October 13,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood Nj, NJT seats have no inertial locks like on automobile seat belts to prevent the seat backs from moving during a crash.
https://railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=82818&start=0#p937371
JimBoylan wrote:
Matt Johnson wrote:
Reversible seatbacks are even prohibited in new cars now, so that’s one reason you’ve got fixed seats in new commuter cars like the NJT multilevels.
I haven’t been able to find any Federal or New Jersey legal prohibition. A while ago, New Jersey Transit bragged that their recent at that time order of single level cars would have inertial locks like on automobile seat belts to prevent the seat backs from moving during a crash. In my opinion as a railroader, the “prohibition” probably comes from the same person who bans railfan photography from public places.
I did not find anything either. The feds primary interest with respect to seats appears to be that they (1) don’t break loose from their fastenings, (2) the backs don’t unduly obstruct the emergency egress windows, and (3) they remain in a fixed position in a crash to better cushion the momemtum of a passenger. Inertial locks should be able to satisfy No. 3. The multilevel car seats have padding on the top rear and are high backed to better satisfy No. 3. My suspicion is that NJT desired cost savings from less maintenance, no need for crews to reverse seats and elimination of the issue with passengers flipping seats making collecting fares/keeping track of paid passengers more difficult and limiting capacity on peak trains since 4 longer-legged passengers cannot comfortably sit in pairs of seats facing each other.
HERE COME THE LAWSUITS
