Next-Generation NYC Subway Cars Roll Into Service: See Photos
Thursday was a toy-loving child's dream come true — besides the newfangled MTA trains, the city unveiled new garbage trucks. The first R211T subway along the C line from the 207 St Yard has been introduced by Governor Kathy Hochul and MTA Chair & CEO Janno Lieber. The cars are the first open gangway cars in modern U.S. subway history, offering seamless movement between cars and preventing subway surfing and falls. They also feature wider doors, better wheelchair accessibility and pre-installed cameras. The new design eliminates gaps between cars, which Hochuls said will help reduce subway surfing. The announcement came an hour before Mayor Eric Adams unveiled a new, automated, side-loading garbage truck designed to take containerized trash. The trucks will serve residential buildings with 31 or more units, which will soon be required to use stationary, on-street containers for their trash.
Published : 3 months ago by Matt Troutman in Business Politics
"You can actually move seamlessly from one car to another," Hochul said. Governor Kathy Hochul and MTA Chair & CEO Janno Lieber unveil and take an inaugural ride on the first R211T subway along the C line from the 207 St Yard on Thursday. (Marc A. Hermann / MTA) Governor Kathy Hochul and MTA Chair & CEO Janno Lieber unveil and take an inaugural ride on the first R211T subway along the C line from the 207 St Yard on Thursday. (Marc A. Hermann / MTA) Governor Kathy Hochul and MTA Chair & CEO Janno Lieber unveil and take an inaugural ride on the first R211T subway along the C line from the 207 St Yard on Thursday. (Marc A. Hermann / MTA) The R211 cars will be the first open gangway cars — meaning they offer open views and movement from one end of a train to the other — in modern U.S. subway history, MTA officials said.
But unobstructed movement between cars (and, perhaps, away from irksome fellow straphangers) isn't the only perk offered by the R211 subway cars, officials said. The cars come with wider doors, better wheelchair accessibility and pre-installed cameras, they said.
"Every car has at least two cameras that people know that when something's going on, it makes them uncomfortable, there's somebody aware of it," Hochul said. "That's a great deterrent, but it also gives people that sense of comfort. The police can actually see what's going on and respond quicker." Roughly 1,000 subway cars across the entire MTA system now have cameras, officials said.
The new open design also eliminates gaps between cars, which Hochul said will prevent subway surfing and falls. The cars' inaugural ride unfolded about an hour before Mayor Eric Adams made an announcement of his own: newfangled garbage trucks. Adams unveiled a new, automated, side-loading garbage truck designed to take containerized trash. The trucks will service residential buildings with 31 or more units, which soon will be required to use stationary, on-street containers for their trash, officials said. Such buildings in Manhattan Community Board 9 — which covers Morningside Heights, Manhattanville and Hamilton Heights — will be the first in the city to fall under the new requirement in spring 2025, officials said.
DSNY’s new, automated, side-loading garbage truck. (New York City's Department of Sanitation) Adams said the trucks dovetail with other recent efforts to eliminate the mountains of black plastic bags from the city's streets.
"This is the most significant progress toward clean streets that New Yorkers have seen in generations," he said.