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sillo38 t1_jbqkl6a wrote

Glad they brought back the large, colored route bullets on these. Looks cool and is more legible.

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Grass8989 t1_jbqmwlx wrote

Those open gangways are going to be rough.

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sidewaysrebel14 t1_jbqoa7d wrote

Hopefully the homeless pissing and puking and shitting all over these open gangways is easily cleanable!

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sumgye t1_jbqox7a wrote

Curious how this will turn out.

Either

  1. It will be great to spread out crowded cars.

  2. You will not be able to escape the smell of homeless gout and creepy men following you.

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sillo38 t1_jbqqops wrote

That's not this model. These are R211As, the R211T has the open gangways and hasn't started revenue testing yet. I don't think that's expected until December.

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myassholealt t1_jbqqzds wrote

Nah I'd go E. A train goes above ground for part of its journey, and the last stop in queens where it may sit in the station for a while is above ground. No matter how high the heat is blasting, those doors opening when the wind chill is in the teens or lower is a lot worse than trying to stay warm on the E.

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Grass8989 t1_jbqtwfj wrote

Maybe the article has the wrong info, but from the article:

“The R211s come with:

Security cameras on the ceilings Wider door openings (58 inches compared to 50 inches on existing train cars) Open “gangway” passageways (similar to articulated buses with their “shotgun” layouts)”

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sillo38 t1_jbqxmyd wrote

It’s wrong (or they’re just lumping all the features together under the R211 umbrella), they only got the first full set of R211Ts a month or two ago. They haven’t done anywhere near the testing they need to do before they do revenue testing.

For comparison they had the first full, 10 car set of R211As since summer of 2021.

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MechanicNo6849 t1_jbqyjbp wrote

I didn’t see it at all wait for a friend at 125 st and none passed by

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Jimmy_kong253 t1_jbr76aa wrote

How long before a crazy person takes a dump on the floor? My money is on this weekend

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Souperplex t1_jbrc2gy wrote

So 5-10 years before it gets to the FGNR lines?

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mowotlarx t1_jbrgg30 wrote

It feels like this design was a product of the pre-COVID times when we were all packed in like sardines, ridership kept creeping higher and higher with less comfortable commutes. We have lower ridership now and riders aren't as interested in more standing room. We want more seats and a more relaxing setting. Rather than reevaluate user needs, they just plowed ahead anyway.

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MrCertainly t1_jbrkeew wrote

It's depressingly sad that we have to consider such things, but our elected officials won't reconsider a rule made 246+ years ago by a group of dead aristocratic land-owning white men who owned slaves.

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Dreamtown_Comix t1_jbrkkuv wrote

I was on the inaugural ride. By accident. I was taking my baby to the doctors office (he’s fine). I didn’t think the train was so great

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IIAOPSW t1_jbrkrdb wrote

When the IRT opened, the Mayor was given the honor of operating the first train. The engineer and the IRT president were in the cabin, trying to find the right words to inform the mayor his speed was unsafe without pissing off this politically important figure. Supposedly he was like a child with a new toy, and refused for a short while to yield control. What were they going to do, kick him out?

I'd like to see Adams or Hochul operate the inaugural trains. Not cause I like them, but because I'd like to see it established as a historical tradition. A nice perk of the office. "Actually get something upgraded, and we'll let you play with the trains for an hour."

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bat_in_the_stacks t1_jbro9ni wrote

The decision makers on this are clueless.

No one needs open gangways between cars. We know to spread out on the platform.

No one needs red and green light indicators to warn of the train's departure. It's the subway, not the LIRR.

Wider doors just mean fewer seats.

"Additional accessible seating" - how many wheelchair bound people will be in one train car? Between poor elevator coverage and wheelchair bound active adults being a small percent of the population, I think the current cars have enough flip up seats or space at the ends.

"Brighter lighting and signage" - hopefully not compared to the more recent trains. They're already as bright as the sun compared to the older models still running on the R line.

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PrettyPastryPuff t1_jbrpgio wrote

It's a cool looking train design. It's a shame that these trains probably won't come into the Bronx anytime soon 😅

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iv2892 t1_jbrqqcg wrote

For 2. The smell won’t travel far if the new train has very good ventilation and filters, also since the one car is much bigger you can escape the smell by moving to the other side of the car . In the unlikely event that somebody is following you is easy for the conductor to notice you, think of it as a big underground bus .

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runningwithscalpels t1_jbrryeo wrote

Today was the first day of revenue testing on the R211s - they have to run trouble free in customer service for 30 days before transit fully accepts delivery on them - as of right now they still technically belong to the manufacturer. Any sort of glitch restarts the clock. The R179s which are the other "new" trains running on the A and C (and J) lines had lots of teething problems so you want the bugs worked out before you take delivery on a bunch of trains.

To put it in perspective, these R211 cars have been on property for 2 years doing various tests with nobody on the trains, training crews on the new equipment, etc before getting to this point.

The 211Ts which are the open gangway cars only came on property fairly recently - so they too have to do the empty testing first.

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AwesomeWhiteDude t1_jbrxa14 wrote

> No one needs open gangways between cars. We know to spread out on the platform.

The point of open gangways is to cram more people into the train

>No one needs red and green light indicators to warn of the train's departure. It's the subway, not the LIRR.

The door lights are an accessibility feature.

>Wider doors just mean fewer seats.

Wider doors means more people can move through them, hopefully lowering time the train spends in the station. That's the idea anyway.

>"Additional accessible seating" - how many wheelchair bound people will be in one train car? Between poor elevator coverage and wheelchair bound active adults being a small percent of the population, I think the current cars have enough flip up seats or space at the ends.

This is a joke. The amount of accessible stations is only going to go up. The accessible seating is flip-up so...???

>"Brighter lighting and signage" - hopefully not compared to the more recent trains. They're already as bright as the sun compared to the older models still running on the R line.

Hard to argue that point, they should change the color temperature of the lighting to a more warmer one.

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AwesomeWhiteDude t1_jbrxwoi wrote

B and D line trains won't be replaced until the end of the decade at the earliest, but mid 2030s is where I'd place my money. 1, 3, and 6 trains are slated to be replaced next, hopefully by the end of the decade

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barcher t1_jbrzl1q wrote

These look like Tokyo or Seoul cars from 20 years ago. Sad.

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BijouPyramidette t1_jbs5877 wrote

There's an interesting historical reason for this. Before there was an MTA, NYC subways were run by private operators that were competing against one another. The was the IRT, which opened in 1904; the BMT, which incorporated in 1923; and the IND which was actually city-owned and operated, starting in 1932. It was only in 1940 that the city took over the privately operated lines. The IND and BMT lines became the B Division (the letter lines), and the narrower-gauge IRT lines because the A division (numbered lines and 42nd St shuttle). As a result of this competition, and the 20 years between IRT and the others, today you have a system with two different, incompatible track gauges.

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iciclepenis t1_jbsb2r7 wrote

I've been excited for years that we were going to get modern cars. Never considered the inescapable loud-ass speakers produced by the anti-social. Not even "showtime," but the solitary dudes who roll their huge speakers around.

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Pollsmor t1_jbst2vc wrote

The fact that there are currently no plans to implement CBTC on Broadway probably means they are last in priority. The order will likely go:

A/C - displace all R46s and R68s

B/D - Sixth Avenue has plans for CBTC so they will need new cars, displace majority of R68s/R68As. I don't think the base order for the R211 has enough to cover all of them, but option orders should bring them over the hump.

N/Q/W - will be receiving hand-me-down R68s from the above to replace their R46s all this while. Maybe the option order will be large enough for at least part of the Broadway fleet to have R211s?

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AwesomeWhiteDude t1_jbsxwyc wrote

>N/Q/W - will be receiving hand-me-down R68s from the above to replace their R46s all this while.

I bet you're right, I always mix up which lines are getting CBTC next.

Looks like though if they exercise all options they would be able to replace all the R68/As too, which I'm sure they will as I think after the future R262s the entire fleet would either have provisions or already have CBTC installed

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Pollsmor t1_jbsyviu wrote

You also have to keep in mind that R46s/R68s are 75-footers. Ten 60-footers are equivalent to eight 75-footers. Going to do some quick math via Wikipedia (which admittedly makes this an estimation):

(748 R46s + 425 R68s + 200 R68As) * 10 / 8 = 1717 cars. Not to mention the SIR is replacing its R44s with them as well.

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Paorzz t1_jbt41av wrote

Will the D, B, 6 or 1 ever get an overhaul? Those train models are wayyyy pass there prime and look decrepit as fuck.

I mean don’t you just love guessing which stop you’re in or spending a minute trying to decipher what that conductor just said through a system that’s decades old?

−2

IIAOPSW t1_jbtn3t2 wrote

40 years is a reasonable service lifespan to sxpect. New cars are being rolled out, literally that's what this article is. They are being replaced exactly on time for when they are due for replacement. You wouldn't want an Apple style consumerist bullshit purchasing cycle on transit infrastructure. It would be prohibitively costly with no real benefit. Lasting from the late 80s up to now is a feature not a flaw.

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akanaan5 t1_jbtsp72 wrote

but can you still dance from the poles and grab handles

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NewYorker0 t1_jbu1wc0 wrote

Can someone give us a brief summary of the features of this new train

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uncle_troy_fall_97 t1_jbu3os5 wrote

They had to get all the trains that run over the Queens Blvd. Line (E, F, M, and R) running modern rolling stock that operates with modern signaling (CBTC, if you wanna look it up) because that line has been having its signals upgraded. I ride the N and used to ride the Q, and both of those lines had to give up their newer equipment for that reason.

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IIAOPSW t1_jbu50g2 wrote

I wasn't qualified as a kid either but they still let me push the lever for a few min.

Come on, we're not talking about throwing them the keys and shouting "comebackinanhour". I'm sure its perfectly safe with an engineer over their shoulder backseat driving for the duration of a photo op.

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oreosfly t1_jbu75p2 wrote

The design process for these cars began back in 2012. They were already in production by the time COVID hit. Redesigning them in 2021 was never going to be a feasible endeavor.

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SaturatedBeam t1_jbu8abx wrote

Lmao I don’t know why everyone cares we gonna still have hard seats, filth and the homeless.

−2

TeamMisha t1_jbub8jt wrote

I'm gonna fit the trope of how NYers always complain, but I can't help it, why does it feel like we're waiting unnecessarily fucking long for updated cars? Between both the LIRR and MTA it seems never ending. Look at the M9s, Kawasaki had the contract in 2013, and it took seven years before M9s were actually able to be ridden lol, is that really normal?

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MarkMan267 t1_jbue08u wrote

Yeah, just because a lot of ops did dumb shit like that back then (and only got away with it because of no social media) doesn't mean we should continue said dumb shit today.

Any vehicle like this, you shouldn't be allowed to operate unless you've undergone training at first. That applies even if you have someone watching over them.

We wouldn't let someone operate a bus or plane for "just a few seconds" under the guise of "Eh, it's just for fun." Same should apply here.

Allowing unqualified people to operate trains literally helped lead to the deadliest accident in NYC subway history. Hard pass.

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IIAOPSW t1_jburuxx wrote

Before everything got up tight over 9/11, pilots were happy to entertain kids curious about the cockpit. Most people were in fact totally cool with it for "just a few seconds" or "eh, its just for fun".

Malbone Street was not an instance of letting someone unqualified-but-supervised touch the controls for a bit. Malbone street happened because the BRT hired some union scabs and then tossed them the keys with basically no training. There was nobody over Luciano's shoulder telling him to slow down when he took that 6 mph turn at over 30 mph. It was not a one off ride with him either, he had been operating the train unqualified and unsupervised for about a week. Don't bait and switch me, I know my history too.

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wizoz613 t1_jbuwjvj wrote

A beautiful new home for the homeless and crackheads.

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IIAOPSW t1_jbuwn04 wrote

Its only autism when you fail at life. When you're successful its neurodiversity. You know the difference between Mark Zuckerberg and an aspergers diagnosis? A billion dollars.

Hmm lets see. Obsessed with trains, deeply into routines and organization, speak bluntly because unconcerned with social graces, hyper focused on details nobody else gives a shit about, often found in very technical fields like data science... Fuck yeah I want a neurodiverse mayor. In fact, I want the whole civic service to be neurodiverse as fuck. I can't think of a single government function which wouldn't benefit from having them run it. From now on, no more hiring normies at city hall.

When the neurodiverse come to power, second ave subway will finally get done. So will every other transit project. They won't get fatigued by arguments with karens and nimbys, their capacity to not back down no matter who it upsets is unparalleled. Corruption will end because it would be too upsetting to them to break the rules. All the named streets will become numbered. Queens will finally have a real grid system, by way of bulldozer if need be. It will be a utopia. Frankly, we should have made these people into the political class ages ago.

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MarkMan267 t1_jbv5kmq wrote

Even though he didn't have supervision over his shoulder, it doesn't change ny main point....had he been qualified, the chances of that happening would have been slim to none.

Oh, and by the way, entertaining kids "curious about the cockpit" isn't the same as giving them the controls to the plane for a few seconds or minutes. If I'm guilty of a bait and switch, sounds like I'm not the only one here.

−1

joyousRock t1_jbv9eh9 wrote

I understand your point that our country’s gun laws are insane and I agree with you. our gun laws are problematic because we have more guns than any other country on earth and therefore a horrific level of gun violence. That’s the reason they should be modified, not because the 2nd amendment was written in the 18th century. Those are 2 different arguments, one is the actual logical reason for change and the other is just stupid nonsense.

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WednesdayKnights t1_jbxi62u wrote

Remember when that teenager impersonated being an MTA worker and the one thing that got him busted was that he went over 45 mph. The MTA said that he did a great job except for that one mistake that got him caught. That kid was living his best life.

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IIAOPSW t1_jbxk9f0 wrote

I don't remember that. I do remember the guy with this lifetime obsession / mental disorder that impersonated MTA officials like a dozen times before working up the courage to finally hijack a train straight out the yard. He then drove it like he stole it. By which I mean calmly and normally so as not to attract police attention. He operated it perfectly safely making all stops as normal. He had studied the shit out of everything. His one true crime was operating an MTA vehicle on schedule.

To this day, no one really knows why this grown man didn't just apply for a job at the MTA.

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