New York City Transit’s New Train Procurements--Recent and More Recent

New York City Transit�s (NYCT�s) subway car fleet of more than 6,400 cars serves as one of the agencies major capital investments for this massive 656 track mile, 468 station system that has a daily ridership in excess of 4.6 million people. As with all significant investments, there must be a commitment to maintain the rolling stock to provide for a long and capable future. In the early 1990s NYCT�s subway rail car fleet was comprised of 16 �car classes�, with 8 classes in the A-Division (former IRT) and 8 classes in the B-Division (former BMT/IND). These car classes had been manufactured by seven different carbuilders. The average age of the entire fleet at that time was about 18 years of age; the oldest car classes, the ADivision�s R29, R33 and R36 cars, or the Redbirds as they were called since being painted Tuscan Red in the arly 1908s, were as old as 45 years. In the mid-1990s, the New York State Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), NYCT�s parent organization, took a fresh look at long-range needs for rail cars and included in their 1995-1999 Capital Program replacement of the entire Redbird class of 1,408 cars. Thus was born the �R142� rail car procurement, so designated from the NYCT�s tradition of designating car classes based on the sequential contract numbers assigned by the NYCT�s Department of Capital Program Management (CPM), in this case Contract �R34142�. The R142 procurement became the first of five NYCT rail car procurements initiated over the next five years. These five procurements total more than 3,412 new cars, significantly rejuvenating NYCT�s aging rail car fleet. MTA�s and NYCT�s planning, plus financial support from the State of New York, The City of New York, and the U. S. Federal Government have made this extensive and critically needed program possible, and to date successful.