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Neighbor News

A train is getting high-tech cars by 2020

We have some great news for commuters, Your daily subway experience may soon be faster and better.

Angierell Martinez, Neighbor
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Close look at the New A Train (This image shows a R211 Model Train car. Image by Office of Governor Andrew Cuomo)
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Close look at the new high-tech subway cars. (This image shows a R211 Model Train car. Image by Office of Governor Andrew Cuomo)
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The train will have no doors in between cars, making it a long train. (This image shows a R211 Model Train car. Image by Office of Governor Andrew Cuomo)
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Trains will have much wider doors and some of them will have an “open gangway”. (This image shows a R211 Model Train car. Image by Office of Governor Andrew Cuomo)


New York City has big plans for the A train this upcoming year. The metropolitan transportation Authority announced that trains will be upgrading its subway cars for the first time in years. By the summer of 2020, the MTA will begin to newly designed high-tech subway cars. Many MTA riders were complaining about trains being overcrowded during rush hours, having longer wait- time and how the MTA is constantly increasing the fare but does nothing to renovate its train conditions.

The new subway car known as the R211 will have high-tech features providing a better travel experience to MTA customers. The new Kawasaki train cars will have large LED lights and digital advertising that changes color matching any color scheme the MTA wants. This will provide a better experience and add a good touch to subway cars.

“This project includes many new features to increase capacity and improve the customer experience,” said John Santamaria, a vice president and chief mechanical officer at the MTA.

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Trains will also have much wider doors, making it easier for more customer to enter the train without causing any fights between customers. Some cars will also be “open gangway”, allowing customers to move freely from one end of the train to the other, reducing crowding and boarding times. Slow service on the subways is a top complaint for most commuters, states the New York CBS Local News.

They interviewed two MTA riders that stated the following:

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“My train is usually delayed 10 minutes, 15 minutes,” one straphanger told Roy.

“Pretty frustrating,” another said.

Trains will have digital screens allowing customer to view a precise arrival time for their new train. This is important for MTA riders because we don’t have access to an official mobile app or website with real-time arrivals or any alerts that may affect our commute. The MTA is also bringing seating for wheelchair users just like our local MTA bus, they will have their own comfortable space.

The governor, Andrew Cuomo is working hard to make sure these changes happen and customers have a better commute not only would it benefit the riders but it will also benefit the MTA because commuters that do not see the subway as their main transportation medium because of the constant delays or overcrowded trains may soon change their mind and begin using subways, so is this case we both win.

It was about time we had an upgrade, right?



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