Since 2010 Glasgow’s Subway – the third-oldest underground rail transit system in the world – has been going through its first modernisation since the mid-1970s. A contract for 17 new driverless trains was signed in 2016, with these third-generation carriages fully replacing the old stock in June 2024.

The real question concerning the new trains is of course: what’s the seat cushion pattern like? As you can see (in picture one) it’s made of concentric circles in different sizes and shades of grey, with some orange highlights. This is all very nice and taken directly from the Subway logo itself (picture two). Whether or not it’s preferable to the old design (picture three) is a matter of taste, but from a sustainability perspective it’s depressing to discover it’s of a much lower quality when it comes to weave.

Moquette fabric is supposed to be akin to commercial carpeting, designed to hide stains and last a long, long, long time. It’s only been months and the seats next to the doors (always the busiest seats on underground metros) are already showing noticeable wear (picture four). The previous chairs lasted decades.

Poor forward planning aside (although I’m sure the short-sighted manager who agreed to such poor quality materials a decade ago received a nice pat on the back for saving some money), at least the new trains are easier to access and have plenty of space for disabled travellers, and are completely open inside (picture five), so you can pretend you’re travelling inside a metal-and-plastic Shai-Halud. Long live the commuters.

Have a great day everyone, and take care of yourselves.