COURIER L 22 IFE, JULY 9-15, 2021
The brand-new R211 cars. Photos by Kevin Duggan
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07/31/2021
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2075 Flatbush Avenue
Avenue P / Near Library
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
The Metropolitan Transportation
Authority unveiled
the fi rst of its new R211 subway
train cars to hit the tracks for
testing at the South Brooklyn
Marine Terminal Thursday,
July 1, after more than a year
of delays.
“We waited for a while to
get these R211s and the impact
for the city, for our customers,
for the ridership — there is
just no words for it, it’s going
to be amazing and we’re looking
forward to getting these
trains on the rails,” said Demetrius
Crichlow, executive
vice president of subways at
MTA New York City Transit.
The new models built by
Japanese manufacturer Kawasaki
at their plant in Lincoln,
Nebraska, will be tested
by MTA starting in the coming
weeks, before the Authority
starts rolling out hundreds
of new train cars into service
between September 2022 and
2024.
MTA contracted with Kawasaki
to buy 535 of the cars
for $1.4 billion, or just north
of $2.6 million apiece, 440 of
which will go into the subway,
along with 75 for the Staten Island
Railway.
Another 20 will have the
so-called open gangway design,
which connects each car
with an accordion-style pathway
allowing passengers to
walk from one end of the train
to the other.
The Authority also has
the option to add more trains
bringing the total fl eet up to
1,612, according to Crichlow.
MTA unveiled prototypes
for the cars all the way back in
late 2017 on the mezzanine of
the 34th Street-Hudson Yards
station in Manhattan.
The fi rst batch was supposed
to debut in June 2020,
but delivery was set back by
the COVID-19 pandemic and
“technical diffi culties” on Kawasaki’s
behalf, specifi cally
with their propulsion software,
according to MTA offi -
cials.
The shiny new trains will
replace the old R46 models
which date back to the late
1970s and the new cars offer
an array of fl ashy specs, including
LED lighting, digital
displays, more fold-up seats
that offer room for wheelchair
users, and surveillance cameras.
The doors will also be eight
inches wider than other subway
cars — 58 inches instead
of 50 inches — allowing for
faster boarding times. Transit
offi cials estimate that will reduce
the time a train waits for
people to get on and off, known
as dwell time in jargon, by 25-
30 percent.
Coupled with the new signaling
system known as Communications
based Train Control,
or CBTC, which MTA is
installing on select lines, this
will allow the agency to run
more trains closer together
and increase service.
The R211 trains will testrun
on the Eighth Avenue
Line, which carries the A and
C trains, as well as the Queens
Boulevard Line, which runs
the E, F, M, and R trains.
MTA moves forward with
new train cars after delay