707s , but yes, I take and agree with your point.I'd change the seat covers. The bland mid-blue contributes to the clinical feel - the bright red on the otherwise near-identical SWT 777s gave a totally different, much more welcoming feel. Perhaps change the pink oblique to red on the Thameslink brand, then you'd have an excuse to do red seats. (Pink seats would be like back to FirstGroup hell! )
I'm reminded of units in Melbourne with a similar high-capacity interior that appear far less clinical through the use of 1) dark blue flooring, 2) multi-colour moquette, 3) dark-grey seat frames, and 4) warm-white lighting:
File:Empty X’Trapolis 100 carriage — July 2022.jpg - Wikipedia
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Yes, there are definitely learnings there. The wide aisles are still very helpful, but as passengers will generally only remain standing in them as a very last resort (in preference to the doorway areas) several inches of aisle could be given back to seating with no real trade-off.Having been on a full-and-standing Northern 195 a few times now the thing that makes the difference is the standbacks and much less the width of the seats, so I am inclined to agree, particularly given than 20m stock is wider than 24m stock. Narrow seats are theoretically a good idea, but if two people are sat there there's invariably a person overhanging a bit on the aisle side so you don't *actually* get the width.