New Technology Train

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The typical NTT car design for the A Division (top; an R142) and B Division (bottom; an R160).

New Technology Train (NTT)[1][2][3] is the collective term for the modern passenger fleet of the New York City Subway entering service since the turn of the 21st Century. This includes the current R142, R142A, R143, R160, and R188 models, the R179 model currently under construction, and the planned R211 model. Sometimes referred to as New Millennium Trains,[4] they are known for improvements in technology, energy efficiency, reliability, and comfort along with advanced passenger information systems. Much of the engineering and construction efforts for the fleet have been done by Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Bombardier Transportation.

History

The interior of an R160 in 2010.

The New Technology program emerged from modernization efforts by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) beginning in 1982, when the subway "was on the verge of collapse".[5][6][7] The New Technology program officially began in 1988, the first effort at a technologically-advanced subway car since the R44 in the early 1970s.[8] In 1989, the MTA awarded contracts for two prototype test trains: the R110A (contract R130) for the A Division built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries, and the R110B (contract R131) for the B Division built by Bombardier Transportation.[1][5] The two New Technology test trains (NTTTs)[9] began service in June 1993, testing features that would be implemented on future mass-production orders.[5][8][10]

In 1997, the first mass order of New Technology trains was placed for the R142 and R142A trains of the A Division (awarded to Bombardier and Kawasaki respecitvely), in order to replace the final 1,410 Redbird cars in operation.[10][11] In 1998, a smaller contract of 212 cars, consisting of 100 in the base order and 112 in the optional order, was awarded to Kawasaki Heavy Industries, to build the R143 model for the B Division's BMT Eastern Division (primarily the BMT Canarsie Line's L train).[12] The first R142s and R142As entered service beginning in July 2000.[2][13][14] The R143s began operation in February 2002.[15][16]

In July 2002, the MTA awarded contracts to Kawasaki and Alstom Transportation for the R160 order for the B Division, with options for up to 1,700 cars to replace many 1960s- and 1970s-era cars.[17][15][9][18] The first R160 train, built by Kawasaki under the contract R160B, began service on August 17, 2006, on the N.[19] The initial 660-car base order was filled by October 2008, with a total of 1,662 cars delivered by May 6, 2010.[2][20]

On May 5, 2010, Kawasaki was awarded the contract for the R188 A Division order, to provide 46 CBTC-ready 11-car trains for the IRT Flushing Line (7 <7> trains). Unlike the other orders, the R188 constructed only 126 new subway cars, with the remaining 380 cars consisting of converted R142As.[20][21][22]

On June 4, 2012, Bombardier was awarded the R179 contract for 300 new B Division cars, replacing the 50 R42s on the BMT Jamaica Line (J Z trains).[20][21][23] In December of 2012, preliminary designs began on the R211 B Division contract, which entails 940 cars in order to expand the system fleet, and to replace the R46 fleet and the R44 fleet of the Staten Island Railway; both models were built in the 1970s.[21] Both the R179 and R211 orders are planned to replace the 222 remaining R32 cars, which were built in the 1960s and have run well past their expected lives, by the year 2022.[24][24][25] The first R188s entered service on November 9, 2013.[22] The R179 order fell significantly behind schedule, with the first test train expected in June 2016, while the R211 contract is expected to be awarded in 2017.[20][21]

Design and features

Driver's cab of an R160B subway car on an N train

The NTT models utilize a common car design; stainless-steel car bodies with a black front fascia on the "A" (cab) cars, open lexan-glass non-cab ends, and electronic outer route signs, as opposed to the rollsigns used by previous models. The cars feature a white fiberglass interior with blue-gray plastic bench seats both to combat vandalism, along with bright fluorescent lighting and LED interior passenger information signs. The bench-style seats, designed with lumbar supports, also replaced the unpopular bucket-style seats used on rolling stock built in the 1970s and '80s. The trains utilize an airbag suspension (replacing conventional springs) for a more comfortable ride, and employ regenerative braking which converts the energy from brake application into electricity that is fed back into the third rail. All NTT trains are capable of being equipped with communications-based train control (CBTC) technology, which is installed in the "A" cars behind the motorman's cab.[1][4][8][21][10][26][17][15][27] Only the R143s and R188s, as well as sixty-four R160s, have been upgraded for automated service, on the L and 7 routes.[21][9][28]

Recorded announcements

The NTTs are the first rolling stock in the system to utilize pre-recorded train announcements, as opposed to live conductor announcements. The recorded announcements are used for station information, closing doors, and other general messages. Station announcements rely on a wheel-rotation counter to make accurate stop announcements.[29] The recordings began in the late 1990s and feature Bloomberg Radio on-air speakers, who volunteered at the request of their employer Michael Bloomberg, who would later become mayor of New York City.[30] Voices include Jessica Ettinger Gottesman, Diane Thompson, Charlie Pellett, Catherine Cowdery, Annie Bergen, and Melissa Kleiner.[30][31] Female voices are typically used for station, route and transfer announcements. Pellett's recordings are used for most of the remaining announcements, most notably "Stand clear of the closing doors, please" prior to train doors closing.[30][31][32] With regards to why certain messages are voiced by males and others by females, MTA spokesperson Gene Sansone said in 2006 that, "Most of the orders are given by a male voice, while informational messages come from females. Even though this happened by accident, it is a lucky thing because a lot of psychologists agree that people are more receptive to orders from men and information from women".[31][33] Manual announcements can still be made over the public address system by train operators and conductors.[10][29]

Electronic strip maps

The R142/R142As, R143s, and R188s feature electronic strip maps. These maps utilize a total of 63 amber LED lights, numbered 001–063, to display stops, with a plastic card on top showing the route, stations, and transfers. A light will flash when a stop is being approached, and while idle at that stop. Lights turned off indicate a stop already reached, or a part of the route not serviced on that particular trip.[1][5][17] LED arrows at either end of the map indicate the direction of service.[34] Electronic strip maps were first tested on the R110A and R110B in the 1990s.[5][10] While an upgrade from static route maps, the strip maps can only facilitate one service and must be turned off when a train is used on another route;[26] this problem is frequently observed on the 2 and 5 trains, which both use R142 cars from the East 180th Street and 239th Street Yards and have large amounts of route overlap on the IRT White Plains Road Line, IRT Eastern Parkway Line, and IRT Nostrand Avenue Line.[34] To solve this problem, the MTA began replacing the individual strip maps for the 2 and 5 routes in 2016, with combined strip maps showing both services.[34]

FIND displays

The R160s, as will the future R179s and R211s, employ an advanced alternative to strip maps, called the Flexible Information and Notice Display, or FIND. 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).[8][21][26]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 21.4 21.5 21.6 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ R179 Staff Summary
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 31.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ AM New York (September 25, 2006): "Voices Down Below", by Justin Rocket Silverman
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 34.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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