Generally speaking, Japanese trains have comfortable seats. Fabrics for passenger seats are clean and strong; however, they are not perfect. I recently found that the seat fabric of the Seibu train was being temporarily repaired. Please look at the top photo. The bright blue-colored seat is very beautiful, but the seat surface is covered by a special cloth for temporal repair. The train illustration looks to be "crying"; however, there is a message on the cloth, saying "This seat can be used safely". Passengers will be relieved, but the train illustration is so lovely. Can you sit on the cloth without hesitation? No, I can't. Am I an overthinker?
Joking aside, the train under seat repair is the EMU Seibu 20000 series. It was commissioned in 2000 as a new-generation commuter train to replace the deteriorated 101 series. The design concept is simple and clean. One set is composed of 8 or 10 cars. The motorcars to trailers ratio is 1. The body is made of aluminum with a double skin structure, so, they're light and sturdy. The electric control system is an IGBT-VVVF (variable-frequency drive) with 135kW/h induction motors and regenerative brakes. Needless to say, the 20000 series promotes energy saving.
Let me tell you one last thing. Don't you think that the Seibu 20000 series is like the Tobu 50000 series? It's not surprising because both the Seibu 20000 and the Tobu 50000 series were designed by Hitachi based on the concept of the "Hitachi A-train".
