The R68A is a
B Division B Division, Division B, or variant may refer to:
* ''B Division'' (New York City Subway)
* ''B Division'' (Irish League), association football
* ''Division B'' (Scottish Football League)
* ''Divizia B'' (Romanian Football League)
* Moldovan "B ...
New York City Subway
The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 2 ...
car
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods.
The year 1886 is regarded as ...
order consisting of 200 cars built between 1988 and 1989 by
Kawasaki Rail Car Company in
Kobe, Japan
Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, which ...
, with final assembly done at the Kawasaki plant in
Yonkers, New York
Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as enu ...
.
A total of 200 cars were built, arranged in four-car sets.
The R68A was the fourth and final R-type contract to be built with cars (the previous three being the
R44,
R46 R46 or R-46 may refer to:
Roads
* R46 expressway (Czech Republic), now the D46 motorway
* R46 (South Africa)
Other uses
* R-46 (missile), a Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile
* R46 (New York City Subway car)
The R46 is a New York ...
, and
R68). The contract had been given to Kawasaki because the manufacturers of the base R68 order, the joint venture Westinghouse-Amrail Company, had experienced significant integration issues that led to performance problems with the R68s. The first R68A train entered service on May 18, 1988. The R68As are scheduled to remain in service until at least 2025–2030.
Description
The R68As are numbered 5001–5200. They were the last cars to be built with a length of (the previous three being the R44, R46, and R68). While the 75-foot length allows more room for sitting and standing passengers per car than the length that was previously used, these cars suffer from
clearance issues and cannot run on the
BMT Eastern Division
Starting in 1899, the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT; 1896–1923) and Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT; 1923–1940) operated rapid transit lines in New York City — at first only elevated railways and later also subways.
Unt ...
. Additionally, the reduced number of doors on a train of eight cars have led to increased boarding and dwelling times. As a result, subsequent
B Division B Division, Division B, or variant may refer to:
* ''B Division'' (New York City Subway)
* ''B Division'' (Irish League), association football
* ''Division B'' (Scottish Football League)
* ''Divizia B'' (Romanian Football League)
* Moldovan "B ...
subway car orders have returned to the previous length of , starting with the
R143
The R143 is a class of New Technology Train cars built by Kawasaki Rail Car Company for the New York City Subway's B Division. Delivered between 2001 and 2003, the cars displaced R40/As and R42s that operated on the in conjunction with the ...
order in 2001.
The R68As are currently based out of the
Coney Island Yard
The New York City Transit Authority operates a total of 24 rail yards for the New York City Subway system, and one for the Staten Island Railway. There are 10 active A Division yards and 11 active B Division yards, two of which are shared betw ...
and are assigned to the , , and . One set also runs on the train during weekday afternoon rush hours. Like the previous R68 order, the R68As were originally single units, with a full-width cab on one end and a half-width cab on the other end. They were eventually linked into four-car sets and continue to run in this configuration.
History
Delivery and revenue service
The first R68A cars were delivered to New York on April 12, 1988, and transferred to TA facilities the following day.
The cars replaced all of the remaining
R10s,
R27s, and unrebuilt
R30s, all of which were retired between 1989 and 1993. The R68As were built with American and Japanese parts.
The R68As' first entry to revenue service was on May 18, 1988, on the Bronx and Manhattan half of the divided
D train with the first fleet consisting of the consist 5010-5001-5006-5008-5009-5007-5004-5005.
Originally, the R68A order was supposed to be a second option order of the R68. However, due to poor performance from the R68 cars produced by Westinghouse-Amrail, along with other issues, the MTA gave the order to
Kawasaki, with an offer of $958,000 per car versus Westinghouse-Amrail's offer of $1,012,200 per car.
Replacement
The R68As are scheduled to remain in service until at least 2025–30. In 2010, the MTA proposed mid-life technological upgrades for the R68As, including
LED
A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor Electronics, device that Light#Light sources, emits light when Electric current, current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy i ...
destination signs and automated announcements.
See also
*
R68 (New York City Subway car)
The R68 is a B Division (New York City Subway), B Division New York City Subway railcar, car order consisting of 425 cars built by the Westinghouse-Amrail Company (aka Francorail), a joint venture of Westinghouse Electric (1886), Westinghouse, ANF ...
, the first order
References
Further reading
* Sansone, Gene. ''Evolution of New York City subways: An illustrated history of New York City's transit cars, 1867-1997''. New York Transit Museum Press, New York, 1997
External links
nycsubway.org - R68A page information*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:R068A (New York City Subway Car)
Train-related introductions in 1988
New York City Subway rolling stock
Kawasaki multiple units