NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s New York City Transit placed its first R211 subway cars into service on Friday, March 10, the first new additions to the New York subway fleet in five years.
The Kawasaki-built R211 cars, placed into service on the A Line (8th Avenue Express), are the first in a 535-car order placed in 2018. That includes 15 five-car trains for the Staten Island Railway and 20 cars piloting the open gangway feature [see “MTA provides first look at open-gangway subway cars,” Trains News Wire, Feb. 6, 2023].
The new cars feature 58-inch doors — 8 inches wider than the current standard — to help speed boarding, along with security cameras, more accessible seating, digital displays with more detailed station information, and brighter lighting, among other amenities.
“The new cars are going to give our riders a more modern passenger experience, so riding the subway no longer feels like a step into the past,” MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said in a press release. “We’re investing over $6 billion in new train cars as part of the historic $55 billion MTA Capital Program and it’s not just for aesthetics, because these new train cars enable us to run more frequent service.”
The initial 535-car order has since been supplemented by an order for another 640 cars [see “New York set to order …,” News Wire, Oct. 25, 2022; delivery of the first of those cars is expected to begin in 2025. The MTA also has an option for an additional 437 cars with the open gangway design, based on the results of the pilot testing.
