R179 (New York City Subway Car) - History

History

The proposed MTA 2010-2014 Capital Program has pointed toward an order of 60-foot (18.29 m) cars. The order is to be broken down into a base order of 300 cars, The MTA Board of Directors approved the award of a contract to Bombardier on March 24, 2012 and signed the awarded contract on June 4, 2012 to Bombardier Transportation for $599,000,000.00.

The official RFP was issued on June 3, 2010. Bids were due by the following August 13, but the contract was not awarded until March 24, 2012 to Bombardier Transportation. The contract specified the purchase of 290 cars with 250 arranged as 5-car sets and the remaining 40 arranged in 4-car sets, with the 50 Option I cars arranged in 5-car sets. There was also a second option for 80 additional cars, pending funding. As of January 2012, the base order had been amended to a total of 300 cars, 260 of which will be in 4-car sets, and 40 of which will be in 5-car sets, with no options.

The base order will retire all remaining R32s (222 cars) and R42s (50 cars). Any additional cars ordered will be used for fleet expansion for the opening of the first phase of the Second Avenue Subway or installation of communications-based train control (CBTC). Delivery of the first 8- or 10-car test train is scheduled for December 2014, with delivery of the production cars scheduled to begin July 2015 and continue through January 2017.

The order of the R179 series was not without controversy. A recent news report from the New York Daily News indicated that an official at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority had been in talks with car builder Bombardier Transportation, Inc. for a job. This prompted an ethics investigation, but was later resolved.