South Western Railway’s new carpets are Axminsters!

Axminster carpets have been the floor coverings of choice for centuries, found in the best stately homes and royal palaces. The company even has a Royal Warrant as carpet supplier to the Queen.

But now passengers on South Western Railway can experience that luxury feeling for themselves as Axminster Carpets has supplied carpet to 825 vehicles in the fleet. Class 450, 444, 442, 158 and 159 trains now have Axminster floor coverings – Axminster’s largest contract to date.

It should be no surprise to find Axminster carpets in this railway environment. Crafted from a premium wool blend, an Axminster Carpet offers exceptional resilience suited to high-traffic areas, whilst acoustic properties help reduce noise between carriages, thus enhancing the passenger experience.

In addition, the world-famous Devonshire factory overlooks the South Western line from Waterloo to Exeter which has always afforded Axminster employees a real affinity to the franchise.

Neil Drury, South Western Railway’s engineering director, commented: “We’ve had really positive feedback on the quality of the new Axminster carpets on board our refurbished trains. The quality really makes a difference to the customer experience which is what we were confident we would get when we first commissioned these wool carpets from Axminster.”

A keen supporter of The Campaign for Wool, Axminster Carpets offers sustainable flooring solutions across the transport sector and now accounts for the majority of all woven train carpet.

Train designer David Gordon (DG Design), based at Derby, has worked with Axminster Carpets on several major projects over the last few years. Senior designer Andy Sykes explained why: “The team’s agile and responsive attitude is crucial to supporting projects such as South Western Railway, where a range of samples and mock-ups of different design variations are required for review, often at very short notice.

“For this project in particular, attention to detail was critical, and we could rely on Axminster to faithfully interpret our design intent into production material. We look forward to creating new carpet designs with Axminster on future projects.”

Trains aren’t the only place that travellers can find themselves walking on an Axminster carpet. A report in The Guardian revealed that the multi-coloured patterned carpets found in Wetherspoon pubs, each one unique, are Axminsters too.

Cheers!