UK: Mattress and furniture spring manufacturer Spinks has been awarded a £250 000 research contract to bring its EcoSeat glue-free pocket microcoil technology to the rail seating market.
The funding has been awarded under the Department for Transport and Innovate UK’s First of a Kind programme.
Spinks is working with rolling stock leasing company Angel Trains and Coventry-based Quantum Seating, which will provide aluminium seats frames and covers with high wool content.
The seat supplier said the aim is to produce ‘the most comfortable and sustainable’ seats in the rail market, where flammability standards are difficult to meet with conventional foams.
‘It’s a significant milestone for the future of rail travel’, said Spinks Managing Director Darren Marcangelo on December 19. ‘Passengers will soon be able to travel on comfortable seating that’s been made here in the UK with safe, quality components, and manufactured with the environment in mind.’
