The Big Apple’s future subway trains may in effect have only one car — but it’ll be a very long one that bends.
A report looking at the MTA’s needs over the next 20 years says that using an “articulated’’ car with no doors at the fronts and backs is a possibility.
The trains would be much longer versions of the two-section articulated buses, where passengers passing between the sections go through a passageway with accordion-like walls.
The MTA wants its future trains to be able to carry more passengers and allow them to move around more freely, which would reduce crowding.
MTA spokesman Adam Lisberg said there are potential advantages to the model, which is used in other cities, but it would need to be be studied further.
“Subway cars with open gangways have the potential to increase train capacity and speed up station stops as people get on and off faster,” he said.
“But like any new technology, we want to give it a rigorous analysis before seeing whether it could make sense in a subway system as old and complicated as New York’s.”