Investigation of comfort level and passenger seat design (side lower berth) in sleeper class coaches in Indian trains: an exploratory study Online publication date: Wed, 26-Nov-2014
by L.P. Singh
International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management (IJMTM), Vol. 25, No. 1/2/3, 2012
Abstract: Present study investigates the design of side lower berth and assessed comfort level and lower back pain for passengers during long travelling in sleeper class coaches of Indian trains. This study included direct observation and interview through a questionnaire of 200 adult passengers during a long travel in different train. The results reveal that 84% of AC sleeper and 88% of non-AC sleeper passengers feel the journey during day time as less comfortable. It is recommended that for sleeper class reservation, Indian railways should make provision in software to consider anthropometric factors of a person i.e., before allotting the side lower berth; person's age, height and shirt size could be asked. It is recommended that side lower berth should be allotted to persons with height ≤ 170 cm and interscye breadth ≤ 40 cm, e.g., teenagers, children rather than old aged people and obese person.
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