R143 (New York City Subway car)
| R143 | |
|---|---|
 An R143 train on the  at New Lots Avenue. | |
 Interior of an R143 car. | |
| In service | 2002-present |
| Manufacturer | Kawasaki Heavy Industries |
| Built at | Yonkers, New York; Lincoln, Nebraska; and Kobe, Japan |
| Family name | NTT (new technology train) |
| Constructed | 2001-2003 |
| Entered service | February 12, 2002 |
| Number built | 212 |
| Number in service | 212 (160 in revenue service during rush hours) |
| Formation | 4-car sets (2 A cars and 2 B cars) |
| Fleet numbers | 8101-8312 |
| Capacity | 240 (A car) 246 (B car) |
| Operators | New York City Subway |
| Depots | East New York Yard[1][2] |
| Service(s) assigned | [3][4] As of June 30, 2024 |
| Specifications | |
| Car body construction | Stainless steel with fiberglass rear bonnets |
| Train length | 4 car train: 240.84 feet (73.41 m) 8 car train: 481.68 feet (146.82 m) |
| Car length | 60.21 feet (18.35 m) |
| Width | 9.77 feet (2,978 mm) |
| Height | 12.13 feet (3,697 mm) |
| Platform height | 3.76 ft (1.15 m) |
| Doors | 8 per car |
| Maximum speed | 55 mph (89 km/h) |
| Weight | A car: 83,700 lb (38,000 kg) B car: 81,900 lb (37,100 kg) |
| Traction system | Bombardier MITRAC propulsion system, 3-Phase IGBT-VVVF two-level AC Traction Motors Model 1508C, Pulse-width modulation |
| Prime mover(s) | electric motor |
| Power output | 150 hp (111.9 kW) per axle |
| Acceleration | 2.5 mph/s (4.0 km/(h⋅s)) |
| Deceleration | 3.0 mph/s (4.8 km/(h⋅s)) (full service), 3.2 mph/s (5.1 km/(h⋅s)) (emergency) |
| Auxiliaries | SAFT 250AH battery (B car) |
| Electric system(s) | 600 V DC Third rail |
| Current collector(s) | Contact shoe |
| Braking system(s) | Dynamic braking propulsion system; WABCO RT96 tread brake system; safety brakes |
| Safety system(s) | dead man's switch, tripcock |
| Headlight type | incandescent light bulb |
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge |
The R143 is a class of 212 new technology (NTT) New York City Subway cars built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries for the B Division. The cars displaced R40/As and R42s that operated on the L service in order to automate the BMT Canarsie Line.
Description
The R143s are numbered 8101-8312. The 212 cars were expected to provide enough service for years, but the fast growth of the Williamsburg neighborhood overloaded the L by mid-2006.[5]
The R143s are the first 60-foot (18.29 m) B Division cars built for the New York City Subway system since the R42 from 1969, and the first automated fleet in the subway system. They are currently based at East New York Yard, located near Broadway Junction. The R143s are almost identical to the slightly newer R160s; however, the two car types can not be interchanged with each other.[6]
Like the R142s, R142As and R188s, the R143s feature electronic strip maps with all stops on the L route.
Unlike the rest of the NTT fleet, the R143s are equipped with interior LED screens, which take the place of the MTA Arts for Transit cards that are usually located there. These screens can display advertisements, public safety announcements, and other information. Several R160s were similarly retrofitted with LCD screens after they were delivered. However, the LCD screens on the R160s have the capabilities to display multiple colors instead of only red, orange, and green.
History
Timeline of Contract
The contract for the R143 was put out for bidding in January 1998. The initial contract called for 100 sixty-foot cars that would come in five-car sets. The new cars would be expected to have automatic PA announcements, high efficiency lighting, emergency intercom and customer alarms, AC propulsion motors, speedometers and event recorders, electronic information display signs, artwork, a central diagnostics monitoring system, microprocessor controlled air compressor, brake and communication systems, roof mounted microprocessor controlled HVAC, and to be compliant with ADA requirements.[7]
Kawasaki Rail Car, Inc. was awarded a $190 million contract for 100 new B Division cars in late December 1998, with an option for 112 more cars.[8] The new design was based on the A Division's R142A, which Kawasaki also built,[9] and incorporated many features from the R110A and R110B prototypes. The cars were built with an average cost of about $1.5 million per car.
Delivery
Delivery of the cars began in late 2001. A 30-day test with one train of eight cars (8101-8108) began on December 4, 2001.[10][11] According to Kawasaki, the test was "extremely successful".[9] The cars began running on the Canarsie Line (L train) on February 12, 2002, where they have been assigned to.[12] All 212 cars were delivered by March 2003.[13]
Along with displacing older equipment from the Canarsie Line, the R143s also displaced the R42s on the now-extended weekend M shuttle service on the BMT Myrtle Avenue Line, when that line became the first BMT Eastern Division line to be placed in weekend One Person Train Operation (OPTO) service. The R143s on the M were displaced by R160As in February 2008. OPTO was also tested on the L during mid-2005.[14][15]
Post-delivery
R143 cars 8205-8212 were originally delivered with experimental Siemens traction motors to test the traction motors that would be later found in R160B cars 8843-9102. These cars were eventually refitted with the Bombardier MITRAC traction motors found on all other R143s.
On June 21, 2006, an eight-car R143 train overshot the bumper at the end of the tracks in the Canarsie Yard after the operator suffered a seizure. The first car, 8277, suffered significant damage and was stripped of damaged parts before being sent to the Kawasaki plant in Yonkers to receive repairs. The other cars in the set (8278-8280) were moved to the 207th Street Yard. Eventually, 8277 was sent back and repaired at the 207th Street Shop and the Coney Island Shops.[16] 8278 also suffered minor body damage, but was repaired sometime between 2009-2011 and subsequently coupled back up with 8279-8280.[17][18] In 2016 or late 2015, 8277 was coupled back up with 8278-8280, but the consist needed component upgrades to become operational.[19] In summer 2017, the set was seen to be operational again, but has yet to return to revenue service.[a]
In 2017, four cars were equipped with measuring gauges to test out the curve radius and gangway flex in the existing 60-foot long cars in order to collect data for evaluating the future R211T order.[b]
See also
- New Technology Train - List of all NTTs on the New York City Subway
- R160 (New York City Subway car) - Similar car built by Alstom and Kawasaki Railcar
- R179 (New York City Subway car) - Similar car being built by Bombardier Transportation
Notes and References
Notes
- ^ See also:
- DJ Hammers (August 12, 2017), ⁴ᴷ R143 'Crash Unit' 8277-8280 in Operation, retrieved November 29, 2017
- ^ See also:
- Tech And Transit (April 4, 2017), ⁴ᴷ R211 Open Gangway Measurement Test Train (R143 8269-8272), retrieved April 5, 2017
References
- ^ "Car Assignments: Cars Required June 30, 2024" (PDF). The Bulletin. 67 (7). Electric Railroaders' Association. July 2024. Retrieved July 26, 2024.
- ^
- 'Subdivision 'A' Car Assignment Effective December 19, 2021'. New York City Transit, Operations Planning. December 17, 2021.
- 'Subdivision 'B' Car Assignment Effective December 19, 2021'. New York City Transit, Operations Planning. December 17, 2021.
- ^ "Car Assignments: Cars Required June 30, 2024" (PDF). The Bulletin. 67 (7). Electric Railroaders' Association. July 2024. Retrieved July 26, 2024.
- ^ 'Subdivision B Car Assignment Effective June 30, 2024'. New York City Transit, Operations Planning. June 30, 2024.
- ^ New York Daily News, Oh, L, not enuf trains!, July 7, 2006
- ^ Chan, Sewell (November 30, 2005). "New Subway Cars Promise All Kinds of Information". The New York Times. Retrieved October 27, 2007.
- ^ "R34143 PURCHASE 100 CARS DIVISION 'B' OVER $10M". www.mta.nyc.ny.us. New York City Transit. January 27, 1998. Retrieved September 18, 2016.
- ^ "Metro Business; Subway Job to Kawasaki". The New York Times. December 30, 1998.
- ^ a b Kawasaki Rail Car, Inc., New York City Transit R143 Subway Cars, accessed April 14, 2007
- ^ "www.nycsubway.org". www.nycsubway.org.
- ^ "First run of the R143s". New York Division Bulletin. Electric Railroaders' Association. January 2002.
- ^ Kennedy, Randy (July 31, 2002). "1,700 Subway Cars to Be Built Under Largest Such Contract in New York History". The New York Times. p. B3.
- ^ "Kawasaki completes NYCT R143 order. (Market).(New York City Transit)(subway cars contract)". Railway Age. HighBeam Research. March 1, 2003.
- ^ On L Train, Drivers Perform Solo, Without Conductors, June 20, 2005, page B3
- ^ Conductors Are Returning to the Subway's L Line
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ [3]
- ^ "New York City Subway Car Update" (PDF). The Bulletin (April 2016). Electric Railroaders' Association. March 30, 2016. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
External links
Media related to R143 (New York City Subway car) at Wikimedia Commons
- nycsubway.org - R143
- 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.
- Kawasaki Rail Car, Inc.: R143