The MTA board is poised to purchase 80 new “open-gangway” R211T subway vehicles, half of a bigger, 435-car buy choice from train-builder Kawasaki that was delayed by the pause on congestion pricing.
“Today is a big day for our subway system,” NYC Transit President Demetrius Crichlow mentioned Monday.
Open-gangway vehicles, which have lengthy articulated sections as a substitute of doorways between every automotive, are commonplace on a number of transit techniques worldwide. The design permits for passenger movement between vehicles, and proponents say they might cut back incidents of subway browsing by eliminating easy accessibility to the prepare’s exterior.
The MTA has been testing two trains of open-gangway vehicles on the C line for the previous yr.
Although the newly-ordered trains are usually not anticipated to reach till 2027, Crichlow mentioned Monday that one of many two 10-car trains on the C line will probably be cut up into two five-car trains and run on the G line early subsequent yr.
The G prepare has traditionally run shorter trainsets — four-car units lately — and MTA chairman Janno Lieber mentioned the open-gangway five-car trains may assist alleviate crowding on the road.
An R211T subway prepare. (Marc A. Hermann / MTA)
“This is going to specifically deal with some of the crowding conditions they talk about on those long platforms,” Lieber mentioned.
The $1.3 billion order additionally contains 355 commonplace R211 vehicles — the R211A that has been operating on the A and C traces.
MTA officers say the brand new order of vehicles will substitute the remaining R46 vehicles within the system, and at the least half of the R68 vehicles at present in service.
These vehicles — recognized by straphangers for his or her orange-and-yellow “conversational” seating — are the oldest on the lettered traces, with R46s working on the A, C, N, Q and W trains and the Rockaway Shuttle, and the R68s working on the B, D, N, Q, and W trains in addition to the Franklin Ave. Shuttle.
The rollout of the open-gangway vehicles has been sluggish, with the majority of the vehicles bought from Kawasaki being of the extra conventional, closed-end design. Within the preliminary contract with the car-builder, the MTA had reserved the choice to buy lots of of open-gangway vehicles. As a substitute, after this order is accomplished, the transit company could have simply 100 open-gangway vehicles throughout all the fleet.
A brand new C prepare, a Kawasaki-made R211T, entered passenger service for the primary time at 168th St. in February. (Evan Simko-Bednarski / New York Every day Information)
Requested Monday if that directive nonetheless stood, Crichlow mentioned no.
“The new [open gangway] R211s will come with a couple of different nuances that the current cars do not have,” he mentioned.
“The new cars will have the ability to operate throughout the entire system, both with technical [additions] to the car itself, and procedural [additions] with our operating teams.”
Although the majority of the R211 order is supposed to exchange the growing old R46s and R68s, Crichlow mentioned the open-gangway vehicles can be used to check the design throughout the lettered traces.
“These additional 80 cars are intended to be used throughout the system to get a better sense of how they perform on different lines,” he mentioned.
There are at present 320 R211s working on the A and C traces and sure for the Staten Island Railway, with Kawasaki persevering with to ship the 210 remaining from the MTA’s preliminary order. The transit company has additionally ordered a further 640 vehicles via a previous contract choice.
