R179 (New York City Subway car)

R179
An R179 train undergoing tests at Kings Highway
Manufacturer	Bombardier Transportation
Built at	Bombardier's Plattsburgh facility
Family name	NTT (new technology train)
Replaced	Some R32s All remaining R42s
Constructed	2016-onward
Entered service	Fall 2017 (expected)
Number under construction	274 (244 in 4-car sets, 30 in 5-car sets)
Number built	26
Number in service	0 (testing)
Formation	65 four-car sets (two B cars) 8 five-car sets (three B cars)
Fleet numbers	R179 five-car sets: 3010–3049 R179 four-car sets: 3050–3309
Operator(s)	New York City Subway
Depot(s)	[1]
Specifications
Train length	4-car train: 240.84 feet (73.41 m) 5-car train: 301.05 feet (91.76 m) 8-car train: 481.68 feet (146.82 m) 10-car train: 602.1 feet (183.5 m)
Car length	60.21 feet (18.35 m)
Floor height	3.76 ft (1.15 m)
Platform height	3.76 ft (1.15 m)
Entry	3.76 ft (1.15 m)
Doors	8 per car
Traction system	Bombardier MITRAC IGBT-VVVF Propulsion
Electric system(s)	600V DC Third rail
Current collection method	Contact shoe
Safety system(s)	Dead man's switch, train stop
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge

The R179 is a class of 300 New Technology Train New York City Subway cars built by Bombardier Transportation for the B Division. The cars are expected to retire all R42s and some R32s.

Description

The R179s are numbered 3010–3309. Cars 3010-3049 are arranged as five-car sets, while cars 3050-3309 are arranged as four-car sets.

Features

The R179 cars are equipped with updated control systems, HVAC and public address systems. They are visually very similar to the R160s, but the two car types are not interoperable with each other due to electrical incompatibilities between them.^[2]

The R179s, like the R160s, employ an advanced alternative to electronic strip maps, called the "Flexible Information and Notice Display," or "FIND." They are manufactured by Panasonic. This includes an LCD screen displaying the route, route information, and advertisements, as well as a dynamic red, yellow, and green LED strip map that displays the next ten stations, plus five consecutive "further stops" to riders. There are three of these in every car. The display updates the stations at every stop, also giving the number of stops to each station listed. This allows for instant route or line changes with the correct information, which includes, but is not limited to, omitting certain stops (displayed as "Will not stop" in red). The LCD displays where the route is displayed are slightly larger than those on the R160s. If the FIND has gone blank, the R179 FIND displays "Route change: this map is not in use", as opposed to the R160 FIND, which displays "Listen to train crew for announcement."^[3][4][5][6]

The R179s include provisions for the retrofit of CBTC equipment.

The R179s are equipped with looped stanchions in the interiors of trains, so as to provide passengers on crowded trains with a greater amount of pole surface area to grab on to.^[7][8] This feature is currently found on R160A set 9798-9802.^[9]

History

Contract plans

The R179 contract originally consisted of 208 75-foot-long (23 m) cars.^[10] Later, in the 2010-2014 Capital Program, the proposed order was expanded to 420 cars (340 for the New York City Subway and 80 for the Staten Island Railway).^[11]

The official RFP was issued on June 3, 2010. Bids were due by the following August 13, and in April 2011 the contract was expected to be awarded for $637.8 million.^[12] However, there were delays with negotiation problems, and the projected cost went up to $748 million in October 2011.^[13]

The order was reduced to 340 cars in early 2011, broken down to 290 base order cars (250 arranged in 5-car sets and the remaining 40 arranged in 4-car sets), and 50 first option cars arranged in 5-car sets. There was also a second option for 80 additional cars, which would have supplied cars for Second Avenue Subway Phase I service. The proposed MTA 2010-2014 Capital Program pointed towards an order of 60-foot (18.29 m) cars.^[14] Finally, in November 2011, the order was altered to a base order of 300 cars (260 arranged in 4-car sets and the remaining 40 arranged in 5-car sets), with no options.^[15][16][17]

The contract was finally awarded on March 24, 2012, when it was awarded to Bombardier Transportation for $599 million, below the projected cost.^[18][19][20] The joint venture Alskaw Inc., made up of the companies Kawasaki and Alstom, which built the R160A/B cars, protested the award of the contract to Bombardier immediately after the MTA Board approved the contract.^[21] However, the protest was denied, and Bombardier signed the contract on June 4, 2012.^[22][23]

A 2012 news report from the New York Daily News indicated that a high-ranking MTA official had been in talks with car builder Bombardier Transportation, Inc. for a job.^[24] This prompted an ethics investigation, but has since been resolved.^[25]

The R179s were originally intended to replace all the R44s, but due to structural integrity issues found on New York City Transit's R44s in early 2010, those cars' retirement was facilitated by an option order of R160s. Additionally, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority later dropped the plan to order R179s for the Staten Island Railway, instead opting to overhaul some R46s to replace the existing R44s there (which has also since been cancelled).^[26] The R179s were then intended to retire all remaining R42s (50 cars) and R32s (222 cars). However, some R32s are expected to be retained due to delays in the delivery of the R179s and potential need of extra rolling stock to provide additional service.^[27] As a result, the MTA plans to spend another $49.2 million to refurbish and maintain 132 to 164 R32 cars through 2018 and then 110 R32 cars through 2019, before finally replacing the remaining cars with the R211As. In addition, the MTA plans to deliver most, if not all R179s before the 14th Street Tunnel shutdown in 2019.^[28]

Manufacturing issues

In a timeline set in October 2012, the first test train was scheduled to arrive on December 22, 2014, the first production unit was scheduled to arrive on July 27, 2015, and the entire order was to be completed on January 30, 2017.^[17] After some delays in starting production, a non-operational mockup was built in late November 2013. Delivery of the first 10-car test train was now scheduled for the third quarter of 2014,^[23] though delivery of the production cars was still scheduled to begin July 2015 and continue through January 2017. However, as NYCTA's and Bombardier's inspectors found cracks due to welding issues in the prototype train's chassis, the entire lot was rejected, and the delivery schedule was pushed back by two years.^[29][30] The delays in delivery have increased the cost of the cars from $599 million to $735 million; these additional costs add to the costs required to maintain older cars.^[31]

Delivery

R179 car 3014 being delivered

Bombardier is building the cars in its Plattsburgh, New York, facility.^[32]

The first five-car set of R179s (3010-3014) was delivered between September 6 and 8, 2016. The next five cars (3015-3019) were heavily delayed and were delivered to the New York City Transit Authority between November 15 and November 17, 2016, forming a complete 10-car train for acceptance testing and evaluation.^[33] The five-car R179s are expected to enter service before the end of 2017.

The first four-car set of R179s (3050-3053) was delivered between December 21 and 22, 2016. On May 16, 2017, cars 3050-3057 began simulated stops along the C as an eight-car train. The four-car R179s are also expected to enter service before the end of 2017.^[15]

As of January 2017, the first production cars are expected to be delivered in September 2017. Delivery rate is proposed to be one car per day, in an effort to have all cars on property by July 2018.^[15]

It has been planned that the five-car sets will make up a small part of the A's fleet and that the four-car sets will be split among the C and the J/Z.^[34] In general, the cars are tentatively planned to displace R32s and R42s to allow for additional ten-car trains.^[35]

See also

• New Technology Train, a list of all such trains on the New York City Subway.
• R143 (New York City Subway car), a similar car built by Kawasaki Railcar Corp. of Kobe, Japan
• R160 (New York City Subway car), a similar car built by Alstom and Kawasaki Railcar Corp.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to R179 (New York City Subway car).

• nycsubway.org: New Technology Trains - B Division
• MTA Committee Meeting Discussing the R179
• Staff Summary
• Rendering by Bombardier

New York City Subway revenue rolling stock
Current	B Division / SIR: R32/A R42 R44 R46 R68 R68A NTT R143 R160 R179 A Division: R62 R62A NTT R142 R142A R188
Future	B Division / SIR: R211
Retired (R-type)	IND / BMT (B Division): Arnines R1 R4 R6 R7/A R9 R10 R11/R34 R16 Redbirds R27 R30/A R38 R40/A R110B (experimental) Train of Many Metals IRT (A Division): R12 R14 R15 R17 R21 R22 Redbirds R26 R28 R29/R99 R33 R33 WF R36 R36 WF R110A (experimental) Train of Many Colors
Retired (private operators)	BMT / SIR Elevated: BU cars C-type Q-type Queens car Subway: AB Standard Bluebird Compartment Car D-type Triplex MS Multi-section car SIRT ME-1 IRT Composite Gibbs Hi-V Deck Roof Hi-V Hedley Hi-V Steinway Lo-V "Flivver" Lo-V Standard Lo-V World's Fair Lo-V
Work trains	R8A R65 R127/R134 R156 R161
Never built	R39 R55 R83
See also: R-type contracts