R68A (New York City Subway car)

R68A
R68A
	An R68A train on the B at Prospect Park
	Interior of an R68A car
In service	1988-present
Manufacturer	Kawasaki Heavy Industries
Built at	Kobe, Japan; ; Yonkers, New York (final assembly)
Family name	SMEE
Replaced	All remaining R10s; All remaining R27s; Many R30s;
Constructed	1988-1989
Entered service	May 18, 1988
Number built	200
Number in service	200 (168 in revenue service during rush hours)
Formation	4 cars per trainset
Fleet numbers	5001-5200
Capacity	70 (seated)
Operator(s)	New York City Subway
Depot(s)	Coney Island Yard[1]
Service(s) assigned	– 8 cars (1 train, PM rush); – 152 cars (19 trains, AM rush); – 144 cars (18 trains, PM rush); – 16 cars (2 trains)[2]
Specifications
Car body construction	stainless steel with fiberglass end bonnets
Train length	4 car train: 300 feet (91.44 m); 8 car train: 600 feet (182.88 m)
Car length	74 ft 8.5 in (22.77 m) (over anticlimbers)
Width	10 ft (3,048 mm) (over threshold)
Height	12.08 ft (3,682 mm)
Platform height	3.76 ft (1.15 m)
Doors	8 sets of 50-inch (1,270 mm) wide side doors per car
Maximum speed	55 mph (89 km/h)
Weight	92,720 lb (42,057 kg)
Traction system	AdTranz E-Cam Propulsion ; (115 hp or 85.8 kW on all axles)
Traction motors	Westinghouse 1447J
Power output	115 hp (85.8 kW) on all axles
Acceleration	2.5 mph/s (4.0 km/(h⋅s))
Electric system(s)	600 V DC Third rail
Current collection method	Contact shoe
Braking system(s)	WABCO (dynamic and friction), WABCO tread brake rigging model TBU GR90
Safety system(s)	dead man's switch, tripcock
Coupling system	Westinghouse H2C
Headlight type	halogen light bulbs
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge

The R68A is a B Division New York City Subway car order consisting of 200 cars built between 1988 and 1989 by Kawasaki Rail Car Company in Kobe, Japan, with final assembly done at the Kawasaki plant in Yonkers, New York.[3] A total of 200 cars were built, arranged in four-car sets.

The R68A was the fourth and final R-type contract to be built with 75-foot (22.86 m) cars (the previous three being the R44, R46, and R68). The contract had been given to Kawasaki because the manufacturers of the base R68 order, the joint venture Westinghouse-Amrail Company, had experienced significant integration issues that led to performance problems with the R68s. The first R68A train entered service on May 18, 1988. The R68As are scheduled to remain in service until at least 2025–2030.

Description

The R68As are numbered 5001–5200. They were the last cars to be built with a length of 75 feet (22.86 m) (the previous three being the R44, R46 and R68). While the 75 foot length allows more room for sitting and standing passengers per car than the 60-foot (18.29 m) length that was previously used, these cars suffer from clearance issues and cannot run on the BMT Eastern Division. Additionally, the reduced number of doors on a train of eight 75-foot (22.86 m) cars have led to increased boarding and dwelling times. As a result, subsequent B Division subway car orders have returned to the previous length of 60 feet (18.29 m), starting with the R143 order in 2001.

The R68As are currently based out of the Coney Island Yard and are assigned to the B, G, N, and W trains with one set in rotation with a R68 consist to the A train during weekday afternoon rush hours.

History

Delivery and Revenue Service

The first R68A cars were delivered to New York on April 12, 1988 and transferred to TA facilities the following day.[4] The cars replaced all of the remaining R10s, R27s, and unrebuilt R30s, all of which were retired between 1989 and 1993. The R68As were built with American and Japanese parts.

The R68As' first entry to revenue service was on May 18, 1988 on the Bronx and Manhattan half of the divided D train with the first fleet consisting of the consist 5010-5001-5006-5008-5009-5007-5004-5005.[4] Originally, the R68A order was supposed to be a second option order of the R68. However, due to poor performance from the R68 cars produced by Westinghouse-Amrail, along with other issues, the MTA gave the order to Kawasaki, with an offer of $958,000 per car versus Westinghouse-Amrail's offer of $1,012,200 per car.[3][5]

Replacement

The R68As are scheduled to remain in service until at least 2025–30.[6] In 2010, the MTA proposed mid-life technological upgrades for the R68As, including LED destination signs and automated announcements.[7][8]

gollark: Yes, it's called SCP-682.

gollark: Some of them are just weird for reasons other than that, though.

gollark: 4703 somehow *does things* just because the law says it can, even though the law is just a human concept and only affects what humans do.

gollark: Really, one of the main things which makes (some) SCPs weird is that they take convenient abstractions/concepts and turn them into immutable physical laws, while our real universe just runs on... well, physics. 173 is affected by line of sight, even though this is just a thing humans do to reason about... looking at things. 005 is just a magic item which unlocks things, 048 is just a label we assign to things which somehow affects them.

gollark: Alternatively, the machine breaks, if it prefers simple changes - so I guess make it STUPIDLY redundant.

References

http://web.archive.org/web/20191205124356/http://nyctrackbook.com/Images/Updates/P.xlii.pdf
"Subdivision 'B' Car Assignments: Cars Required April 27, 2020" (PDF). The Bulletin. Electric Railroaders' Association. 63 (6): 14. June 2020. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
Levine, Richard (March 13, 1987). "M.T.A. PICKS NEW SUBWAY CARS FROM JAPAN OVER A CONSORTIUM". New York Times. Retrieved January 24, 2016.
"www.nycsubway.org: The New York Transit Authority in the 1980s". www.nycsubway.org. Retrieved January 24, 2016.
Levine, Richard (February 24, 1987). "Transit Authority Is Critical of its Newest Subway Cars". New York Times. Retrieved January 24, 2016.
MTA Capital Program Oversight Committee Hearing, June 2010 (page 20) Archived November 25, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
Request For Information No. 9003 | Integrated Communications System on NYCT R62/R62A and R68/R68A Class Rail Cars
Grynbaum, Michael M. (June 16, 2011). "Transit Agency Weighs Digital Upgrade for Subway Cars". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 26, 2017.

External links

Media related to R68A (New York City Subway car) at Wikimedia Commons

nycsubway.org - R68A page information
Korman, Joe (January 12, 2018). "BMT-IND Car Assignments". JoeKorNer.
Korman, Joe (November 6, 2016). "New York City Subway Car Fleet June 2010 through November 2016". JoeKorNer.

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[1] ttp://web.archive.org/web/20191205124356/http://nyctrackbook.com/Images/Updates/P.xlii.pdf

[2] "Subdivision 'B' Car Assignments: Cars Required April 27, 2020" (PDF). The Bulletin. Electric Railroaders' Association. 63 (6): 14. June 2020. Retrieved June 1, 2020.

[:1-3] Levine, Richard (March 13, 1987). "M.T.A. PICKS NEW SUBWAY CARS FROM JAPAN OVER A CONSORTIUM". New York Times. Retrieved January 24, 2016.

[:2-4] "www.nycsubway.org: The New York Transit Authority in the 1980s". www.nycsubway.org. Retrieved January 24, 2016.

[:0-5] Levine, Richard (February 24, 1987). "Transit Authority Is Critical of its Newest Subway Cars". New York Times. Retrieved January 24, 2016.

[6] MTA Capital Program Oversight Committee Hearing, June 2010 (page 20) Archived November 25, 2010, at the Wayback Machine

[7] Request For Information No. 9003 | Integrated Communications System on NYCT R62/R62A and R68/R68A Class Rail Cars

[8] Grynbaum, Michael M. (June 16, 2011). "Transit Agency Weighs Digital Upgrade for Subway Cars". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 26, 2017.