Rescue comfy Mk 3 seats

It is disgraceful that so many Mk 3 coaches are being scrapped.

I assume that before being scrapped, any potentially useful items are removed to replace any defective items on the remaining Mk 3 coaches now operating in Scotland and the West of England.

And bearing in mind the many adverse comments made about the seating on the Hitatchi Class 80x trains now operating on Great Western Railway and LNER services, would this include seats?

I have travelled extensively on the now largely redundant InterCity 125 trains and have never had cause to complain about their seat comfort.

I confess I have not yet travelled on the new trains, but in one of Michael Portillo’s recent TV programmes I watched him sitting uncomfortably upright in what I identified as a GWR Class 80x train while delivering his spiel.

Furthermore, resulting from the Coronavirus, a TV news programme showed an empty railway coach - I think on an LNER Azuma train at York. The seats looked awfully uncomfortable, with extremely upright backs.

I always travel by train when the services are convenient. However, I think I would prefer to make any long-distance journey in my car rather than use these obviously uncomfortable trains, designed by civil servants employing expensive consultants.

Something must be done if GWR and LNER are not to lose the passenger traffic levels built up over many years of operation by the InterCity 125 trains.

Ronald Eaton, Surrey