People are just realising what ‘odd shapes’ on train seats are | Weird | News

Have you ever been on a train journey and considered what the purpose of the round hard plastic object on top of the seat in front of you may be?

One traveller was left pondering the matter on a recent journey and subsequently took to Reddit for advice. “What are these ‘shapes’ on the train seats for?” they asked alongside two snaps of their empty carriage.

“So I’m visiting London and my family and I cannot figure out what these different shapes are for on the seats. Some are circles, some shaped like cat ears.”

They continued: “What purpose do they serve? I thought they were something to grab onto while walking down the row? Or maybe to symbolise what section of a train you are on?”

The post prompted several theories, with the most popular proving a passenger safety measure. “Trains get very busy during rush hours (before and after work), meaning passengers often have to stand, and at peak times the carriages can be packed to capacity,” one Reddit user explained. “Without handholds, people would be stumbling and awkwardly grabbing at seats with every jolt of the train.”

A second person added: “I’m pretty sure they’re just handles so you don’t grab onto the person who’s sat in the seat if the train jostles about when you’re walking.”

A third agreed: “Just handles so when your walking and we go around a sharp end you don’t fall over. Nothing fancy, even though they always look unusual shaped. Usually most common is an oval or rectangle or circle shape. But I’ve seen a triangular one once years ago.”

And a fourth Reddit user concurred: “They’re seat handles, for standing commuters to hold onto. As for the different shapes (circles vs. cat ears), they’re because when the trains were ordered, the seating layout inside some of the carriages were changed mid-order, since there were more passengers than expected.

“More passengers equals more seats, so some of the cat-ear seating was replaced with circular-handled seats.”

Others, meanwhile, pointed out an additional function. “If it has a slot in the top, it’s where they used to put the paper markers to say which seats were reserved and which were available,” one indivdual said. “If not, as many have said, probably just handle.”

Another commented: “They are handles that double as place marker holders for reserved seats.” And someone else advised: “They used to hold tickets for reserved seats, if you took a from above shot there would be a slit.”