard-seat car has 33 more seats in one compartment than the CRH380A second-class seat; the Fuxing CRH400AF second-class seat has a capacity of 90 people, which is 5 more seats than the Harmony.
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Picture from High Speed Rail Manager app screenshot
Seats sitting opposite each other can save space inside the cabin, improve space utilization, and carry more passengers, thereby increasing carrying capacity.
The train cannot turn around
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When the train turns back after arriving at the terminal, it cannot turn around. Instead, it hooks up the front end of the train at the rear and continues driving. If all trains are seated in a row, there will be people sitting with their backs to the direction of the train. Maybe you can imagine a scene where everyone in the car is sitting with their backs to the front of the car.
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At present, most of the hard seats do not have a turning design. Only the face-to-face seat design can ensure that there is always someone in front.
Then the train can run in both directions. One side is in front when going, and the other side is in front when coming back.
Although the train runs in one direction, its seats are rotatable. After arriving at the terminal, the conductor will turn the seats to face the direction of the train.
Following foreign train designs
Train carriages are derived from European passenger mail carriages, with two rows of seats facing each other. Later, the carriages became larger and multiple carriage carriages were strung together to form private rooms.
Later, the carriages were further expanded, from private compartments to full-passage carriages, and the carriages continued the tradition of sitting opposite each other.
The horizontal seats of current EMU trains are more based on the design of airplanes, and are uniformly facing one direction.
