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There is a Small Business Innovative Research solicitation out regarding a locking mechanism for rotating seats. It states that the NTSB has identified inter-city rail passenger seats which have rotated out of position as a potential impediment to emergency egress. Can anyone tell what cars these seats are located on and tell me where I can find photos and tech info about these seats? I presume since the solicitation addresses "inter-city" that they are referring to Amtrak cars. Can anyone get me started in the right direction to obtain some data? Thank you.
sbalax Member # 2801
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John--
I believe the seats on the Surfliner cars are designed to be rotated. I've gotten several stories from crew on this. One version is that, yes, the original design was for them to be rotated at each end of the run so nobody would have to ride backward. The other is that they are in a fixed position. And a third is that yes, they could be rotated, but "management" decided to put the cables through the device (look under the Surfliner seats) so they couldn't be.
Frank in sunny but cool SBA
Mr. Toy Member # 311
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Superliner coach seats can also be rotated so the car can be oriented in either direction. Sometimes Superliners fill in for California Cars on the Capitol Corridor, in which case every other row is turned the opposite way. That way half the seats always face forward in push-pull operation.
Also, some Superliner lounge car seats can be rotated by the user, but I find the mechanism is often broken.
dilly Member # 1427
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All Amfleet, Superliner, and Horizon coach seats rotate, along with (as Mr. Toy mentioned) some seats in Superliner Lounge cars -- although Amtrak seems to be phasing out moveable seats in the latter as each lounge car is refubished.
However, I can't say I've ever seen an Amtrak coach seat "rotated out of position" on any train I've traveled on. When they're not facing one direction, they're facing the opposite direction. My guess is that the locking mechanisms have sometimes failed under extreme conditions - during derailments, for example - causing some seats to turn halfway and block the adjacent window.
It's understandable that this would be of concern to the NTSB. But then, with the increasing girth of the average American, the small windows on Amtrak's rolling stock are, potentially, a far more hazardous impediment to emergency egress than the seats.
Here's a link to a Federal Railroad Administration report on the subject:
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Read the letter. The issue of "uncontrolled" seat rotation appears in reality to be a non-problem raised by the NTSB due to their primarily air accident orientation. In fact the main issue that appears to be raised in the NTSB document is their dissatisfaction with the railroad car emergency lighting system, again in part apparantly because a railroad car does not function like an airplane cabin. Their statement in the letter on the seats is, "A disengaged seat lock can result in an uncontrolled rotation of the seat assemply, even in cases of a minor derailment, which may result in serious injuries to passengers."
Note "can" and "may." In other words, they cannot point to any real case where this has proven to be a problem, only that the seats can be in position but maybe unlocked and if they are unlocked it is possible that they could rotate in case of a derailment. We can't point to any case where we know this has happened, but it might could. And then after making that stretch, they go on to say, if this rotation actually happens somebody might, just might get hurt.
My feeling is to say to the NTSB go away and come back when you find a real problem where some problem solving effort can have some real benefit.
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