ScotRail 334: why built with both 2+2 and 2+3 seating?

[jamesontheroad]

Being a regular if erratic commuter on the Ayr line, I've got into the habit of sitting in the same carriage of the same departure on most trips. This lead me to wonder, why was the 334 built with leading carriages of 2+2 seating and a centre carriage of 3+2 seating? Why not one or the other throughout the whole train?

 

[CarterUSM]

I'd hazard a guess that due to the amount of space the toilet takes up, they tried to re-coup the seating loss a bit. 334's just don't seem to be as roomy as the 318's though, much preferred working on those.

 

[RPM]

The Chiltern 165 have been like that since they were refurbished. The reason for doing it was that passenger opinion was divided over which seating arrangement was best. Perhaps Scotrail did it for the same reason?

 

[A60K]

Same with some of the 377s. Perhaps it's so that Third Class can be reintroduced

 

[rail-britain]

I assumed this 2+2 was for "priority seating" next to the doors, in order to meet DiPTAC requirements
I've always sat in the 2+2 seating

 

[The_Stig]

Yeah the extra 8 seats or so per unit seems weird since not many people use them!

I can only guess that CarterUSM is correct and they tried to re-coup the lost seats.

 

[Bittern]

I prefer the ones that have the arm rests.

Alright, honestly, what does all this 3+2 and 2+2 stuff actually mean?

 

[MCR247]

2+2 for example is the number of seats going across the train
3+2 seating is where there is a row of three seats, and a row of two seats going across
2+2 seating is where there is a row of 2 seats, aisle, then another set of two seats
2+1 seating, normally found in First class is two seats, alisle and two seats

 

[Bittern]

Oh. Cheers.

 

[Failed Unit]

Same with some of the 377s. Perhaps it's so that Third Class can be reintroduced

Not so simple as they would need another universal toilet. You need one per class. I understand the plan was to have a cattle class on the voyager hence why the have 3 large toilets. Virgin dropped the idea but too late to change the unit body design.

 

[MCR247]

They wanted First, Business and standard