R211 Discussion Thread

[T to Dyre Avenue]

I remember. I lived between 71st Continental and 67th. I almost never got on at 71st for that very reason. The  and  always had plenty of seats available at 67th and I wanted to have that seat early in the morning.

[FLX9304]

👌 so here I sit, reading down on the R211 subway cars and I see there are three types: 

1. R211-S (Staten Island)

2. R211-A (Open Gangways aka Articulated trains, something I dont mind riding on one since I haven’t seen those yet, but other transit agencies do have similar types)

3. R211-R (standard). 

The end of the 75 foot cars is near. After the R46s go, the R68/A are the only two 75’ left. 

Now who should get the R211s? 

I’m gonna go with @EastNewYork with the  and the . The  will have to wait until the next order because of vandalism on the CC line. The  [Far Rock] should be artic while [Lefferts] gets standards to assist with the R179(5). When it comes in 3-4 1/2 years from now, I would like to know three things about the cars:

1. Speed

2. Purpolsion 

3. Who will make the announcements. 

They should change the personnel that does that and just have one voice to do make announcements. You don’t need two. But the live announcements won’t be touched. 

[Gong Gahou]

Open gangway does not equal articulated, and vice versa. Their meanings are separate from each other. The Toronto Rocket is an example of a non-articulated train with open gangways, and—while not an ideal example—some freight cars are articulated but have no open gangways.

[Bosco]

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.

[RR503]

Saw this on Instagram so can’t vouch for credibility (I also don’t speak Japanese), but it seems the vehicle at 0:30 is a proto-R211. Video from Kobe. 

 

[trainfan22]

20 minutes ago, RR503 said:

Saw this on Instagram so can’t vouch for credibility (I also don’t speak Japanese), but it seems the vehicle at 0:30 is a proto-R211. Video from Kobe. 

 

If that is indeed the 211s, look like they did away with having the big ass digital rollsign in the front and gave it the 142/A front instead, with three windows in in the front.

 

Also, the very bottom of the car on top of the bumper is the exact same as the 143/160, great find!

[RR503]

58 minutes ago, trainfan22 said:

If that is indeed the 211s, look like they did away with having the big ass digital rollsign in the front and gave it the 142/A front instead, with three windows in in the front.

 

Also, the very bottom of the car on top of the bumper is the exact same as the 143/160, great find!

I think they’re keeping the digital rollsign. Where the flipdot (if you will) was on the 142/160s is now a destination indicator on the 211. I have a feeling that the window’s emptiness is just a factor of incompletion, not of a design mod. 

[LGA Link N Train]

3 hours ago, RR503 said:

I think they’re keeping the digital rollsign. Where the flipdot (if you will) was on the 142/160s is now a destination indicator on the 211. I have a feeling that the window’s emptiness is just a factor of incompletion, not of a design mod. 

Even so, I only believe that this is what the R211’s will look like. That train in the video (while it looks like a 211) is not, though I don’t really know for sure. 

[T to Dyre Avenue]

It could very be a pre-production prototype. But if not, then some other transit agency will be getting subway or rail cars that look very similar to the R211.

@RR503 great find!

[R179 8258]

Does anybody know when the prototypes will be hitting our track ? 

[RailRunRob]

12 minutes ago, T to Dyre Avenue said:

But if not, then some other transit agency will be getting subway or rail cars that look very similar to the R211.

For sure NYCTA. The bonnet seams favor the R179's. And you can't deny the intercar gate spacing on the sides.

[trainfan22]

I noticed the storm door is MUCH bigger in the car in video vs the Hudson Yards mockup.

 

Also the R142 mockup looked different from the final product.

Edited December 30, 2018 by trainfan22

[T to Dyre Avenue]

1 hour ago, RailRunRob said:

For sure NYCTA. The bonnet seams favor the R179's. And you can't deny the intercar gate spacing on the sides.

The resemblance is uncanny. It’s even the same shade of blue. The front windows have what appears to be masking tape around the edges, which makes them appear smaller than they might actually be. Unfortunately the video doesn’t give a good shot of the sides, so it’s still somewhat of a mystery if this is indeed an R211 prototype. I think it is. 

11 minutes ago, trainfan22 said:

I noticed the storm door is MUCH bigger in the car in video vs the Hudson Yards mockup.

 

Also the R142 mockup looked different from the final product.

That’s true. I remember seeing both the mockup in NYCT headquarters in Brooklyn and several early renderings showing a front roll sign for the R142, which, of course, the production cars don’t have.

[RailRunRob]

8 minutes ago, T to Dyre Avenue said:

 

The resemblance is uncanny. It’s even the same shade of blue. The front windows have what appears to be masking tape around the edges, which makes them appear smaller than they might actually be. Unfortunately the video doesn’t give a good shot of the sides, so it’s still somewhat of a mystery if this is indeed an R211 prototype. I think it is. 

 

The good thing is this guy is pretty consistent  with his videos watched the M9s come together on this channel as well. So we’ll probably see it come together fairly quickly as its go’s thru the assembly line.  I’m willing to go out on the limb and say it’s a R211. We’ll see soon enough for fact.

[Metro CSW]

3 hours ago, R179 8258 said:

Does anybody know when the prototypes will be hitting our track ? 

Well....

 

2019 is gonna be fun for this newborn lol. Can't wait to see the final product(s)

[Around the Horn]

That has to be an actual R211 shell... It's way too close to delivery to be making mockups now.

Didn't we start seeing pics of the first R179 shell roughly 16-18 months before delivery also?

Edited December 30, 2018 by Around the Horn

[Eric B]

Yeah, that has to be a 211. The sign is not added to the window until much later; when the electrical stuff is done. This is just the bare shell now, and so the window without the sign will look like a window, but the fact that it's a window, and not a blank wall like previous NTT's, is proof that the space is reserved for the sign (and the sign on top, as stated, is for destination text).

[T to Dyre Avenue]

I figured the sign has to be added later. Plus the screen above the doorway is much wider than a screen that would show only a route letter, so it can’t be an R143/160/179 clone with a left-side window. Yes, this has to be an R211 shell. I would be quite surprised if this is the shell of a railcar headed to another city. 

[Eric B]

It also isn't tall enough to be a route sign. It's not square; it's a flat rectangle, for text.

[Bosco]

On 12/30/2018 at 12:53 AM, Around the Horn said:

That has to be an actual R211 shell... It's way too close to delivery to be making mockups now.

Didn't we start seeing pics of the first R179 shell roughly 16-18 months before delivery also?

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.

[T to Dyre Avenue]

Interesting. I never knew they built non-operational prototypes to test HVAC, carbody and those other tests. But it’s certainly a good thing they do.

[m2fwannabe]

On 12/29/2018 at 2:52 PM, RR503 said:

Saw this on Instagram so can’t vouch for credibility (I also don’t speak Japanese), but it seems the vehicle at 0:30 is a proto-R211. Video from Kobe. 

This was the translation on the video title:

December 27 "State of Kawasaki Heavy Industries Hyogo Factory ~ ALFA-X Second Report and New Type of Foreign Type After a Long Time ... Sanyo Train 6000 Series"

Draw your own conclusions, but recall that most of the R-211's will (like the R-188) be a Lincoln & Yonkers production.  My conclusion is its probably a non-operational body prototype, as surmised above.  What it does make me feel is an urge to get to some riding in on the  Jamaica R-46's ( and ) soon.  By next New Years' Eve they could very well be elsewhere.

[Bosco]

6 hours ago, T to Dyre Avenue said:

Interesting. I never knew they built non-operational prototypes to test HVAC, carbody and those other tests. But it’s certainly a good thing they do.

It was the case for the R179, though I'm not sure about older fleets.

48 minutes ago, m2fwannabe said:

This was the translation on the video title:

December 27 "State of Kawasaki Heavy Industries Hyogo Factory ~ ALFA-X Second Report and New Type of Foreign Type After a Long Time ... Sanyo Train 6000 Series"

Draw your own conclusions, but recall that most of the R-211's will (like the R-188) be a Lincoln & Yonkers production.  My conclusion is its probably a non-operational body prototype, as surmised above.  What it does make me feel is an urge to get to some riding in on the  Jamaica R-46's ( and ) soon.  By next New Years' Eve they could very well be elsewhere.

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.

[XcelsiorBoii4888]

On 12/30/2018 at 12:48 AM, Metro CSW said:

Well....

 

I haven't been following up, I'll scroll back and read through all the pages soon, but I thought the whole R211 order was gonna have the open gangway cars. That's what they kept advertising. Looks like there's only gonna be 20 cars instead. What's the test for? So that the next IRT NTTs will be 100% open gangway. 

[Metro CSW]

2 hours ago, XcelsiorBoii4888 said:

I haven't been following up, I'll scroll back and read through all the pages soon, but I thought the whole R211 order was gonna have the open gangway cars. That's what they kept advertising. Looks like there's only gonna be 20 cars instead. What's the test for? So that the next IRT NTTs will be 100% open gangway. 

When they are exercised to success, the spec will be standard from the first option of the order to moving forward to future successors.