FUTURE IS WIDE OPEN
MTA rolls out first car-to-car walk-through trains on C line
Manhattan and Brooklyn C train riders saw one of the biggest changes to the subway experience in decades Thursday as the MTA put into service the first of its two open-gangway trains.
The Kawasaki-made R211T trains are the only U.S. rolling stock with cars linked by articulated sections, allowing passengers to walk between cars and giving them a clear line of sight the length of the train.
“You can actually move seamlessly from one car to the other,” Gov. Hochul said at a press event at the MTA’s 207th St. yard in upper Manhattan.
“You’re not trapped — you want to have a different experience. You get up and move around,” she said. “You see someone who looks more interesting to talk to than someone else, just get up and move around.”
Officials hope the train will ease crowding and boarding and also provide safety benefits.
“With open gangways spreading out the crowds and more room by the doors, we’re going to be able to get people on and off trains much faster,” MTA Chairman Janno Lieber said.
“In my opinion it’s a safer car when it comes to subway surfing,” NYPD Transit Bureau Chief Michael Kemper said.
“Lots of times they’re getting to the top of the train and back down in between the train cars,” he said of subway surfers. “This train doesn’t offer them the exit or the entry that the other ones do.”
The new train entered passenger service on the C line at W. 168th St. in Washington Heights shortly after 11 a.m. Thursday.
Some regular riders were not as enthused as the governor and MTA officials.
“I feel like, especially for women, it’s not safe,” said Fabiana Masili, a Morningside Heights resident who boarded the downtown train on its inaugural run.
“The idea is amazing,” Masili said. “But the problem is there are a lot of [people with] mental illness issues, a lot of aggression. If some crazy [person] comes in here, there’s nowhere to go. You want the door to keep them out.”
Jason Santos, another regular C rider, agreed.
“It’s a horrible idea,” he said. “Every other train ride, somebody defecates, somebody’s fighting.”
Major violent crimes on the subway system declined last year, with five murders in 2023, down from 10 in 2022. Rapes declined as well, with five reported in 2023 down from 12 in 2022.
But felonious assaults have held largely steady, with 570 reported incidents last year — up from 556 in 2022.
Straphanger Juan Carlos Borbon of Woodside — who told the Daily News he’d specifically sought out the train Thursday morning to be part of its first run — said he’s a fan of the new design.
“I’m really baffled by it,” he said after trying to photograph the seemingly unending train car on his phone.
“It’s really welcoming,” he added. “There’s definitely more room for people to board.”
A variant of the shiny R211 cars that began serving the A line earlier this year, the R211Ts are the first open-gangway sets in the subway system in 59 years.
The last open-gangway cars to run on New York City subway tracks — or any metro tracks in America — were the BMT triplex cars, which carried straphangers from 1925 to 1965.
The MTA bought two open-gangway trains with its current order of ordinary R211 cars. Both open-gangway trains will run on the C line, and the second train is expected to enter service later this month.
NYC Transit President Richard Davey has said nothing about the open gangway cars’ design prevent them from running express, such as on the A line.
But the A includes the longest express stretch in Manhattan, from W. 125th St. down Central Park West to Columbus Circle — a run that takes five to eight minutes without making stops. “For a new car class we just thought it was more prudent to have that car stopping at stations more frequently,” Davey told reporters last week.
“We thought we would give a little love to our C train customers as well,” Davey added.
C train riders can also expect a complement of normal R211s in the future, but MTA officials said they don’t yet know when.