An open coach is a railway passenger coach that does not have compartments or other divisions within it and in which the

train seat A train seat is a seat used in a passenger train's passenger railroad car allowing passengers to sit during their travels. Features and amenities A train seat design has a seat base height, seating angle, seat depth (the distance from ...

s are arranged in one or more

open plan Open plan is the generic term used in architectural and interior design for any floor plan that makes use of large, open spaces and minimizes the use of small, enclosed rooms such as private offices. The term can also refer to landscaping of ...

areas with a centre

aisle An aisle is a linear space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, in buildings such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parliaments, courtrooms, ...

. The first open coaches appeared in the first half of the 19th century in the United States. The prototype for their design were the passenger cabins in the river steamers which were then widespread in America. As a result of their origin they were originally known in Europe as American system passenger coaches or American coaches (''Personenwagen amerikanischen Systems'' or ''Amerikanerwagen'') and the idea soon caught on in European railway companies. Initially they were mainly used for rural regional services, whilst urban local trains and local-distance services were dominated by

compartment coach A compartment coach is a railway passenger coach (US: passenger car (rail), passenger car) divided into separate areas or compartments, with no means of moving between compartments. The compartment coach should not be confused with the corrido ...

es. Several European railways such as the

Royal Württemberg State Railways The Royal Württemberg State Railways (''Königlich Württembergische Staats-Eisenbahnen'' or ''K.W.St.E.'') were the state railways of the Kingdom of Württemberg (from 1918 the ''People's State of Württemberg'') between 1843 and 1920. Early ...

and the

Swiss Northeastern Railway The Swiss Northeastern Railway (''Schweizerische Nordostbahn''; NOB) was an early railway company in Switzerland. It also operated shipping on Lake Constance (''Bodensee'') and Lake Zürich. Until the merger of the Western Swiss Railways into the ...

(''Schweizerische Nordostbahn''), however, preferred open coaches from the start for all types of train. From the beginning of the 20th century open coaches became commonly used in local trains and began to spread to long-distance services too.

High-speed train High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail transport network utilising trains that run significantly faster than those of traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single def ...

s often consist only of open coaches. The seats in open coaches are either arranged in groups opposite one another or behind one another aeroplane-style, and sometimes seats can be rotated to face the direction of travel. Seats facing one another may be provided with fixed tables, seats arranged one behind the other often have folding trays in the back of the seat in front. Open coaches are almost always equipped with gangways. Originally these were open platforms at the ends of the coach, but from the end of the 19th century the gangways have usually been

vestibuled train A vestibuled train is a passenger train whose cars have enclosed vestibules at their ends, in contrast to the open platforms on early cars. Typically, a vestibule has doorways on either side to allow passenger entry and exit at stations, a door ...

protected with bellows or rubber connectors.

Tramway

On tramways, an open coach is a six- or eight-wheeled driving car or trailer, which has an especially high volumetric capacity. Unlike the earlier, typical platform coaches, open coaches do not have partitions with doors between the entrance area and the actual passenger compartment. These coaches were popular in central Europe in the early 1950s and replaced the old (mainly four-wheeled) platform coaches. Whilst in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

this type of vehicle was rapidly replaced by articulated trams, in

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

, the Tatra trams were the norm during the 1960s in many cities. The same was true in the former

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...

countries.

References

{{Authority control Passenger rail transport Tram transport Passenger railroad cars

Tramway

See also

References