The design features of 1,025 new subway cars and the key elements in the renovation of 31 subway stations were unveiled by New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo at the Transit Museum in Brooklyn. These investments are part of the $27 billion, five-year New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Capital Program to renew and expand the MTA network.
The MTA is using design-build contracts to expedite the process and ensure the shortest time frame for project completion. The first of several Requests for Proposals are already being issued.
“New York deserves a world-class transportation network, worthy of its role as the heartbeat of the 21st century economy,” said Governor Cuomo. “The MTA design team developed a bold and visionary reimagining of the quintessential commuter experience, incorporating best practices from global transit systems, and focusing on our core mission to renew, enhance and expand.”
“We are going to do more than renovate – we are bringing subway stations to a higher standard than ever before, and the new vision for subway cars will increase capacity and reduce overcrowding and delays,” the Governor added. “I congratulate the MTA for thinking creatively and working with the kind of passion and urgency it takes to move this state forward.”
The new subway cars will feature wider doors, Wi-Fi, USB chargers, color digital customer information displays, digital advertisements, illuminated door opening alerts, and security cameras. The exterior design of the cars will include a new blue front with large windows, LED headlights, and a blue stripe with gold accents along the sides.
The MTA anticipates that out of 1,025 new cars, up to 750 will feature an Open Car End design that replaces the door between cars with an accordion-like connector in order to create longer, open spaces, allowing for greater passenger flow movement.
The announcement highlighted key elements of the Governor’s initiative to create a new and improved design standard for subway stations. Renovations at 31 stations across the five boroughs will include enhanced lighting; improved signage; and amenities, such as count down clocks, improved cellular connectivity, Wi-Fi and new art. Renovations will also consider the architectural legacy of each station, and remain sensitive to historical elements as the stations undergo redesign.
MTA Chairman and CEO Thomas F. Prendergast remarked, “The Governor gave the MTA a mandate to implement new, world-class designs as quickly as possible for all new subway cars and that’s what you’re seeing today – innovation making the lives and commutes of all New Yorkers easier. Coupled with new methods for redeveloping our stations at the Governor’s direction, customers will see us get in, get done, and return new and improved stations to them in the most efficient way possible.”