Ahead Of Planned $7.6B Subway Car Buy, MTA Looks Abroad For Lessons On Lighter Trains

By Jose Martinez, The City

July 15, 2025, 5:00 a.m.

As the MTA prepares to make its biggest one-time buy of new subway cars since the 1980s, the transit agency is looking for ways to lighten the load on the tracks.

According to a new document, the MTA is seeking industry feedback on how to incorporate “innovative, service-proven technologies or emerging technologies already in use” in global metro systems into New York City Transit’s next generation of subway cars on the numbered lines. Among the possibilities: lighter exterior shells and materials that help with “weight optimization.”

“That means you need less energy to power the rolling stock, which makes sense and which is more common in other parts of the world,” Eric Goldwyn, assistant professor in the Transportation and Land-Use Program at the NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management, told THE CITY. “It’s great that the MTA is trying to do their homework and learn what’s going on beyond the five boroughs.”

The document outlines how New York City Transit is embarking on the review ahead of a planned $7.6 billion purchase of 1,500 new subway cars through its 2025-2029 capital plan, which would replace nearly a quarter of the entire fleet. The MTA board last month approved the $68.4 billion five-year blueprint for system upkeep and expansion.

“The MTA is always looking for new ways to enhance the transit system by delivering improvements in performance, reliability and the customer experience, and this review for the future of the A Division [numbered lines] car fleet is part of that commitment,” Tim Mulligan, the agency’s chief of rolling stock program, said in a statement.

The document adds that New York City Transit is looking for advances that could be “applicable to NYCT operations” while not “compromising safety and reliability.”

The allotment for new subway cars is the largest single chunk of planned spending in the new five-year plan. Not since the first capital plan of 1982-1986, when the MTA ordered 1,575 subway cars for a system on the brink of collapse, has the agency planned such a sizable one-time investment in the vehicles that move millions of riders daily.

Lighter, more energy-efficient trains could eventually emerge on the numbered lines, whose cars have an average age of nearly 28.5 years, according to the MTA. Cars on the lettered lines, known as the B Division, average 23.3 years in age.

“It’s a no-brainer to do an industry review,” said Kate Slevin, executive vice president of the Regional Plan Association. “Technologies change and other cities have different approaches and different types of subway cars that they use, so learning from other places is always a good idea.”

The MTA has been looking at potentially using biometrics to control who enters secure areas on subway trains, Jan. 12, 2024. Credit: Alex Krales/THE CITY

The responses will help shape the MTA’s technical specifications for cars that will eventually replace R62 and R62A models manufactured nearly half a century ago and which are far more prone than newer vehicles to mechanical failures that lead to delays and uncomfortable commutes.

The R62 cars, among the oldest in the fleet, run mostly on the No. 1 and 3 lines and had a mean distance between failure rate of close to 105,000 miles over the 12 months ending in April, according to agency data. For the R62A cars on the No. 1, 6 and 42nd Street Shuttle lines, the failure rate, which tracks how far subway cars travel before a breakdown, was just under 75,000 miles.

Systemwide, the various subway car classes had a failure rate of 114,138 miles over the 12 months up to April, MTA data shows — and 125,121 miles if the R62 and R62A classes are not included.

The more than 6,000 subway cars in the New York City Transit fleet are made of stainless steel and are among the heaviest in the world, according to a 2018 RPA report. The MTA declined to say how much its current subway cars weigh.

But several international systems — including Oslo, Warsaw and London — have already made or are making a move away from heavier railcars, while staying in line with or improving on safety standards.

“Lighter trains are always better, they are cheaper to run, they accelerate faster, they brake faster,” said Blair Lorenzo, executive director of the Effective Transit Alliance, which last year criticized what it called the “recent cost explosion” of New York City Transit trains. “They’re better all around.”

Other railcar-related goals of the review include looking at alternatives for designs of the HVAC systems that keep riders cool in the summer and warm during the winter.

RPA’s 2018 “Save Our Subways” report made recommendations for cooling the subways, including designing future lines in ways that generate less heat and with turns that reduce the need for unnecessary braking between stations.

“There have been a lot of improvements, but obviously there is a lot more that needs to be done, especially in an environment where every summer is hotter,” Slevin said.

The MTA also wants to learn more about automatic passenger counting systems that track when, where and how many riders board trains, as well as platform-gap protections that align with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Commuters navigate the platform gap in Flatbush, Brooklyn, July 11, 2025. Credit: Alex Krales/THE CITY

While the MTA did not specify possibilities for filling the gap between trains and platforms, commuter rail and light-rail systems in Chicago and Portland are among those that have installed retractable ramps known as “bridge plates” to assist riders with disabilities.

“They don’t cost much, but they’re tremendous for anyone in a wheelchair or carrying luggage,” Lorenzo said. “That is a really good idea and we’d like to see that.”

Worker safety measures that will be looked at as part of the review include boosting “cab security options” for worker compartments on trains that have been prone to break-ins by vandals.

Richard Davey, the then-president of New York City Transit, last year committed to quick fixes to locks on train crew cabs after a series of intrusions and worker assaults. He said at the time that long-term solutions could include biometric technology that can spot workers’ unique physical characteristics.

A Transport Workers Union Local 100 official told THE CITY that the short-term fixes have yet to be fully implemented, adding that the union is keeping a “close eye” on safety concerns repeatedly raised with the MTA.

“Whether it’s Dollar Tree, Chick-fil-A or whatever, the onus is always on the employer to keep employees safe,” said Aaron Morrison, a union vice chair who represents train operators on the lettered lines. “That is non-negotiable.”

The MTA wants to get industry feedback on ways to potentially cut the weight of subway undercarriages, March 21, 2025. Credit: Alex Krales/THE CITY

While structural changes to the makeup of subway cars are likely years away, transit watchdogs said the MTA must make wise choices on essential service equipment with a projected lifespan of several decades.

“These things last 40 years, so it’s really important to get them right,” Lorenzo said.

She recalled how the MTA was “really burned” in the 1970s by cracks in the lightweight undercarriages of hundreds of new R46 subway cars, leading to pricey repairs.

“The whole fleet had to be retrofitted in really short order during one of the darkest periods of the subway when money wasn’t around,” Lorenzo said.

Goldwyn, of the NYU Marron Institute, said the MTA has a “generational” chance to learn from other transit systems before ordering its next wave of new subway cars.

The batch will also likely include an unspecified number of additional open-gangway cars like those now seen on the C and G lines, which allow riders to travel the length of a train through accordion-like or hard-shelled connectors.

“This is kind of a generational thing,” he said. “So now we have an opportunity to catch up to everyone else or to leapfrog them, hopefully.”

This press release was produced by The City. The views expressed here are the author’s own.