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There is of course the thought that people managed to work on trains before quiet coaches were invented.
As a student CA in the 1980s for a long time I travelled daily between Edinburgh and Glasgow, I used to knock through a fair bit of revision during the 45 minutes in the morning (well not always, some mornings a glazed vacant stare was all that I could manage) and the 45 minutes in the evening.
A lifetime trying to work in a house with radios, TVs, game consoles and children has subsequently made me pretty immune to noise
I suspect the real reason for this is that the quiet coach represents a large proportion (33%) of the total first class seating (as there are only 3 first class coaches), while there are 5 standard class coaches so the quiet coach is only 20% of the total.
First class is popular on this route, especially at peak times, and this has led to people buying first class tickets and then finding that the only available seating is in the quiet coach - not ideal if you actually need to make phone calls during the journey.
Later this year, when the new 'Azuma' units start to be introduced, many of the trains will be much shorter than now (because 12 of the 65 trains will be only 5 coaches long) and having a whole first class coach dedicated to quietness would be impossible.
I use that service and agree that the quiet is not that needed. The first class coach could not really be described as noisy and I find it ideal for working and the 3 hour trip from Newcastle to London is actually as productive for me as my office is.
I have my phone on silent and I am discrete enough to receive and make a call without sharing the content of the call with others in the carriage.
Now if they were to take the free flowing refreshments out of 1st class, that would get this guy upset.