Business travellers have welcomed the new product, particularly those whose employers won’t allow First Class travel, but are more comfortable with a lower-priced upgrade. Avanti also has the flexibility to expand or contract the offer throughout the week, according to demand.
But does a loss of seats equal loss of revenue? And is that holding back many companies from making more radical changes such as those seen abroad?
LNER’s Abu Siddeeq: “I think that’s a bit of a myth. In other industries, there is a very strong correlation between great customer experience and long-term revenue growth. We’re confident that rail has a bright future, but that can only be achieved if we deliver a brilliant experience that attracts new people to choose to travel by train over other modes of transport.”
However, as a result of a Government initiative, more radical changes could be on the way.
Last year, ministers launched a £9m competition to find cutting-edge ideas to transform the future of the railways. Organised by the DfT in partnership with Innovate UK, the ‘First of a Kind’ competition was focused on developing pioneering technology and exceptional ideas that can improve journeys for passengers and decarbonise the rail network.
One of the many projects to win funding responded to the rapidly changing landscape in rail post-COVID-19, and was aimed at bringing innovation to carriage interiors and offering benefits and reassurances to passengers, as well as bringing commercial opportunities to rolling stock leasing companies and operators.
The force behind the bid was design consultancy PriestmanGoode, which has already unveiled some of its ideas. The new ‘Proteus’ rail interior system is a collection of ideas that offer more flexibility, improved comfort, and design features that benefit both commuters and leisure travellers.
Spokesman Guy Genney says: “It’s not just about things that emerged from the pandemic, such as spacing and hygiene, but also other things that were really starting before the pandemic - including people bringing more bikes on board or people thinking about having different arrangements for the last mile of their journey.”
With support from Angel Trains and Chiltern Railways, PriestmanGoode’s designs have been based on the Class 165 trains operating out of London’s Marylebone station.
Genney: “Rather than doing something that wasn’t practical and could never be implemented, it was very much focused on an existing train set.”
The other benefit of using the ‘165s’ is that at some point soon, they are due to undergo a major refurbishment, which is an ideal time to introduce new layouts.
PriestmanGoode’s initial designs were unveiled at a special event at Marylebone earlier this year. It featured a mock-up demonstrator with new ideas for commuter travel, with more space for working on laptops and many more charging points.
The designs also introduced the idea of flip-up seats closest to the aisles, allowing additional space on off-peak trains for luggage or for a parent with a child in a buggy.
Genney explains: “The aisles on the ‘165s’ are really quite narrow. You tend to find cases, bikes and buggies in the vestibule, and you get dad stood with the buggy while mum and the other kids go and sit somewhere further down the carriage. We were trying to make sure that it was possible to travel together.”
The designs also created more space close to the doorways to allow for more standing on busy trains, but also space for a bicycle during other times.
“It was really well received. People appreciated the extra space and the airiness. They thought the legroom was better,” says Genney.
The next stage of the project is to process the feedback from passengers and move towards testing the designs on an operational train. As a company, PriestmanGoode will ultimately be looking for commercial opportunities from its research and design work.
For Angel Trains, one of the project sponsors, it was about identifying what could be done to interiors to make them more attractive and to help boost passenger numbers post-COVID.
James Brown, Project Sponsor at Angel Trains, says: “Even prior to the pandemic, there were a number of trends happening in the industry. Everyone was talking about the reduction in passenger numbers on Mondays and Fridays post-pandemic, but the Friday drop in commuter traffic was already happening.”
Other trends, such as the ageing of the population, more demand for cycle storage on trains, and calls for more comfort to replace the so-called ‘ironing board’ seating, were all coming together to indicate that some reimagining of train interiors would be a good idea. Even before the recent design competition, Angel Trains had been involved in conceptual work following discussions with some of its operators.
The First of a Kind competition was an ideal opportunity to progress work to market-ready solutions. Prior to the pandemic, the name of the game was to get as many people onto a train as possible. Are we now moving away from that mentality?
Brown: “I think revenue is always king. Money talks and you will always want to get as many people on as possible. However, many people view revenue as a direct trade-off with comfort - either pack them in or give them all comfortable seats.
“But that’s not our view, and that’s what we’ve tried to get away from in the project. If, post-COVID, you no longer see large peak loads in the busiest rush hour, or if that peak load only happens three days a week, the balance is optimising your interior for that peak-load capacity versus the off-peak changes.”
Angel also maintains that many carriage configurations, such as 3+2 seating, were already out of date as a result of the development of more metro-style services.
Brown: “On many of our existing fleets with 3+2 seats, I think there are opportunities to get the best of both worlds.”
As for those play areas on overseas long-distance trains, Brown suggests that one of the main restrictions to making it happen here is the difference in the structural loading gauge between Europe and the UK.
“Some of their vehicles are around a foot wider, which gives them so many more options,” he says.
