|
Posted by
R36 #9346
on Tue Apr 1 20:02:58 2014
edf40wrjww2msgDetail:detailStr fiogf49gjkf0d April 1, 2014
They're the oldest cars currently operating in the subway system. The next time you see them though, you might notice something different about them.
“I noticed the difference right away,” a passenger aboard one of the cars noted as it was running this morning. “If it weren't for all the noise the brakes made, you'd think it was brand new.”
That's right. These cars, known as the R32 class, have been operating in service for fifty years, and they’ll be receiving one last facelift before retirement, sometime around 2024.
Not much can be noticed on the outside; they still have the look they were given in the early 1990's. But stepping inside, passengers are treated to a modern-looking interior.
First on the checklist: lighting. You know how Jay-Z says in one of his songs, “All black everything”? This is more “All LED Everything.” The lights in the passenger compartment, the motorman's cabs, the conductor's cabs, the route letter display, and even the headlights and tail lights have all been replaced with LEDs.
Next, say good-bye to the drab beige interior with dark gray seats.
“A customer sent us a tersely-worded e-mail,” said an employee representing Transit’s division of car equipment, which oversees the maintenance of the system’s cars. “The customer complained about the appearance of the interior on the new tech trains, comparing them to, and I quote, ‘hospitals on wheels,’ and then asked if they could be made to appear more inviting.”
The result is a mostly light blue interior: light blue walls, and bench seats with a slightly deeper blue color, a design reminiscent of the cars’ original appearance.
“We couldn’t get the blue doors,” the employee told the Something, speaking on condition of anonymity. “They would have been nice, but we’d need to buy completely new doors for that. The bean counters would not have liked that. We were working in secret until now. The only people who knew about this project were me, my team, and our suppliers. We had so many non-disclosure agreements, we were able to use them to make a piñata for my kid’s birthday party. Even that piñata was in the shape of an NDA!”
There’s another feature that will have to wait until summer to be appreciated. “Even if it gets up to 120°,” the employee said, “when you step inside, it’ll feel like you’re at the South Pole.”
While you’re riding, you can also enjoy clearer, semi-automated announcements. “They’ll be manually triggered by the conductor, but more people will be able to understand them.”
Finally, the most interesting change is a new number for each of the cars. “We’ve got the R179 and R211 cars coming in within the next decade, so we need to renumber the cars, so we can make room for the new ones,” said the employee. “We have 222 of these R32 cars running around, and over 1,000 cars coming in during the next 10 to 15 years. We simply need the car number block open to receive them.”
Vehicle renumbering isn’t new. Some older cars, the R10 class, had some cars renumbered in the late 1970’s. More recently, R44 and R46 cars were renumbered. Even some older buses got renumbered to free up a block of numbers for an incoming order. “Renumbering was the only option we had,” said the employee.
The employee described the new numbers. “The first hundred will go into the 1000 to 1099 range. The rest will be numbered above the R188’s that are coming online, and butt up against the existing R143 fleet. So that’d be 7978 to 8099.” The R143’s begin at 8101.
These “New Look” R32 cars are mechanically identical to those “current look” cars, so be prepared to see them mixed together until the entire fleet is converted. “After that,” said the employee, “we’ll get the LED lighting on the rest of the fleet, starting on their next SMS [scheduled maintenance interval].”
While they’ll be introduced to the C line first, they’ll soon be coming to other lettered lines. “In the summer, we’ll be sending whatever’s left of the old look cars to the J line. That’s mostly above ground, so they’ll benefit from extra ventilation. In December, when we expect the entire fleet to have received these modifications, we’ll send 44 cars each to 5 yards – Coney Island, Concourse, East New York, Jamaica, and 207th – for service on routes based out of those yards. They’ll run 7 days a week from about 6 AM to 10 PM.”
Finally, the employee spoke about the cars’ longevity. “It’s been said that these cars were to last about 35 years. I’ve looked at the structure of these cars, and I’m confident that they’ll be in service for more than double that, maybe even triple that. Can you imagine a car whose service lifespan outlives the people operating and maintaing it? I’m excited to be part of this team!”
There's also a plan for the new tech trains. “The software team is working on an update for all the new tech trains, which will allow the interior display to show a progress bar as the train makes its way from one station to the next,” the employee said, showing an animation of the new design on an iPad. “This will start rolling out to the trains in June.”
The Daily Something
http://www.something.com/news/2014/04/01/old-cars-get-new-look.html
|
