We're getting new 300 subway cars! Woot, woot! The MTA has given Bombardier a $599 million contract to add 300 new cars to the system starting in the end of 2014. Which means that the C line is finally going to start getting some new subway cars—if not necessarily the newest ones.
Bombardier, which has already given our mass transit system 1,900 trains since 1982, will be making the new cars in Plattsburgh. The newcomers "are expected to share the amenities, including brighter lights and signs, of the newest cars on other subway lines."
What isn't quite clear is where in the system the MTA will be placing the new trains when they come. But no matter what, the plan is to use the influx to phase out the oldest cars in the fleet—which currently make up a quarter of the J and Z lines and most of the C line. "The older trains will be replaced by newer models from elsewhere in the subway fleet. Whether that would necessarily include the factory-fresh cars hasn't been decided."
Finally! In a few years, you might be able to ride a C train with bright blue seats and those fancy electronic maps. And considering how much more reliable the new cars are, this is actually a good investment for the MTA. As one Bed-Stuy student described the old R32 trains to the Journal when told the news: "They're rusty. The seats and the windows—even the railings are nasty. They do need a change. A complete change."
