Bosco

For now, it's just speculation, and the bigger issue is that the parent company in Japan isn't happy with how last year went. They've been in the railcar industry for over a century and in the US market for almost 40 years and have good customer relations, so the only way it would get to that point is if the R211 is delayed like we've seen with the R179. As far as the Chinese, yes, they have won a few contracts here, but there is still a high level of skepticism when dealing with them. Not to mention the trade war, while it has affected some of Kawasaki's subcontractors, has hit the Chinese the most.

It's actually more like a 15 year head start, but your point still stands. And yeah, as @MysteriousBtrain and @S78 via Hylan mentioned, the newer trains just aren't holding up as well as some of the older ones have. Worst case, those C cars become some sort of trailer work car (trailer as in they can't run on their own, nor can any A-car NTT IINM). I don't take the regularly, but the few times I've been on there at Times Sq before Hudson Yards opened, the line was fairly crowded during rush hour. Not as bad as Main St, but enough that SRO trains at 5 Ave weren't that uncommon.

He was asking how extensive the modifications were on that set, since it has yet to be delivered.

IINM, the cars were supposed to get some sort of touching up as part of the conversion. Even then, it's hard to believe the converted sets are almost 20 years old, so it will take little more than a power wash for those cars to look brand new.

What about the R68As? Those were the first cars for the MTA built by Kawasaki Yonkers, although the first cars from that plant were the PA4s. The R211s are the first cars to comply with the new Buy America standards (which have nothing to do with Trump, these were set in September 2016). As a result, only the mockup will be built in Japan. All cars, including the pilot trains, will be built in Lincoln/Yonkers. Is CAF currently qualified with NYCT? It's too early to tell, but Kawasaki isn't pulling out of the railcar business anytime soon. They still have the R211s, which guarantee work for at least the next 10 years.

Byford has halted delivery of the R179s until the issues with them are resolved: https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/nyc-transit-chief-slams-bombardier-halts-deliveries-you-have-to-hold-their-hands-1.1203566 This doesn't mean they're disqualified from bidding on this, but it's certainly not good news. Assuming they are and the Chinese don't qualify for this order, it probably will have to go to Alstom (at least partially) because Kawasaki is pretty booked for awhile with the R211.

The windows are tinted slightly light blue but for now, the lighting on the factory R188s is still brighter than it is on the converted ones. So it is likely both.

Most of those appear to be production cars from the Lincoln plant. When I went up there two weeks ago, the highest number I saw was 9024. The only pilot I saw outside the shop was 9008. That's part of the PA5 overhaul.

Best guess would be that there's some quality issues with that set and Bombardier is focusing their resources on getting the rest of the cars built. There was at least one R188 set that came out of order too.

It was the case for the R179, though I'm not sure about older fleets. The R211 is actually the first time the pilot train will be built entirely in the US, in the same procedure as the production cars. Only this prototype is supposed to be built in Japan. As for the R46s, don't worry about getting rides on them just yet, there's still time before the swap begins. And they definitely won't be retired for awhile.

This could be the non-operational mockup, which I believe is what you're referring to for the R179. They use that prototype for climate control, carbody, and other tests that do not require actually driving the train.

Most of those issues that you mentioned are the fault of the MTA, not Bombardier, although I'm not defending Bombardier and their lousy build quality at all. The master controller is the same as on the R188 which has this weird curvature that the R160 MC does not have. Even if all the R179s were on property now, I'm still not convinced there would be enough trains for the to be full-length.

It’s still too early to tell who will supply the propulsion, but I expect it to be an existing supplier (either Alstom or Siemens). Top speed and acceleration will always be the same for all cars, except for CBTC.

The 5-car sets needed (and possibly still need) extensive modifications. Even the original spec for 3050-3057 was different from the newest spec, which is why 3058-3065 was the first set to enter service. Are the R179s on the a permanent thing or temporary until enough R32s are pushed out?

The R211 has a pretty crazy delivery schedule though... I'm curious if anyone on here knows how many cars per month were delivered for both of those contracts? In addition, while this may have nothing to do with it, the American content on those contracts was more lax, so more components were made in Japan. With the R160 and R188, 100% of the production cars had to be built in the US.

This is good news and finally some progress with the M9/A. It looks as though the M9A is going ahead, with renderings and all. I'm just worried if Kawasaki gets it, since they will be working on this and the R211 at the same time. I'm hoping they don't bite off more than they can chew.

Except they have upgraded a few R46s to have brighter lights and stanchions. I agree it's a waste for those cars, but if the MTA is going to upgrade them for their last few years, they should at least do it right.

Same thing on the . Those signs are almost 30 years old and at the very least, the MTA should consider putting in new ones. The technology is relatively inexpensive these days, and the R46s have the necessary conduit. If they can put in new lights and stanchions, why not new signage?

It's long overdue, but not likely to happen for at least 10 years (and that's assuming Byford gets the money for his plan). Remember it's not a true swap since the (and ) uses 8-car R32 trains while the uses 10 cars. For every train swapped, an additional pair of R32s that would otherwise be a spare now sees revenue service. So there aren't enough cars to do a complete swap until the 10-car R179s arrive.

As ATH mentioned, that R68A set is just a loaner from the , same as the R68A during the PM rush. Also, the former Coney Island sets on the and are the "Cuomo" sets. Coney Island got in exchange a few 9200s and 9400s from Jamaica, so there's no swap (yet). service is atrocious (especially in the PM rush hour), but they're not cutting service. The has a decent (by MTA standards) spare factor, and being a part-time line, one set from Coney Island already goes on the in the evening, and now one for the . Capacity on the is hindered by poor scheduling and all the interlockings it has to go over--including 59 St and DeKalb, which are two of the worst. A friend of mine spotted 3154-3157 NIS at 145 St tonight. Not sure if there was another set attached to it.

There haven't been any posts regarding numbering of the 5-car sets, nor confirmation of them. That said, 3010-3049 is likely still the same as before; I'm guessing the rest of them will be 3246-3325. The only other possibility for them would be to start numbering backwards (2930-3049), which isn't likely given the MTA's option not to number over the R110Bs in the first place.

The stay of execution for the R32s and R42s actually is more about the increase in fleet requirements rather than the delays in the R179 delivery. The order was placed in 2012, when ridership was on the rise but still not reaching the near record levels set immediately after World War II. Then there's the issue of the L train shutdown, which on its own requires more cars and they will likely keep levels close to that even after the shutdown, given the surge of ridership in Williamsburg. Again, the order was placed before Hurricane Sandy, so the MTA in their shortsightedness did not think of increasing the spare factor for any of these reasons. Spot on. Many of the delays aren't just caused by signal issues, but right-of-way issues as trains have to merge and divert at interlockings the same way they did in the '30s. If the fleet were so significant in the reliability of train service, why are lines such as the and some of the least reliable?

The goal is to have ENY be 100% NTT well in time for the shutdown, so they will go to other lines. Which line they run on remains to be seen.

There are several tests that have to be done, but I think the 30-day test is only for the pilot train.

Wondering if that isn't a pilot for the R211 ads. That's basically how they will look.