So the general idea being presented with British Rail experience is that if the new Amtrak Midwest seats are like the seats found in British Rail, which appear to be superficially similar, then they should be just fine for five hour trips.
Midwest Venture introduction
- Thread starter ShiningTimeStL
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PerRock
Conductor
The look similar to the ones used on most modern British trains these days. I've taken LNER from London to Durham (4hrs) in similar seats & didn't find them uncomfortable. I do think the vast majority of uncomfort is perceived lack of cushion.
peter
peter
The funny thing is that I've had many (not all or most) rides in Amfleets (both Is and IIs) where the cushioning feels inadequate. That is, like I' was sitting on a concrete block. I don't know why it happens sometimes and not others. Generally, it was more prevalent during the 20th century before the capstone refurbishment, but I had one uncomfortable overnight ride in a refurbished Amfleet 2 on the Silver Star.
His hand gesture toward the end indicates the seat back was fine; the seat cushion not so much.
mfastx
Service Attendant
Stairs not working already, smh.
neroden
Engineer
I was wondering if Siemens had a sufficient defrosting system for the stairs... or it could just be a mechanical fault.
Frankly, I would be very surprised if there are no teething troubles. If these failure become persistent that would be another matter. Even then we will need to figure out to what extent the problems are due to the unique maintenance philosophy followed by the Chicago maintenance facility too. 
The big windows are nice but sharing a window and shade with another seat means a potential fight over shade up to see scenery vs. shade down with the person ahead/behind you. I remember that from some of the ex PRR coaches in the pre Amtrak days.
As I understand it, most fortunately, the shades are not opaque. So all is not completely lost
neroden
Engineer
Unique on Amtrak, thankfully, but do-no-work-and-lie-about-it "maintenance" has happened sufficiently often in other places in the past that it has a humorous name: "roll-in roll-out maintenance".Frankly, I would be very surprised if there are no teething troubles. If these failure become persistent that would be another matter. Even then we will need to figure out to what extent the problems are due to the unique maintenance philosophy followed by the Chicago maintenance facility too.
Yes. In short the RIRO protocolUnique on Amtrak, thankfully, but do-no-work-and-lie-about-it "maintenance" has happened sufficiently often in other places in the past that it has a humorous name: "roll-in roll-out maintenance".
( Chicago is Infamous for this!)ShiningTimeStL
Train Attendant
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amtrakpass
Service Attendant
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looks like some of the venture cars are back in revenue service with this current video of train 303 posted today in another group. Looked like 4 venture coaches and 1 amfleet cafe/business
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Shortline
Conductor
I guess I might get to try them out then, I’m in 303 next week to Chicago to catch the Chief.
Everydaymatters
Engineer
I'll be going from BNL to STL this Thursday. Looking forward to trying the new cars.
Everydaymatters
Engineer
The new cars are a disgrace to the already disgraced Amtrak. I can't speak for how far back they recline because that feature was not working. The seats are, as stated before, uncomfortable. Round trip from BNL to STL was not one I would want to take again, but I probably will have to at some point. The larger bathroom was the only saving feature. I wonder who in the heck was in charge of the decision to do this to their passengers. And now we're stuck with it for who-knows how many years.
45 years probably. It's pretty sad when Greyhound buses have seats comfier than these. Did the seats get designed by people (Germans) who didn't grasp that these would be running on routes of over 300 miles, over 6 hours and thought a "transit" design would be adequate? And did the states just accept at face value the seat design without considering whether it would be appropriate?
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Mailliw
OBS Chief
Fortunately the seats are an easy issue to fix; at least for future orders.
I have not yet ridden in a Venture car so I cannot comment on the seat comfort. But what I can say from the pictures at least is that the seats do not look all that different from train seats used on European railroads. In 2020 I rode on both RENFE (Spain) and TGV (France). Here are a couple pictures that are pretty similar to the seats the trains had.
TVG: https://www.seat61.com/images/lacroix-tgv-2nd-large.jpg
Renfe: https://www.seat61.com/images/Spain-ave-train-103-t2-large.jpg
Both of the trains I was on were high speed "corridor" trains, Barcelona-Paris and Barcelona-southern France, basically a full day trip end to end.
In the end, I don't think the Venture seats are all that radical outside the fact that the U.S. is woefully outside the modern rail age.
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