Humidifier

I might be wrong, but I believe that because the trains were purchased with government funds, they're obligated to offer them to museums. Even if that's not the case, I'm sure they'll get a set. I can't think of a recent set that the NYTM hasn't gotten.

From what I've heard, the R211A passed the 30-day test. It was out running today and will go in (likely tomorrow) for some last-minute modifications for 24/7 road service. Production sets will begin running shortly thereafter, supposedly.

I would be surprised if Siemens got the order. For one, they've never manufactured entire cars for the MTA previously. Furthermore, their facility in California is practically at capacity with all the Charger and Venture orders. Also, they're likely about to be even busier with the imminent Velaro orders from Brightline. They're building a facility in North Carolina, but that won't be online for years and will likely be dedicated to fulfilling existing orders. Of the manufacturers, I think the two most reasonable based on the way the MTA operates would be Alstom and Kawasaki. I would assume the R262 order will go to one manufacturer, and the R268 to another. My concern, however, is that Kawasaki has a significant backlog with the R211 orders, and tacking an additional order on top of that would mean we wouldn't see such an order delivered for many years down the line. If they do get an order, I'd expect it to be the R268, since the R68/A can likely hold on longer than the R62/A. Alstom would make sense as a manufacturer because they don't have any massive orders in America besides the Acela, which is already underway on delivery. If given an order, they would likely be able to deliver faster than Kawasaki could. They also have experience (albeit from Bombardier) building quite reliable IRT stock; twice that of Kawasaki, leading me to believe they would get the order for the R262. Of other (unused) manufacturers, the two that seem the most feasible to me would be Stadler and Hitachi. Stadler, despite being new to the MTA, has a very long history of building reliable rolling stock in the USA and Europe. Yes, they are new to the metro market in America, but they nonetheless have built successful metro rolling stock in Europe. Their order log in the USA consists of relatively small orders (except maybe MARTA and Caltrain), leaving them likely able to handle such a large order. Besides the obvious of them not being officially qualified, the biggest thing holding the MTA back from using Stadler as a manufacturer is, in my opinion, the MTA's hesitancy of using an "off-the-shelf" design. Stadler has a successful METRO platform which could probably be adapted pretty easily to MTA specifications. Nonetheless, the MTA is probably apprehensive about taking such an approach, since the last time they did that (R179/Movia) did not end up so well. Hitachi also could be promising, as they're building a large manufacturing facility for the WMATA order, as well as probably the Ontario Line order. They could likely still deliver on an MTA order since the process for the 8000 series is already well underway. They also carry a relatively good reputation with them; I haven't seen any major reports of manufacturing defects or reliability problems, unlike some other manufacturers. Nonetheless, I would see the MTA using Stadler before they used Hitachi. Besides that, CRRC is out of the running, CAF doesn't appear to be well enough established in the American market for the MTA to take them seriously, and Hyundai has left the North American market.

I spoke with some Kawasaki employees on the train, and they told me the MTA will actually be bringing more R211As on property starting next week, but not putting them into service, obviously. After the 30-day test is completed, the plan is to put multiple trains into service at once.

Were they a Cuomo thing? I just assumed it was so you didn't run into them.

Forgive my ignorance; I've never been used . But I see two potential reasons would not want to use R211T on Is ridership on really high enough to necessitate free movement between cars? I think it's a bit of a gamble for right now, who is still not yet willing to commit to a full order of R211Ts. I think they're worried about replacing the R44 more than anything; even at the sacrifice of free movement between cars. I'm not sure about the spare factor on the , but wouldn't one car going OOS take a whole 5 car set OOS?