Parallel vs perpendicular sleeping berths

Which is more comfortable to sleep in parallel berths (like in a roomette or section) or perpendicular (like in a bedroom or couchette car)? Which design allows for more berths in the sleeping car? Are there any differences in safety?

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I don't really care either way, but seems most like to rock side to side "parallel" vs head to toe "perpendicular" I suppose parallel would be safer in a sudden stop, less likely to be tossed off the bunk.

I can’t comment on the relative comfort. However, there’s more room for crosswise berths than parallel from what I can tell. In the space of four North American parallel berths or two Roomettes, Eurasian railroads can fit up to six perpendicular berths in a Couchette. (But it’s not uncommon to see only four transverse beds in the same space as four parallel beds.)

Personally I really like the way Amtrak has longitudinal beds in their roomettes. I like going to sleep at night and awakening looking forward out the window and seeing the world go by. Also a huge point for me is that this allows the room to have really big windows which makes it a lot brighter and less claustrophobic. It also allows windows on both sides which is really nice. Looking at a lot of the European trains with the common traverse beds, the first thing that sticks out to me is how confining they seem and how small the windows are. The Viewliner roomette with all it's windows is really a great design. I have ridden in both Amtrak Bedrooms and Roomettes and I prefer the roomettes mainly for the longitudinal bed configuration.

Funny enough... I was playing around with different designs using the Bombardier MultiLevel as a base, as well as one inspired by the old Milwaukee Road equipment. Some notes:

Most 10' wide equipment can handle a perpendicular Full-XL mattress. Mixing parallel and perpendicular berths, you can get 19 Full-XL berths (and 1 Handicapped). 12 are roomettes and have no room beyond the bed.

However, once you hit Queen size beds, you're going parallel. Using my fictional (read: sci-fi/furry) band as a secondary basis for the design, I can fit all the road-going members in 11 Queen-sized berths (and some of them need the room). (Side note, because of some body configurations, the design has two bathrooms at ether end of the car).