New York wants 2390 new metro cars

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York city is seeking proposals from manufacturers for its largest subway car contract in its history, with a base order for 1140 and an option for a further 1250. The base order would see the R62 and R62A cars on lines 1, 3 and 6 replaced, while the option would permit R142 and R142A cars on lines 2, 4 and 5 cascaded to other lines. The contract will be for R262 cars and will be funded by the MTA’s 2025-2029 capital plan, that received an historic USD 68bn in funding in the fiscal year 2026 state budget. 

 

State Governor Kathy Hochul said, ‘Thousands of new subway cars running better service and a more reliable ride for millions every day – that’s what we can achieve whern we fully invest in transit. We are in the midst of a public transit renaissance in New York, with growing ridership, the best service in a generation and historic investments to modernise the lifeblood of our city. By bringing even more open-gangway cars to the subway, we can make real improvements to riders’ safety and overall experience’. 

 

MNTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said, ‘Thanks to Governor Hochul the MTA has a historic USD 68bn capital plan, and New Yorkers are seeing a golden age of transit investment. So much of our transit investment goes unseen, but this next subway car order - our largest ever – mis a major step to visibly delivering the modern transit system New Yorkers deserve’. 

 

The historic car contract, that will be performance-based rather than design driven, requests proposers to submit total cost of ownership projections. It could replace up to 36.4% of the subway’s entire fleet of 6574 cars and requires a mean distance between failures of 200 000 miles compared to the R62 average of 89 000 miles. Proposals need to be submitted by 8 September and a contract is expected to be awarded by early 2028.