The Bombardier MultiLevel Coach is a
bi-level passenger rail car manufactured by
Bombardier for use on commuter rail lines. The first units were delivered in 2006 and deliveries (in various orders) continued to 2014.
Overview
There are 643 of these coaches in service as of 2015 on
NJ Transit
New Jersey Transit Corporation, branded as NJ Transit, and often shortened to NJT, is a state-owned public transportation system that serves the U.S. state of New Jersey, along with portions of New York State and Pennsylvania. It operates bu ...
,
Exo
Exo ( ko, 엑소; stylized in all caps) is a South Korean-Chinese boy band based in Seoul formed by SM Entertainment in 2011 and debuted in 2012. The group consists of nine members: Xiumin, Suho, Lay, Baekhyun, Chen, Chanyeol, D.O., Kai ...
, and
MARC Marc or MARC may refer to:
People
* Marc (given name), people with the first name
* Marc (surname), people with the family name
Acronyms
* MARC standards, a data format used for library cataloging,
* MARC Train, a regional commuter rail system o ...
. NJ Transit received 429 cars, including 62 cab cars, while Exo's predecessor, Agence métropolitaine de transport (AMT), received 160 cars, including 26 cab cars. The MARC order consists of 39 trailers and 15 cab cars for a total of 54 cars.
The coaches were based on the
Comet V
The Comet V railcar is the fifth generation of the Comet railcar series. Produced by the manufacturer Alstom, the Comet V is a rather different car compared to previous models in the series. The Comet V has been in use by New York metropolitan ar ...
and have a two-by-two seating arrangement and more knee and leg room than single-level coaches. The seats are also bigger and it has 15-30% more seating than on single-level coaches. The intermediate levels have 5 inward-facing seats on each side which
flip up for wheelchairs or bicycles. On cab cars, a large equipment locker behind the cab replaces one row of seats. There are single-width side doors at intermediate levels for high-platform loading, and similar doors outboard of the bogies except at the cab position on cab cars. The latter doors of NJ Transit coaches have stepwell trapdoors, allowing these doors to be used for both high and low-platform loading. Exo coaches have one-piece end doors without traps, which can be used only for low-platform loading. There are also an automated announcement system and LED destination screens.
Eight MultiLevel cars were previously designated for the now-discontinued
Atlantic City Express Service. These included the addition of first class seating sections and lounge facilities. After the ACES was discontinued in 2012, the cars were converted to regular NJT cars by Bombardier from 2013 until 2014. They re-entered NJT service in mid-2014.
Service history
The first order for the coaches was placed in December 2002 by NJ Transit when it purchased 100 cars, with deliveries beginning in 2005. In September 2005, the agency ordered 131 additional cars. After exercising further contract options, the last order of which was placed in August 2008, a total of 329 first-generation cars were eventually purchased by NJ Transit.
In December 2007, AMT placed an order for 160 cars via a base order for 30 units and options for 130 more, though all options were exercised immediately. The cars began to enter service in late 2009.
In September 2010, NJ Transit ordered 100 additional coaches, with options for 79 more.
In October 2011,
MARC Train
MARC (Maryland Area Rail Commuter) is a commuter rail system in the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. MARC is administered by the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) and operated under contract by Alstom and Amtrak on track owned by ...
ordered 54 cars—15 cab cars and 39 trailing cars—from the NJ Transit options.
In December 2018, NJ Transit ordered 113 new
electric multiple unit
An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a numbe ...
coaches, designated MultiLevel III; the order included 58 units with AC electric propulsion systems and 55 unpowered cars.
The contract included options for up to 636 more cars for NJ Transit, as well as 250 cars (including power cars) for
SEPTA Regional Rail
The SEPTA Regional Rail system is a commuter rail network owned by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority and serving the Philadelphia Metropolitan area. The system has 13 branches and more than 150 active stations in Philadelphi ...
.
The new multilevel cars are to replace NJ Transit's
Arrow III EMUs
Emus may refer to:
* Emu
The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the g ...
, as well as SEPTA's
Silverliner IV EMUs and
Comet II/III cars. The maximum speed of the power cars is 110 mph.
These cars may replace the 29 older
ALP-46 electric locomotives in the future.
In October 2022, it was announced that NJ Transit will spend approximately $8 Million to replace the glazed
Polycarbonate
Polycarbonates (PC) are a group of thermoplastic polymers containing carbonate groups in their chemical structures. Polycarbonates used in engineering are strong, tough materials, and some grades are optically transparent. They are easily work ...
windows on the entire existing fleet.
Many of the windows have become permanently clouded due to heat and
UV exposure which makes them difficult to see out of.
Gallery
File:Raritan train at Newark Penn Station.jpg, NJ Transit Multilevel II coach at Newark Penn Station
Pennsylvania Station (also known as Newark Penn Station) is an intermodal passenger station in Newark, New Jersey. One of the New York metropolitan area's major transportation hubs, Newark Penn Station is served by multiple rail and bus carriers, ...
File:AMTLucienLallier.jpg, Exo 3000-series MultiLevel coach at Lucien-L'Allier station
File:MARC_8046.jpg, MARC IV MultiLevel coach at Odenton station
Odenton is a passenger rail station on the MARC Penn Line. It is located along the Northeast Corridor; Amtrak trains operating along the corridor pass through but do not stop. Both platforms at the station are high-level and are among the longest ...
See also
*
Bombardier BiLevel Coach
The Bombardier BiLevel Coach is a bilevel passenger railcar currently built by Alstom and previously by Bombardier, Hawker Siddeley Canada, the Canadian Car and Foundry (Can Car), and the UTDC. Used by North American commuter rail operators ...
*
SNCF TGV Duplex
The TGV Duplex is a French High-speed rail, high-speed train of the TGV family, manufactured by Alstom, and operated by the French national railway company SNCF. It is unique among TGV trains in that it features Bilevel rail car, bi-level carri ...
*
Sydney Trains S set
The S sets were a class of electric multiple units that operated on Sydney's suburban rail network from 1972 up until 2019. Originally entering service under the Public Transport Commission, the sets also operated under the State Rail Authorit ...
*
Voiture de banlieue à 2 niveaux
The VB2N (', "two-deck suburban car") is a double-deck passenger car used on Transilien suburban rail services in the Île-de-France region of France. The cars are unpowered and designed to be paired with an electric locomotive.
The coaches, ...
*
Voiture État à 2 étages
The Voiture État à deux étages, (English: ''State Railway Company double-deck passenger car''), were a class of double-deck carriages built for Paris suburban services of the French Chemin de fer de l'État.
Origin
The suburbs of Paris, havin ...
References
External links
Bombardier MultiLevel CoachesSpecification Sheet; Page 10*
{{New Jersey Transit Rail
Rail passenger cars of the United States
Railway coaches of Canada
Bombardier Transportation rail vehicles
NJ Transit Rail Operations
Exo (public transit)
Train-related introductions in 2006
Double-decker rail vehicles