M6 (railcar)
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The M2, M4 and M6 were three similar series of
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 ...
rail cars produced by the
Budd Company The Budd Company was a 20th-century metal fabricator, a major supplier of body components to the automobile industry, and a manufacturer of stainless steel passenger rail cars, airframes, missile and space vehicles, and various defense products ...
(M2),
Tokyu Car Corporation Tokyu may refer to: * Tokyu Group, a group of companies centered on Tokyu Corporation ** Tokyu Corporation, a Japanese railway company, the largest member and parent company of the group ** Tokyu Car Corporation, a former Japanese railway vehicle m ...
(M4), and Morrison-Knudsen (M6) for the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a public benefit corporation responsible for public transportation in the New York City metropolitan area of the U.S. state of New York. The MTA is the largest public transit authority in th ...
(MTA) and the
Connecticut Department of Transportation The Connecticut Department of Transportation (often referred to as CTDOT and occasionally ConnDOT, or CDOT) is responsible for the development and operation of highways, railroads, mass transit systems, ports and waterways in Connecticut. ...
(ConnDOT). Initially branded as the Cosmopolitans, the cars were later more popularly known under their model names, M2 (1970s cars), M4 (1980s cars), M6 (1990s cars). They ran on the
New Haven Line The Metro-North Railroad New Haven Line is a commuter rail line running from New Haven, Connecticut to New York City. It joins the Harlem Line at Mount Vernon, New York and continues south to Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan. The New Haven ...
(then part of
Penn Central The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American Railroad classes, class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania Railroad ...
, now a part of
Metro-North Metro-North Railroad , trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, is a suburban commuter rail service run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a public authority of the U.S. state of New York and under contract with the Connecticut D ...
) for most of their service life. The M4s and M6s were retired by Metro-North in 2015, followed by the last M2s in 2018. They have been largely replaced by new M8 railcars. One pair of M2s has been preserved at the
Danbury Railway Museum The Danbury Railway Museum RailincSearch MARKs accessed September 2009 is a railway museum housed in the former Union Station on the east end of downtown Danbury, Connecticut, United States. It was established in the mid-1990s following the clos ...
in
Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
.


Overview

The M2 cars were built primarily by
General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
in a consortium with the
Budd Company The Budd Company was a 20th-century metal fabricator, a major supplier of body components to the automobile industry, and a manufacturer of stainless steel passenger rail cars, airframes, missile and space vehicles, and various defense products ...
,
Canadian Vickers Canadian Vickers Limited was an aircraft and shipbuilding company that operated in Canada during the early part of the 20th century until 1944. A subsidiary of Vickers Limited, it built its own aircraft designs as well as others under licence. C ...
and
Avco Avco Corporation is a subsidiary of Textron which operates Textron Systems Corporation and Lycoming. History The Aviation Corporation was formed on March 2, 1929, to prevent a takeover of CAM-24 airmail service operator Embry-Riddle Compa ...
between 1972 and 1977. They were initially branded as Cosmopolitans; both the model and brand name followed the pattern set up by the M1/M1A series (the Metropolitans) in use on the
Long Island Rail Road The Long Island Rail Road , often abbreviated as the LIRR, is a commuter rail system in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk Co ...
(M1) and on Metro-North's
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and
Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...
lines (M1A). Final assembly of the M2 cars using Budd or Vickers bodies was completed at GE's Transportation Division in
Erie, Pennsylvania Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 a ...
. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the M2 design was licensed by the MTA and ConnDOT to two other companies to produce follow-up series.
Tokyu Car is a manufacturer of heavy rail cars in Japan, formerly known as . The company is based in Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, and a member of East Japan Railway Company (JR East) group. J-TREC manufactures rail vehicles not only for JR East and Tokyu Corp ...
produced 54 M4 cars in 1987-1988, and Morrison-Knudsen produced 48 M6 cars in 1993-1995. All cars were equipped with GE 1259 DC motors with a rated output of on all axles.


M2 series

The M2 "Cosmopolitan" series (numbers 8400-8849) replaced EMU cars dating from the early 1920s to 1954, including the Pullman 4400-series, which were originally manufactured for (and inherited from) the
New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad , commonly known as The Consolidated, or simply as the New Haven, was a railroad that operated in the New England region of the United States from 1872 to December 31, 1968. Founded by the merger of ...
. As with the cousin M1 series, the M2s accompanied an overhaul of the long-neglected main line and the
New Canaan Branch The New Canaan Branch is an 8.2-mile (13 km) long branch line of the Metro-North Railroad New Haven Line that begins from a junction east of downtown Stamford, Connecticut, north to New Canaan. It opened in 1868 as the New Canaan Railroad. ...
in which longer, high level platforms were introduced along with other infrastructure improvements. The first M2s were accepted for service on April 16, 1973. 144 base order cars were built in 1972-1974, followed by a 100-car option in 1975. These cars had been scheduled for delivery in spring 1971, but were delayed due to technical problems. Aside from the technical differences of the New Haven Line (electrification via overhead catenary instead of third rail), the cars are similar to the sister M1A order and, in times of equipment shortages or severe weather, the M2s have run on the Hudson and Harlem lines. Most of the other differences are in the interior and exterior appearance of the cars, such as red striping on the exterior rather than blue, the interior wallpaper having both the
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
and
Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
state seals and the obvious pantograph and mechanical apparatus on the roof. Both the MTA and ConnDOT purchased
bar car A bar car is a train car that has as its primary purpose the provision and consumption of alcoholic and other beverages. In the United States Bar cars were common during the heyday of U.S. rail travel prior to World War II. However, since May 2 ...
s, but complaints from riders from stations in New York, coupled with arrival of new equipment on the Hudson and Harlem lines, led to the conversion of the ten MTA-owned bar cars to standard coaches. The ten ConnDOT-owned bar cars, which ran on express trains to New Haven, Stamford, South Norwalk and New Canaan, remained in service during weekdays until May 2014. 48 M2s were overhauled starting in 1994, with 24 returning to service in 1995.


M4 series

After the LIRR and Hudson/Harlem lines received an updated version of the original Metropolitan series of cars in 1984-86 (the LIRR M3 and Metro-North M3A series), plans were announced for a similar undertaking on the New Haven Line. It sought additional cars to increase service on the line after projections indicated an increase in ridership. Metro-North originally planned to purchase 44 additional M2s, but decided to award a contract for 54 M4 cars (8900-series) in 1987-1988 to
Tokyu Car is a manufacturer of heavy rail cars in Japan, formerly known as . The company is based in Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, and a member of East Japan Railway Company (JR East) group. J-TREC manufactures rail vehicles not only for JR East and Tokyu Corp ...
. The change was made due to the need to accommodate additional ridership, and because of perceived improvements the M4 model. The MTA Board approved the $77.3 million contract on December 20, 1984. These cars were built in the
Brooklyn Navy Yard The Brooklyn Navy Yard (originally known as the New York Navy Yard) is a shipyard and industrial complex located in northwest Brooklyn in New York City, New York. The Navy Yard is located on the East River in Wallabout Bay, a semicircular bend ...
. Nemko assembled and finished the cars for Mitsui, which shipped the parts made by Tokyu. In October 1986, these cars had been expected to enter service the following year. The first cars were expected to arrive in early 1987. Nearly identical to the M2s, Tokyu Car initially gave the "Triplex" brand name to the M4 cars to highlight their being a three-car set, as opposed to the married pairs of the M2s. These cars came to be known as "triplets" by railroad personnel. During the development of the order, Metro–North's operation and planning groups sought increased flexibility in the utilization of cars on the New Haven Line, and thus, decided on the triplets. The order was designed to ease maintenance and to improve reliability. The cars used fabricated
bogies A bogie ( ) (in some senses called a truck in North American English) is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transp ...
with air suspension, unlike previous cars in the M series.


M6 series

As part of the MTA's 1987 Capital Program, 60 additional M4s would have been ordered to accommodate increasing ridership. This number was revised down to 48 in its February 1989 amendment, with 30 to be purchased by CTDOT, and 18 by the MTA. The December 1990 amendment changed the car order to a separate contract, the M6 series cars (9000-series). Similar to the change with the proposed purchase of M2 cars, the decision was made to purchase improved models following a reassessment of fleet requirements. The contract called for 39 cars, with an option for 9 more cars, and was awarded to Morrison-Knudsen in August 1990 for $91.5 million. Work was scheduled to begin 1991, and continue until early 1993. Nearly identical to the M4s, these cars were completed at
Hornell, New York Hornell is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in Steuben County, New York, Steuben County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 8,259 at the 2020 census. The city is named after the Hornell family, early set ...
with body shells from
Mafersa Mafersa S.A. is a Brazilian manufacturer of passenger rail cars, buses and trolleybuses, and related components. It was founded in 1944 and was located in the city of São Paulo.Bushell, Chris (Ed.) (1997). ''Jane's Urban Transport Systems 199 ...
. Morrison-Knudsen was the last American builder of railcars, and heavily underbid on contracts, including on this contract, to gain a large share of the market. Morrison-Knudsen had almost no experience in the design of passenger railcars, and did not build a prototype for the M6. As a result, the first cars were rejected by Metro-North. In April 1995, the M6s were delayed by 18 months; only 12 cars were accepted in 1994, with the rest scheduled to be put into service in 1995. The M6s featured distinctive chimes that sounded whenever the doors were closed, a feature that did not exist on the M2s or M4s. The M6s also had black framed windows, giving them the illusion of being larger than the windows on the M2s and M4s. The M6s were also commonly referred to as "triplets".


Retirement and replacement

The M2s, M4s, and M6s were replaced, retired, and scrapped between 2012 and December 2018 as new M8 railcars entered service. In May 2014, Metro-North retired the bar cars, with the last one departing Grand Central Terminal on May 9. Since then, there have been several proposals to reintroduce bar cars by retrofitting the new M8 fleet. All M4/M6s were removed from service by July 2015. In November 2016, it was announced that the last 36 M2s would also be replaced by additional M8 cars beginning in 2019. The M2s were finally removed from service at the end of December 2018. The
Danbury Railway Museum The Danbury Railway Museum RailincSearch MARKs accessed September 2009 is a railway museum housed in the former Union Station on the east end of downtown Danbury, Connecticut, United States. It was established in the mid-1990s following the clos ...
in
Danbury, Connecticut Danbury is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2022 was 87,642. It is the seventh largest city in Connecticut. Danbury is nicknamed the "Hat City ...
has preserved M2 pair 8706-8707. M6 cars 9014 and 9015 were donated to the New England Disaster Training Center in
Windsor Locks, Connecticut Windsor Locks is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 12,613. It is the site of Bradley International Airport, which serves the Greater Hartford-Springfield region and occupies approxim ...
. M6 cars 9030 and 9031 were donated to the MTA K9 Police Training Center and Connecticut Air National Guard in Stormville, New York, near
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.


See also

*
C3 (railcar) The C3 is a bi-level coach railroad car built by Kawasaki. These cars began delivery in 1997, ordered by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for the Long Island Rail Road. The rail cars are pulled and pushed by EMD DE30AC and DM30AC over ...
*
M1/M3 (railcar) The M1 and M3 are two similar series of electric multiple unit rail cars built by the Budd Company for the Long Island Rail Road, the Metro-North Railroad and Metro-North's predecessors, Penn Central and Conrail.Cudahy, p. 264 Originally bran ...
*
M7 (railcar) The M7 is an electric multiple unit railroad car built by Bombardier, with delivery beginning in 2002, used by the MTA on the Long Island Rail Road (M7) and Metro-North Railroad (M7A). The M7 replaced the M1 railcars, which had previously prov ...
*
M8 (railcar) The M8 is an electric multiple unit railroad car built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries Rolling Stock Company, Kawasaki for use on the Metro-North Railroad New Haven Line and the CTrail Shore Line East. The fleet of 471 cars first entered service in ...
*
New Haven Line The Metro-North Railroad New Haven Line is a commuter rail line running from New Haven, Connecticut to New York City. It joins the Harlem Line at Mount Vernon, New York and continues south to Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan. The New Haven ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:M2 (Railcar) Metro-North Railroad multiple units Electric multiple units of the United States Budd multiple units 750 V DC multiple units Tokyu Car multiple units Morrison-Knudsen multiple units