Bosco

Well, it's good to see that Bombardier is finally meeting this end of their deal, even if later than planned. (They were supposed to work on the production cars while the test trains were here.) I'm guessing that enough four-car sets will come in first to retire the R42s, then the few five-car sets?

Damn. Are the rest of the cars in that set coming too? Wouldn't be surprised if they start to get delivered out of order. Even one of the factory R188 sets was delivered out of numerical order. On the topic of electrical issues, they're not limited to Bombardier either (yes, I am partially referring to the R160 in the Rockaways). Those computers are very sensitive to voltage drops, a problem that older equipment doesn't have. As Trainmaster said, it's a problem for all NTTs.

Sorry to say this, but the MTA doesn't care about your social life... Also, there is no direct connection between the Brighton Line and 8 Avenue, so there's no reason to rename it. Ooh, I'm waiting for the comment storm... Wallyhorse has a new competitor...

Then what determines whether the is rerouted or suspended? They've even sent the to 96 St on occasions. Is it a matter of where the problem is and whether possible reroutes would impact other service (like, for example, if West End had a signal problem as well)?

ConEdison plays a role in some of the MTA's failures (think the transformer explosion back in April). As for the regenerative braking, if for whatever reason it doesn't work properly (whether it's the infrastructure or the car itself), they can shut it off (there's a cutout switch). So it shouldn't be as big a deal as some make it out to be.

Unfortunately, that's exactly why the extensions proposed in the '60s were either shelved or greatly scaled down. Whatever money we had that would've gone toward new lines was instead placed to repair the existing system, which was way worse than it is even now. Nowadays though, the MTA can't choose between one or the other to resolve it. What's more, even with the R211, it will still be awhile before all cars are here, and the second option isn't a guarantee either. From both an infrastructure and rolling stock perspective, things are really bad right now

Nope, the structural carbody is built in Lincoln, with final assembly taking place in Yonkers. Same as the R160 and R188: http://web.mta.info/mta/news/books/pdf/171023_0830_MNR&LIRR.pdf, Page 78 In any case, the first production car shells are scheduled to arrive for assembly sometime this spring.

It's honestly stupid and at the very least, they should've awarded the base contract months ago. My educated guess is that Kawasaki will get the engineering award and do some of the production while Alstom will do the rest of the manufacturing (similar to the R160). Except Alstom and Siemens just merged, and my sense is that the MTA is working out the logistics of how production will be split between the three companies. And, unlike the R160, Kawasaki will likely still have some M9As in Yonkers while the R211s start to roll in.

The Franklin Shuttle can't even handle 300-foot trains. The shortest platform is about 180 feet, so they'll need either to reconfigure train sets or extend the platform(s) to accommodate at least a 240-foot train. In the meantime, the are givens, with the a possibility for the option cars. I don't see the getting them as it's a part-time line. While it's a discussion for another topic, in an ideal world the Rockaway Park shuttle would be absorbed into the somehow. Depending on how many R211s we get, we might be able to do just that.

Haven't been on it so I can't say. What I do know is that the R179s had the original NTT chimes (used on the R142s and unconverted R142As), which are a little slower but clearer than the ones on the R143/R160/R188. Regardless of the chime, starting with the second attempt, they updated the software to remove the one second delay between the door chime and the doors closing so that they work similar to the R160 now.

IIRC, Alstom was part of the joint venture that worked on the R68s, but I'm not sure about their involvement. Alstom had also made the propulsion system for the R142s, so they've been involved with the MTA for a bit. What I meant to say was that the R160A was the first rail car that Alstom built on their own.

Living off the , it seems that bunching and gapping has become an increasingly big problem in recent years. It started when the was rerouted to Astoria, and has just gotten worse. I think the culprits are Herald Sq and Dekalb interlockings. Dekalb interlocking in particular is atrocious, especially going into Brooklyn.

Bombardier had no involvement in the R160 order. Alstom was responsible for the R160As and the Brazil-built car shells which initially had poor welds. That said, it was Alstom's first contract for the MTA.

1922 has most of its seats removed though, except for those near the car ends.

The R179 production cars won't be here until spring the earliest, assuming no other major issues come up. If they were to start the 30 day test on the , it wouldn't be the first time they shifted which line the 30 day test ran on, although it would be the first time a different train was used (we have three test trains in total). One of the R160 test trains (forget if it was 8653-8662 or 8713-8722) started testing on the then went to the , or the other way around.

The R179s aren't even that different from the R160s and most riders won't be able to tell them apart except for the cleanliness (for now). The hype of that train is unwarranted and the product of a bunch of bandwagoners. At least with this mockup, there will be something else on the Facebook group besides 50 daily photos of the R179.

Some first impressions (I rarely check these things out, but it was kind of on the way home for me and I had time to kill): The doors are wider and the red/green lighting looks cool. I like the door warning much better than what we have now. I'm just skeptical that these will make it to the production cars. I don't mind the five seats per bench, but I won't be surprised when people start to complain. I do like the fold up seats and the fact that they flip individually as opposed to a bench. I am worried that the little room between the door and the end of the bench will invite more people to stand near it (people will always hog the doors, but that extra space just makes it that much easier).1 I love the information displays and the FINDs. Not crazy about the voice recordings though (maybe I'm too used to Charlie Pellett and the others, but the new recordings don't sound right). Still, looking forward to these cars and I like the interior scheme as well. P.S. When this was leaked a while ago, it had the NYS seal on the side. I found it interesting that they removed it.

Yup, and the door chimes are also the same. I like those better as they're a lot clearer. As for the red bullet indicators, the design for the NTT family dates back to the '90s, so it would make sense that red displays were the cheapest way of knowing if a train was approaching. While we're on the topic, according to the Wikipedia page for the R110A, "The LED display on the front of the car could either be red, for Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line service, or green, for Lexington Avenue Line service." Is this fake news or is it legit?

That, and AAS software issues are the easiest thing to fix. When the R160s first starting running, the AAS was horribly unreliable and froze all the time.

The lag between the doors opening and the "This is a ..." is also atrocious. Thankfully these coding issues can easily be fixed in-house. Once 3058-3065 passes the 30-day revenue test, the other trains can start service and the production cars can start being accepted. At that point, I would imagine it won't be long before 3010-3019 and 3050-3057 go into service on the and respectively. Why would the MTA complain to Bombardier if the MTA are the ones who outline the specifications? The issue with the bonnet, if it is an issue, is 100% the MTA's responsibility. The carbuilder's job is to meet the MTA's design specifications and guidelines. It's because Bombardier didn't meet the MTA's standards initially that we got into this mess in the first place. And as Lance and others have said, the timing of the issue coming to light really bizarre and reeks of TWU being opportunists with all the R179 issues.

The bonnets on the R160s are flatter than on the R179s, hence leading to the smaller gap. As others have mentioned, the timing of the memo is bizarre and reeks of them trying to do anything to get attention. Besides, even if the MTA were to fix this, it would result in further delays so bad it would make more sense just to cancel the order (which we can't afford either). The MTA has their lion's share of the blame in this contract. Going with Bombardier in the first place even after Alskaw had the better proposal, having a reactionary approach to the problems with the R179s, pushing off the award for the R211, etc etc. Edit: Is the clearance problem only an issue with the bonnets between A cars, or B cars as well? The blind-end bonnets look a lot like their cab-end counterparts, so I would imagine that the clearance between the two is the same.

Very rarely. The main reason the has been 98% 60' cars is because of its heavy ridership and the fact that R46s don't handle crowds as well.

R160 FINDs are manufactured by Koito; R179 FINDs are manufactured by Panasonic. The R179 FINDs have larger LCD route indicator screens than the R160s. From a photo on Facebook, it appears the LED screens for each stop are different. The R160s have a 2-row screen for each station displaying the station on top and the transfers below; the R179s have 2 one-row screens, one for the station, and the other for the transfers. The R179 FINDs look more neatly organized than the R160s, but part of this might be that they are still brand new.

The 'new' announcement for "The next stop is" is actually done by Kathleen Campion, and is the same one that is used on the and . Not sure why the MTA keeps playing around with the announcements, but so be it. The new FINDs are laid out nicer than the R160s and the route indicator screen is larger. Yup. It's good to know that the brake system is working as intended. As such, it went back into service about an hour later. The real fun for this train will come tomorrow with the rush hour!

It will be nice to see the finally get permanent NTTs, even if it's only a handful. Assuming the 30-day test goes well the first time (don't want to jinx it), the production cars should start rolling in early next year.