See It: MTA Unveils Next-Generation Subway Cars

NEW YORK CITY — The next generation of subway cars is poised to hit the rails.

MTA unveiled their long-awaited R211 subway cars Thursday. Officials literally pulled a curtain to reveal the city's first look at what could be a 1,600-car fleet crisscrossing subway lines.

Passenger service with the cars likely won't start until September 2022, said Demetrius Crichlow, executive vice president and COO of New York City Transit.

"We start qualifying and testing within the next few weeks, so if you're lucky you may see them out on the road at some point," he said.

Perhaps fittingly for the MTA, the cars experienced myriad delays in arriving.

Kawasaki had promised their delivery more than a year ago, but hit problems amid the coronavirus pandemic. Janno Lieber, president of MTA construction and development, said the pandemic also sapped the agency's capital budget.

"I am here to tell you today that we are back on track,” he said. “The capital program is alive and well.”

MTA will spend $1.4 billion on its initial order of 535 cars, Crichlow said. Assuming testing goes well, the total order of 1,600 will carry a $6 billion price tag, Lieber said.

The cars have a host of new features, including cutting edge signal technology that allows them to run faster and more safely between stations, Lieber said.

One feature is decidedly low-tech, but will help passengers get on and off the trains faster: wider doors.

Crichlow said the new cars have 58-inch doors, about 8 inches larger than the current fleet's doors.

"This has the potential of reducing our dwell time between 25 and 30 percent at each station,” he said.

The cars also include digital display that will provide real-time information about service and stations, new guard rails, brighter LED lighting and state-of-the-art closed-circuit television systems, Crichlow said.