Last month at the Coney Island Yard, the MTA showcased one of the open-gangway trains, which officials have said will start carrying passengers in the last quarter of this year.īut test runs remain a moving target among railfans eager to catch a glimpse of the train. The order - which has been expanded to 1,175 cars in all - also includes 20 subway cars with a so-called open gangway design, which replaces the doors at the end of each car with accordion-like connectors that are designed to increase capacity and passenger mobility. The first batch of the 535-car order was supposed to begin arriving in 2020. The passenger-service debut of the R211 followed pandemic-driven delays in production at the Kawasaki Rail Car Inc. “New train, new design, you know?” Lu said. So, he hopped on the train at its first stop at Dyckman Street, snapping photos through a window at the end of one subway car and shooting videos that he will post to YouTube. “Today is the day that railfans - and I know you’re out there, some are here and some are out there - have all been waiting for,” Janno Lieber, the MTA chairperson and CEO, said before the train departed on its first run from the 207th Street station.įor Zicong Lu, a 20-year-old rail aficionado from Staten Island, the rollout to passengers came on a day when he didn’t have classes at Brooklyn College. Richard Davey, president of New York City Transit, carried out the conductor’s duty of alerting riders about the next stop on trains that are otherwise equipped for automated announcements. The maiden voyage from the A line’s northern terminal in Inwood followed months of testing by the MTA of new-look trains that feature wider doors, security cameras and enhanced lighting, and are compatible with planned signal upgrades. “I said ‘Ok, I might as well go take a ride on it.” “It was all over Twitter, Facebook, Instagram that today is the day,” said Oliver, who took a Bx12 bus across Fordham Road to the D train before catching it south to 125th Street. Members and sponsors make THE CITY possible.

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