Subways Running On C Line Are Getting Bigger, MTA Says

CHELSEA, NY — Some good news for crowded C train commuters: Your subway cars are getting bigger.

The MTA announced on Monday that several dozen subway cars on the C line would be replaced with a newer, bigger model. Like most subway lines, the C train has seen increased crowding and delays amid a citywide transit crisis.

The C line in particular is home to some of the oldest cars in the subway system. The cars being replaced are known as R32 cars, some of which are nearly 53 years old. A New York Times report in June found that R32 cars broke down more often than any other in the city's system.

The addition of these trains is one of the first steps in the MTA's Subway Action Plan which looks at a massive overhaul of the beleaguered system and was released in July.

“Lengthening C trains was a promise made – and kept – under the Subway Action Plan to increase capacity and improve service for our riders," MTA spokesman Jon Weinstein said in a statement.

At least 40 R32 cars were replaced along the C line over the weekend, the New York Post was first to report. The new cars are 75-feet-long, about 15 feet longer than R32 cars, and can hold about 25 percent more riders, the MTA estimates.

Image credit: Spencer Platt / Staff / Getty Images News