New Technology Trains - B Division
Roster
Description
R-143
R-143 is the designation given to the first order of the "New Technology" IND/BMT division cars. The contract was awarded to Kawasaki Heavy Industries of Japan. These cars are very similar to the Kawasaki R-142 in terms of interior appointments, door motors, strip maps, grab bars, etc., and they incorporate much of the R-110 New Technology Test Program's advanced features. The primary order included 100 cars with an option order of an additional 112 cars, and they began to arrive in late 2001. The first train of R-143 cars, 8101-8108, went into passenger service for its thirty day acceptance test on Tuesday, December 4, 2001. The order was complete by April 2003. The R-143 cars are being delivered in 4-car sets to be used on the BMT Eastern Division, specifically the "L" line, which underwent a resignalling project to allow use of the R-143's CBTC capability.
R-160A/R-160B
The large R-160 fleet is nearly identical to the R-143 cars built by Kawasaki. The R-160 contract, for as many as 1,700 new subway cars for the BMT/IND divisions, was signed on July 30, 2002, between MTA New York City Transit and the rail car builders Kawasaki Heavy Industries of Japan and Alstom of France. The initial contract for $961,687,121, to be funded by the Federal Transit Administration, covers 660 cars split between the two manufacturers (400 to Alstom, 260 to Kawasaki). The contract includes an option for 620 additional cars and a second option for 380 to 420 cars. The deal, including all of the options, is worth over $2.3 billion and is probably the largest rapid transit purchase in history.
The first R-160A cars were delivered from Alstom's Hornell, NY facility in December 2005 (car numbers 8653-8662). The remainder of Alstom's base order of 400 cars will be delivered through 2008. The body shells are being manufactured in Lapa, Brazil, and outfitted in Hornell, NY.
The first of the R-160B cars (car numbers 8713-8722) were delivered from Kawasaki Heavy Industries from their facility in Yonkers, NY, beginning July 20, 2005. Kawasaki plans to manufacture their share of the R-160 order at plants in Nebraska and in Yonkers, NY.
On July 25, 2007, the MTA approved purchase of an additional 620 R-160 cars from Alstom and Kawasaki, under the options previously negotiated, for a total value of $1.1 billion. Alstom received orders for 360 additional cars and Kawasaki 260 cars. These option orders would arrive in the 2008-2009 timeframe. The MTA has remaining options for a further additional 420 cars.
On November 10, 2008, the MTA exercised its second option orders on both the R-160A and R-160B fleets (242 R-160A and 140 R-160B). These cars are to arrive by the end of 2010. There was some discussion of potential third option orders, for approximately 130 R-160A cars and 100 R-160B cars, but it is unlikely that these will happen.
The R-160A and R-160B cars feature a new electronic interior route/stop display sign, called "FIND" (Flexible INformation Display). This is a multicolor LCD screen displaying the route and destination (and possibly, advertisements) and a multicolor LED strip map which displays the next ten stations, plus five "further stations". Each car will have multiple "FIND" displays. The programmable LED stip map replaces a plastic card overlay which had a fixed set of stations for a route printed on it, used in the R-142 and R-143 cars. The LED system allows the conductor to reprogram the route display on the fly.
The R-160 order is intended to replace the 60' "SMEE" cars, in classes R-32, R-38, R-40/R-40M, and R-42. The first set of cars to be replaced were the 100 R-42 cars overhauled by Coney Island shops, followed by the ten R-32 GE overhauls and the R-32 phase II cars. By the end of 2008, a large portion of the R-38 and "Slant" R-40 fleet had also been retired. In 2009, the remaining R-38, R-40, and R-40M cars were retired, leaving only a handful of R-32 and R-42 cars still in service.
R-160A-1 cars 8313-8376 were retrofitted with CBTC after delivery and are nearly always assigned to the L line, along with the CBTC R-143 fleet. The rest of the R-160A-1 and the R-160A option 2 (four car sets) are assigned to East New York yard for J & M service. The remainder of the R-160 fleet is assigned to Coney Island and Jamaica yards, and as of early 2010 can be mostly found on the E, F, N, and Q.
R-179
On June 3, 2010, NYCT advertised a contract (R-179) for 340 60-foot cars (base order 290 cars, option 1 for 50 cars, option 2 for 80 cars). This order would include cars for replacement of the R-44s (main line and SIRT versions). NYCT plans to retire all of the 272 R-44 cars in 2010, temporarily using the retained R-32 (240 cars) and R-42 (50 cars), and other cars freed up by the June 2010 service changes. This plan is expected to save $30 million by not having to overhaul the R-44 cars.
R-211/R-211S/R-211T
Awarded in 2018, the contract for the base order of 535 R-211 cars was awarded to Kawasaki Rail Car. The R-211 cars feature wider doorways than their previous New Technology counterparts (R-143/R-160/R-179), and will also come delivered with security cameras, digital displays, better lighting, and a flashier front end design. The cars will be manufactured by Kawasaki at its plants in Lincoln, NE and Yonkers, NY. The base order would have three subtypes of car:
- R-211, standard coupling five-car (ABBBA) sets, 440 cars. These would be used to begin replacing the 752 75'-long cars of contract R-46 (to replace the entire R-46 fleet will require 940 60' cars). The first test train arrived in June, 2021 but as of November, 2022, is still undergoing testing.
- R-211S, standard coupling five-car (ABBBA) sets with FRA compliance modifications, 75 cars. These would replace the aging R-44 (SIRT) fleet used on Staten Island.
- R-211T, open-gangway five-car (ABBBA) sets, 20 cars. A small sub-fleet ordered specifically to test the feasibility of open-gangway cars in New York City. Such cars are common in European metro fleets but haven't been tried in New York since the BMT's pre-war triplex and multiunit articulated trains. The R-211T trains will not be articulated (meaning, two cars sharing a single truck), but will have an open connection with an accordion-shaped rubber gasket between the cars, allowing passengers to walk freely between the cars of a five-car set. The first of the R-211T test cars (4040-4044) was delivered the morning of November 2, 2022.
On October 24, 2022, the MTA Board authorized execution of a 640 car option to the R-211 contract, which will supply enough cars to fully replace the remaining cars of the R-46 fleet.
Related Documents
R-143 Delivery Notes, observations on delivery and testing dates. All R-143 cars delivered and either placed in service or being used for CBTC testing by April 8, 2003.
Datasheets
Photo Gallery
| Five Random Images | ||||
 Image 61801 (281k, 1044x788) Photo by: John Barnes Location: Broadway Junction |  Image 97049 (283k, 1044x788) Photo by: John Barnes Location: Marcy Avenue |  Image 100220 (122k, 820x620) Photo by: Gary Chatterton Location: 36th/Washington Aves. |  Image 109427 (210k, 1044x788) Photo by: Robert Mencher Location: Jamaica Center/Parsons-Archer |  Image 109562 (284k, 1044x700) Photo by: Zach Summer Location: 62nd Street |
Car Notes
| Green | Preserved, saved for preservation, or exists in some state |
Yellow | Converted to work service (and later scrapped or still in use) |
Red | Wrecked/Damaged in accident (and possibly repaired), or scrapped prior to the bulk of the type |
| Number | Notes | |||||
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| R-143 8153-8156 + 8145-8148 | L train derailed entering Canarsie Track 2 on 6/25/2023. | |||||
| R-143 8277 | Lead car involved in a bumper block overshoot incident in Canarsie Yard, 6/21/2006. Frame bent. Car repaired and returned to service in 2017.
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| R-160B 9108-9112 | Out of service August 2021-July 2023 because of extensive water damage from Hurricane Ida. Underwent heavy repairs in Coney Island Shops and returned to service. | |||||
| R-160B 9339-9340 | Derailed and damaged on 1/10/24 between West 8th Street and Neptune Avenue on the F.
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| R-179 3058-3065 | First train in public service, 11/19/2017. Began 30-day in-service test clock running on the "J" line.
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| R-211 Mockup | A mockup for the R-211 car order was displayed on the mezzanine of 34th St-Hudson Yards station in 2017. Public comment was welcome. The mockup demonstrated many new "modern" elements to the car interiors, such as touch-screen subway maps, as well as the potential "open gangway" configuration that may be featured on some of the R-211 order.
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| R-211 4060-4064 | The first five-car set of the R-211 car order was delivered to NYC Transit property on the evening of June 29, 2021 and unveiled to the press in the SBK yard in Brooklyn on July 1, 2021. The train was then towed by locomotive to the Coney Island Shops.
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| R-211T 4040-4049 | The first five-car set of the R-211T open gangway variant (4040-4044) was delivered to NYC Transit property on the morning of November 2, 2022. The cars were towed by locomotive to the Coney Island Shops where they will have their open gangway connectors installed. The second five-car set (4045-4049) was delivered November 16, 2022.
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| R-211S 100-104 | The first of the Staten Island R-211 cars were delivered 5/2/2023 - 5/4/2023.
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MDBF Data
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