FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have come in for much stick in the press over the downgrading of the internals of the HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) sets.  The ridiculously high unsprung seats set in toast rack style, the over tinted windows and the mega bright lighting.  But credit where it is due.  Class 158 multiple units in the devon area are appearing with comfortablestandard seats that are recovered in FGW wavy line blue.  I heard that the HST seats were as bad as they are due to health and safety demands.  If this is so why are there different standard for the multiple units.

Could it be that the arguement is spurious and merely covers the need to shoe horn extra seats into an HST by reducing passenger comfort?