Kawasaki—better known for fast motorbikes and ATVs—is going to make the next batch of rail cars for the LIRR and Metro-North,
MTA officials said today after a new $1.8 billion contract was approved.
The first order is for 92 M9 cars on the LIRR, which will replace the M3, an outdated car that was made in the 1980s.
The MTA will then have the option to purchase 584 cars for the LIRR and Metro-North in the future. Funding would come from their 2015-2019 Capital Plan, which was not been funded yet.
The new cars have larger windows, digital signs that show stations coming up and the final destination, more seats, and a button that opens the door between cars, rather than a heavy lever.
The bathrooms will also be handicapped-accessible, while the M3 ones are not.
The first cars will hit the tracks in 2017, and cost $355 million, including their design and construction.
The contract was approved at an MTA board meeting this morning.
Kawasaki, a Japanese company, has assembly plants in Yonkers, as well as in Nebraska.
MTA Chairman Thomas Prendergast also said the agency was considering adding WiFi to subway cars down the road, though no timetable had been created.
“We had a lot of [Generation] Xers, Yers, and millenials say that’s something that’s important to them,” he said. “So we’d like to do that. We want connectivity.”
Transit Wireless is wiring all of the subway stations for WiFi and cell phone service by as late as July 2018,
though they currently expect to be finish in 2017, according to a source.