Railroad Comfort

Comfort is one of the expectations of train customers, as is, first and foremost, safety, then, in no particular order, punctuality, price, access...

Originally, in French, the word "confort" meant that which makes you strong. The English then imported the word, keeping the original spelling of "comfort" to within one letter, but giving it a new meaning, that of material, physical and/or psychological well-being, the definition we'll use here. The word then reappeared in the French language in its original spelling, retaining the new meaning of the English word.

The notion of well-being is itself complex, the result of several dimensions, evolutionary, and much more subtle than simply "feeling good". Each individual's emotional state, perception, sensory and anthropometric physiology and personal perception of quality are all involved.

We now consider that, in all situations, there is a share of comfort and a share of discomfort; the ultimate aim being, in the rail sector, depending on the constraints of the different products on offer (main lines, TER, etc.), to maximize the share of comfort and minimize the share of discomfort.

For the various aspects of comfort, we will endeavor to take into account the notion of "universal design" applicable in particular to people with reduced mobility (PRM), a term that could be defined as follows: "Any person who, at one time or another, experiences discomfort due to a permanent incapacity (sensory, motor or cognitive disability, ageing...) or a temporary one (pregnancy, accident...) or due to external circumstances (accompanying small children, baby carriages, luggage...)".

Rail comfort has its own specific characteristics compared to other modes of transport, in particular the private car, with which it is often in competition:

• it can change during a journey (station entrances and exits, crossings, tunnels, etc.);

• it is collective and passive compared to the private car (where the driver's comfort is the main concern);

• higher train speeds (especially for TGVs);

• the safety requirements, which are higher than for cars, imply both technical constraints and high expectations on the part of passengers;

• the components of the sensory environment differ (acoustics, vibrations, postural comfort, etc.) compared to the car and other non-guided means of transport such as the plane;

• comfort requirements can differ between markets (metro, tramway, TER, TGV) and within markets (first and second class, Ouigo);

• overall"...