R32 3838

1 hour ago, Around the Horn said:

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but from what I understand the gearboxes are mechanically fine but the drip pans for the oil used to lubricate them were damaged in transit. This meant that they were leaking oil and then the lack of lubrication generated flat spots.

To me this seems like the kind of minor thing that could have been fixed in days if the cars weren't still under warranty but neither side wants to admit this hence the tight lips.

I think there are more issues (more like teething issues) besides the gearbox issues that they are keeping quiet on. But these issues were expected as Kawasaki was going through QC issues due to people leaving the plant for jobs with better pay and hiring new people at the same time repeatedly. Then you add in COVID and the supply shortages that delayed the order. It baffles me when the former NYCT President was saying " we are holding Kawasaki's feet to the fire) knowing COVID caused the delays with the plant being shut down for a brief time too in 2021.

All of these issues will be corrected of course but it's going to be done in a timely fashion, I think it's supply shortages since it's still an issue. It's not as bad as before but it's still an issue. when you have to order parts from vendors or modify certain parts of that said part, it can be a pain in the ass on top of costs.

in general (more so NYCTA) has been very tight lipped for the past 4-5 years due to some people (they know who they are) going around telling fans (esp. the younger ones) confidential information which caused a ton of issues throughout the years. Back then it was easy to get info, Esp. on Subchat (formalley known as Sub Talk) Besides the bat shit insane people on there, It was a good site for good info from respected people who are now retired.

Here's the thing, Nobody is saying the R32s are coming back are wanting them to comeback. All i stated is that got too overconfident in the R211s thinking they'll work out of the box hence not needing the R32s anymore. On top of that ridership was low compared to now so it made sense to retire the R32s on paper since they wouldn't need them. It kinda backfired and now the R46s they wanted to retire or set aside in storage, they have to use them due to the issues with the R211s.

But it seems too many people don't read well and jump to conclusions and get very aggressive without understanding what people are saying. Nobody wants to sit here and wait 20-30 mins for a train because they have no equipment to run since they are short. There were days where they had the available crew and they had no equipment since they were short on the line. back in 2021-2022. We know the crew shortage is bad but having a shortage of equipment is even more bad. It's been going on for years and it's getting tiring.

It's weird that they have been very tight lipped when it comes to the R211s. But I'm not going to sit here and act like things are good when this damn agency wants to f**k with people lives because they can't budget right and want to do sneaky cuts while saying we want $15 from motorists because we suck at budgeting. 

2024 is going to be a shitshow and if they can't fix these issues by early next year, It's going to be a problem.

37 minutes ago, zacster said:

Well, no.  In 1964 those devices didn't exist.  They'd be using their Brownie, Instamatic, Super8, or Polaroid cameras.  And to use a phone you needed a dime and a phone booth but only for local calls.  And the subway was a 15 cent token.  In 1964 the newest R9s were only 24 years old, less than half the age of the R32 now.

And back to the topic of this thread, does anybody have any idea of what the status is of the fix?  I surmised that the fix is being put through a 30 day test which would be over if successful.  But was it?

I think they are waiting for parts or they are still troubleshooting the issues. The is being very tight lipped about this but people will start asking questions because for the past 2-3 weeks we only see 3 sets of them running.

1 hour ago, MJHmarc said:

The MTA president is still saying as of this week that there’s too much service/ too much room on the trains and buses so no changes are needed. Honestly most people who drive into the city will still keep driving in.  

If you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you. is covering their asses.

You have 5 car trains running that are already crowded. I took the yesterday and it was packed like it was pre pandemic. They need to expand on services in order to meet the demand.

45 minutes ago, FLX9304 said:

Even if the entire order of R211s are complete, it’s not gonna solve any kinds of issues. 

It will solve the car shortage issue. Option order 2 is for fleet expansion. Those cars won't replace anything. Even with the base order and option order 1, It'll temperately solve the car shortage issue (until Phase II of 2nd ave opens) since they'll have about a 60 car surplus since the first 100 base order cars is fulling the void of the retired R32s that weren't replaced by the R179s and the rest are R46 replacements. 

7 hours ago, Kamen Rider said:

1: they didn’t get scrap happy with the 32s we still have plenty squrrled away… the problem is they stopped training new employees on them.

2: they would not have fixed the problem because, like it or not, they were 60 years old and just as if not more inclined to break down. 

They have a 2nd scrap contract, so i would assume the remaining cars are goners unless they keep a small amount for work service and etc. They already scarpped about 90+ cars already ( half of the fleet was going to get scrapped regardless until they made the decsion to retire the whole fleet). in general gets scrap happy when it comes to it's fleet instead of keeping a small chunk for reserve. The issue is that at the time thought There was no point training new hires on them and keeping them in service because they expected the R211s to be in service in the summer of 2022. Plus at the time ridership was still low and they had (i know they still do) a crew shortage. But now there has been numerous issues with the R211s and the R46 fleet is being pushed to it's limits due to the lack of spares. They took a gamble and is now somewhat paying for it. All i know is they better fix these issues before the spring because if they don't it's going to be issues in April 2024 when congestion pricing starts.

1 hour ago, Lawrence St said:

Yes, actually. Had they not been so scrap happy with them, it would have saved the day. Again.

I doubt it since they have the R46s but say if they were back up trains, you'll probably see 1-2 sets at best like the incident with the CI R46s getting vandalized. I think that's when the R211s except the one set was OOS (i could be wrong).

I'm surprised they aren't borrowing a 10 car set or two of R160s for the from Jamaica like they did in mid to late 2020. If it weren't for the extra service they could have had extra 10 car R160s they could have used.

3 hours ago, zacster said:

The R32s were retired long before the first R211 entered service.  They were able to make do with what they have.  Do you really think 60 year old subway cars were going to come to the rescue? 

They retired them because of politics and covid, They spent money fixing up 100 cars to have them last until 2022 or when the first of the R211s hit service. got over confident with the R211s and it back fired. Why do you think the R46s are complete garbage now. If the R211s didn't have these issues, Then retiring the R32s wouldn't have been an issue. They made service because of low ridership on top of the crew shortage. Now they can barely do full service when they do have enough crews on on certain lines (we still have a crew shortage) but it's not as bad as it was between 2020-2022. They had the R32 fleet as a reserve fleet from late 2020 to 2021. When a few sets of R46s got vandalized a few days ago, the couldn't run full service and you add the R211 issues, they have to use whatever R46 spare for the meaning the gets screwed even with the additional R160s they got from ENY.

We all know the R32s needed to go but now the has a fleet issue and a crew shortage and them trying to brute force congestion pricing isn't helping.

It was common sense that the R211s were going to have issues due to covid, supply shortages and QC issues due to Kawasaki hiring new workers to replace the ones who left over pay (due to remote jobs offering more money). They could have kept some of the cars (at least 70 cars minimum) and they probably wouldn't even had to use them unless it was a very big emergency.

The "They were able to make do with what they have." is the reason why we have issues with the B division fleet and why the R46s have become pure garbage because they spend less time in the shop so they can make service.

The R211 issues are being fixed so it's not a big deal but it shows that is still making the same old mistakes when it comes to it's old fleet before making sure everything is fine with the replacements. The riding public and soon to be about 40% of motorists have to pay the price for 's dumb decision making.

2 hours ago, Comrade96 said:

they shoulda just kept the 160 trucks and avoided all this but it is what it is 

I agree 100%, This was a dumb move to change the trucks.

On 12/4/2023 at 5:01 PM, subwaycommuter1983 said:

The MTA is never on schedule in regards to overall subway improvements.

It seems that the gearbox issues are more serious than the issues that affected the r179's during 2019-2020.

As a result, the r211's are obviously behind schedule in regards to delivery, testing and placement in service.

 

This isn't on the though, It's an issue that is being currently corrected. It takes time to get these issues fixed. The only mistake made was getting scrap happy with the R32s, Now all the R46s have to be used because of this issue and 2-3 sets were vandalized causing the to run with reduced train due to a lack of spares, even the extra R160s are no help since the has to use those R46 spares as well due to them only being like 2-4 sets of R2111s available for service.

Everything with the R211s are pushed back while they troubleshoot this issue.

14 hours ago, N6 Limited said:

They opened the Customer Service Center at Sutphin Blvd  .  It’s on the south side of the mezzanine, opposite of where the old booth was. It looks like a “carved out” area of the station, I wonder what was there in that area before, storage?

it was a newstand that was in that area

Saw 4965 being towed on woodhaven earlier, I would assume it was going to the JFK vendor.

17 minutes ago, RTOMan said:

They can barely have enough BOs to man the Shuttle Bus service let alone provide extra bus service listen people dont want buses they want trains they still got to get to Manhattan.

Extra Local service STARTS around 2000 hrs on the PMS...

That was the folks biggest gripe the evenings when the Mikey Isnt running.

As i said Politics...

That's because of the 20 minute waits on the   every evening. I lost count of how many times during the 8pm to 9pm hour when you'll wait for an train for 15-20+ mins. That of course sparked complaints. You can't get mad at people when that's their only local service they have to take to get home. They have no other alternative besides taking the since the was cut ,plus promised service every six mins (I know that isn't realistic) which made things even worse.

Also this really made the look bad when a state senator called them out on it, remember the state gave   additional funding to provide more service and etc. , Seeing the non stop complaints about terrible service as well as other things sparked that and made them question what is the is doing despite getting additional funding.

This is proof that there is no communication between all parties and it's making things worse. 

21 minutes ago, RTOMan said:

Uhh im a TO on the  Line i see very well how the Corridor is been working it for years...

Read the whole post you would know this since its My post.

I know you are.

2 hours ago, RTOMan said:

Regarding this local for the  and  its all POLITICS...

The Queens Blvd riders whining about lack of local service because the  is gone..

TA gave em what they wanted dont blame TA blame the Whiners who wanted to wait 6 mins for a train instead of 8...

Oh BTW when we are going local there's like a train every MINUTE (countdown Clock and MAL tells me so)on D1 and D2 tracks so they got what they wanted...

Wont be my problem Next Pick i went switching the heck with this nonsense.

You can't get mad at them when they train itself is garbage. Even if they didn't have a crew shortage people would still have to wait more than 10 mins during rush hours. On the weekends it's brutal but with the GO's i can understand. Of course people are going to complain. wanted to be cheap instead of providing extra service outside the . Everyone knew that increasing  service wasn't going to work and if you see how crowded Jackson heights is you'll understand why people have complained.

I understand having the all local sucks for the crew but that's all on the and the idiots at op planning. This was planned poorly and they could have come up with better alternatives like enhanced shuttle bus service on queens blvd and on Broadway straight to the city for those local stations and LIRR being $2.75 between Jamaica and the City (Penn and GCM).

Also the extra Local service starts at 11am, Not rush hour and it's not politics, they gotta move those Work trains because they can't do it at night because of the CBTC GO at night where there are lay ups on the express tracks west of forest hills. If politics were involved they would have brute forced the back to queens blvd.

The Rockaway Park isn't just going to be 179s. The R211s will pop up on it too eventually . Might be the R211T's (if the rumor still stands) Hopefully that's not the case.

4200-4204 spotted fully built at the Kawasaki plant with others wrapped up ready for delivery

6 hours ago, FLX9304 said:

 yes

 testing on lines does not mean that the car is gonna see revenue service on that particular line. 
after what happened to the R46s on the Broadway line being vandalized a few weeks ago, they’re not putting newer cars until they see fit 

That's not always the case and you'll see some techs back on Broadway as the will get tech trains for CBTC and would share it's techs with the and It'll be similar to where the   & uses the R143s or the CBTC equipped R160s from both the and lines along with their normal fleet of R179s.

The Non pilot sets are back in service 4070-4074,4125-4129 was spotted on the this morning

5 hours ago, darkstar8983 said:

Interesting that they’re testing the R211T in Astoria this late in the testing phase, assuming it already ran in all other B division trackage for clearance 

They just re-testing it again on Broadway, they did the same for the line a few weeks back.

R32s can't comeback, it's way too late, new employees aren't trained on them and 90% of the fleet sat in storage since 2020 meaning it would take a lot to bring them back to operating condition for passenger service. 

It would cost way more to bring them back now vs. in 2020.

2 hours ago, darkstar8983 said:

If both tracks are open, might as well just send the  to Jamaica Center along with the  (both routes on a 12 minute headway is manageable along Archer Av). Otherwise, terminate the  all at 71 Av and do the shuttle buses east of 71 Av

That wouldn't work even with weekend service, Parsons can barely handle all the trains as it is due to the switch placement between Supthin and Parsons.

They'll figure it out.

33 minutes ago, RTOMan said:

That's one option the other will be CTL...

If anything it will be weekend work but the way they doing it as it was explained to me this morning hopefully that might not happen.

they'll terminate them at CTL if they decide to do it as a weekend GO. They did this years ago and had shuttle buses run between 71st and parsons and 179th. The shuttle buses were a disaster because the bus dispatchers were fulling up the buses instead of letting them go causing people at the stations between 75th and 169 and 75th and Jamaica van wyck to get bypassed due to the buses being crowded. Plus There were no buses on the eastern ends because all the buses were at CTL backing up traffic on queens blvd. 

DOB got scolded for this due to the complaints. So they might do something differnt. The   line portion isn't getting CBTC so i think they might just have trains run east of CTL if they can keep 2 tracks open between kew gardens and Van Wyck.

The last 10-12 R32s that were sent to scrap are at sims metal in NJ so this must be a new contact to scrap more cars instead of them going to ohio

Things like this is why i'm glad they didn't retire a mass amount of R46s yet, they were starting to ride better again since the R211s entered service. thankfully those R160s on the help with the spare factor of R46s so this won't affect the R46s as much as before.

16 minutes ago, U-BahnNYC said:

Pardon my ignorance, but why does an issue as minor as the station announcements/FIND system warrant pulling all R211 (minus pilot). Seems like a massive overreaction. They can fix one at a time and have conductors do the old fashioned announcements in the meantime, not like they're doing all that much anyway.

there's more issues with them than just the announcements.

On 10/19/2023 at 2:35 PM, trainfan22 said:

They are probably still there, rusting away. I just passed by there and there's still three rusty pairs of redbirds there like there have been for years now.

 

 

IIRC, one of each of the R26/28/29 combo is at Concourse.

 

 

They should just scrap those cars, they appear to be in horrid shape, missing rollsigns, etc. They have graffiti tags on one of the cars, who knows how long that tag have been on that car. 

The R29 is in better shape than both, The R26/28 needs body work but it's probably too late. They were kinda preserved but they were also used on the RAT until 2012, after that they just sat in concourse while they repaired and restored 9586/7 which was in worse shape than all 3 of those pairs. It sucks they favor the R33s/36s over these cars as the r26/28 are the last ACF cars we got.

20 minutes ago, Metro CSW said:

Also 4200 has reached the Lincoln Plant. Might be here by February. Neat.

I would say december

There is a picture of 4175-4179 outside the Kawasaki plan next to an M8, That should be getting delivered within 2 weeks to a month from now.