NEW YORK (PIX11) – There is a hiccup in the rollout of the MTA’s new “open gangway” subway cars.
An internal memo obtained by Gothamist says the new R211 subway cars can’t operate on express tracks. NYC Transit President Richard Davey on Thursday said they are being overly cautious by keeping the subway cars on local subway routes.
The Gothamist report pointed to rules requiring operators to do a visual inspection after emergency brakes are activated. On the old trains, operators can hop between cars to do this. However, on the open gangway subway cars, that’s not possible because the accordion-style design has no doors between train cars. And on express tracks, they can’t walk beside the train to conduct the inspection.
Davey on Thursday countered that this is not a flaw in the design of the new cars.
“It’s a conscious choice that we made not to run new equipment on express tracks. On the A line between 125th and 59th streets, there’s about a 7- or 8-minute gap where you’re not in a station. For a new car class, we just thought it was more prudent to have that car stopping at stations more frequently,” Davey said.
The MTA has been testing the open gangway subway cars since February 2023. They will be used on the A and C lines and the Staten Island Railway.
Lauren Cook is a digital journalist who has covered local news in the New York City area for over a decade. She has been with PIX11 since 2020. See more of her work here and follow her on Twitter.
PIX11's Greg Mocker contributed to this report.
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