By Gus Saltonstall
Upper West Siders who ride the C train will notice that their commute just got a little more spacious.
On February 1, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the debut of the new “R211T” open-gangway subway cars on the C line, which allow passengers to move freely from car to car without going through a dangerous sliding door.
The cars also come equipped with pre-installed security cameras.
“The subway is the lifeblood of New York City and we’re making record investment so it’s safe, efficient and successful,” Hochul said in a news release about the new type of train. “New train cars, additional security cameras, and more reliable service will make the subway system even better for decades to come.”
The C train stations within Morningside Heights and the Upper West Side are at 116th Street, 110th Street, 103rd Street, 96th Street, 86th Street, 81st Street, 72nd Street, and 59th Street-Columbus Circle.
The new train cars have 58-inch-wide door openings — eight inches wider than standard doors — which, with the open walkways between cars, will help with passenger overcrowding, the MTA says.
There is also additional accessible seating, digital displays that provide detailed station-specific information, and brighter lighting and signage.
The new C trains, which will continue to be added in the coming weeks and months, are part of an effort to phase out the R-46 train, which have the yellow and orange seats in an L pattern. The open-gangway-style train is new to New York City, but has long been used in England, France, and, much closer, in Boston.
The C line won’t be exclusively made up of the new type of train, so don’t expect it every ride.
You can find out more — HERE.
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Last night I was waiting for the C train at Penn Station at rush hour, and the packed train rolled in, with one empty car that had a person stretched out on the seats. We all know it was not a “Eureka!” moment, now I can have a seat for the ride uptown. It meant get on as far away from that car as you can before the doors close. Now with these open gangway trains, there is no escape. I cannot fathom the justification of an open access train in this town.
Not to mention that an e-bike/moped shockingly allowed to ride the subways can now combust inside this car with no separation and engulf the whole train!! Don’t expect the MTA to address your safety. They’ve rejected everyone’s pleas to stop this program. Call the NYFD-the problem of potential fires has just been made greater.
Yes, it is unbelievable that e-bikes are allowed on the subway, endangering everyone with potential fires. Join NYC-EVSA to work for needed legislation and demand safety.
I appreciate that I have been seeing more police in subway cars and stations. But they really need to be more vigorously removing people from trains. I am just suggesting really egregious cases that are obvious to all of us. I’m sure the ACLU will get all worked up over this but it is for all of our benefit, including the person being removed who likely needs help.
There should be a button to push or something similar so that police will know to go to that car. You don’t need to go out of your way to stop a train to remove someone, but if a train pulls into a station and there are police nearby, they will know what to do. This could hold up trains a bit but hopefully people will start getting the message.
Really not that hard. Though I’m sure my many bleeding heart neighbors will find a reason to say I am cold and heartless and a Trumper (I’m not).
With cops having to write a report on every stop (which many of our NYC residents also suppose), good luck.
I doubt the planners ever considered street people when they thought this up. Hope they haven’t bought the train already.
What do you mean by no escape? This new train makes it easier for you to switch to a different car, safely.
Violet, are you kidding? How do you escape pot smoke, cigarette smoke (both of which are rapidly increasing on subway trains in my recent experience) and unruly (psychotic) passengers when there is NO DOOR SEPARATION.
Anna, I’ve had the same experience about smokers. The odor is the first signs, but soon after, my eyes and lungs are burning. I switch cars at the next station to so I can breathe. With open corridor trains, now where will I go.
Glen means that the smell of that one person no one wants to share a car with will not just be limited to one car but in fact will dissipate throughout the entire train making everyone’s ride very unpleasant.
Oh, come on. That is a ridiculous exaggeration. It’s great that you can safely move between cars. I have been in these trains in the UK.
Agree. I have used these cars all over Europe, and they are much better than the cramped old designs we use.
I am here to say the same thing. If I ever felt uncomfortable in the car I was in because of whatever reason, I could hop into the next car when the train stopped. Now I have nowhere to go. Also there is plenty of space and easy access for candy sellers and the like. I’m not sure this new idea is going to make us safer.
It’s hard to believe the uniformly positive coverage these trains have gotten with not a single mention that they have NO SEATS!!! Spacious and comfortable?? Really ??? Making people stand in cattle cars? This is a horrible precedent. We need seating!!!!
Look closer. You will see dark blue seats.
Did you not see the first picture? Of course these train cars have seats! Also see pictures here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R211_(New_York_City_Subway_car)
There are both seats in the photos as well as the article stating that there will be L shaped seating and additional seating.
The mariachi bands will love this.
Haha probably not because now they have to have a full playlist set of songs since they can’t play the same song in different cars anymore.
And Showtime! Can you imagine them having an entire length of subway to do runs, flips, etc.?
Don’t forget about the people who smoke pot (or crack) in the last cars, or smoke in between cars. Now everyone on the train will be able to get a contact high!
There are no more center poles for them to use, so my guess is they will Showtime on a different line!
How, on earth, can this City make so many wrong decisions? Spending so much money on things that don’t work, set up free money cards for illegal migrants who have broken the law by entering the country, etc, etc, etc. It just never ends.
We wake up every morning and say “what new hell will the citizens of NY experience today?
Usually when bad decisions are being made by reasonably intelligent government officials, someone is getting kickbacks, either actual money or other kinds of benefits. Or they simply don’t care.
We should have been able to vote on these trains.
Is this comment about the subway cars or did you just want to take a swipe at migrants?
1. So a homeless person can now stink up the entire train not just one car
2. In order to discourage homeless folks from sleeping and taking up 2-4 seats each we make everyone stand
3. These cars were supposed to be on the A line but the cars dont allow access to the track in the event of an emergency stop between stations
I have been riding the subway since the fare was 15 cents. It seems to me these new cars are a good thing. If there is an individual on your subway car who has a hygiene problem you should move forward of him. If he is in say car 4, you should move toward the front of the train rather than the rear due to airflow opposite the direction the train is moving.
Nice try but that’s not how airflow works in an enclosed container.
Well, it does in a long narrow “container” that’s not fully sealed. Try riding the subway to disabuse yourself. When you step into a car and the train starts moving, the air where you’re standing stays put(at least temporarily), while you (and the train) move forward. So effectively, the air has moved “downwind” toward the rear of the train. It may not be full-proof, but moving forward of a stench is certainly a better strategy than moving backward (or standing still).
I think prize money should be given to anyone who devises a solution to keeping people from standing in the doorways. It amazes me how many people think it’s ok to block half the doorway. I usually barrel straight into them when getting on and off.
What a grouch.
He’s got some good stuff, but this one missed the mark.
First, kuddos to the MTA for any new innovation for a more comfortable subway ride.
But I can’t help but predict that this is just another Billion Dollar give away for homeless ppl and panhandlers. It’s time the fake Liberals in NYC wake up and stop their misguided woke ideas of being nice to everyone including criminals, while leaving our citizens, streets and subway cars, less safe.
Amazing how a comment about a new, more spacious subway car somehow managed to use the words “woke” and “fake Liberals.” Yeesh.
I rode the “woke subway car” today. It was wide, clean and bright. Let’s see if that lasts. However I do anticipate not so nice smelling passenger issues
It is indeed remarkable. Maybe subways, by their very nature, are “woke” because they evoke a sense of community and equality (even a billionaire riding the subway is just another straphanger).
Ethan,
Not too long ago, MTA buses and subways unified the City – mass transit used by everyone.
The expansion of bicycles (Bloomberg initiative) has meant even more stratification in NYC.
And bicycling siphons from mass transit use.
I actually got to ride on this train yesterday, and it was quite a pleasant experience. The doorways are substantially wider, so it is easier to get in without needing to push past oblivious doorway hoggers. Yes, there is seating. Having open gangways means I was easily able to get to my correct exit door. The train was crowded, but it felt like there was more space to spread out, and best of all, the train was very well lit with easy to read updates.
I realize almost everything these days is greeted with fear and derision, but these trains are substantially nicer than the old C ones.
The NYPD back in 2010 held the opinion that open trains allow the “wolves to hunt the lambs”. Time will tell.
Leave it to west side rag readers to turn an improvement into a bitter situation . Anyone new to this website should see all the comments below . Nothing but complaining and bitterness . It gets really old after a while. Change whether good , bad or neutral is necessary for any functioning society , I’m sorry you can’t have everything your way.
I’m sure it gets old when you’re not bothered by the changes, or you’re young enough and/or rich enough to weather/avoid the bad aspects.
For those of us who have respiratory problems, the onslaught of smoke in the subway cars, streets and buildings is a daily challenge.
But, you know, so sorry our health issues are bringing you down.
What a bunch of grouches. Have the naysayers ever travelled abroad and travelled on a train like this, and felt the difference? I for one look forward to seeing one of these roll into my station.
Abroad, people are not smoking, screaming, defecating, or living in trains.
The only “good” thing about these trains is that they can’t run express. So you have a shorter wait to the next local stop where you can escape, disembark, and wait for another train.
Just recalling old news: the city decided to avoid a Chinese train manufacturer when ordering new trains, fearing that embedded security video recordings from inside the train might be sent to the Chinese government overseas.
As passengers, we must find alternative ways to protect ourselves from loud religious talkers and teenagers carrying knives. Those with mental illness can now easily travel on this type of new train, as there are no doors to block their path anymore
Y’all are incredible. The whining is unbearable.
Open gangways increases car capacity by 10% for free and eliminates the dangerous crossing between cars. Period. They’re generally considered superior in the transit engineering space.
I guess the engineers never dealt with a smelly homeless person. Seems like a good reason to jettison all the solutions to the real transit problems. Not.
Sure, the most severe, real transit problem in NYC is the “dangerous” crossing between cars. The vast majority of people who belong the subway, who pay for it, and who use it everyday for its legitimate purpose, were really, really, really so very bothered by the dangerous crossings – which they never ever use and couldn’t care less about.
A real transit problem in NYC is apparently NOT the one person who has no business o on the train, but has emptied an entire car with their very presence – further contributing to the congestions in other cars. Multiplied by dozens and dozens of them, across many trains and cars, it’s really, absolutely NOT a real problem in NYC.
The MTA shouldn’t have to take into account the presence of such individuals when planning for the future and improving the subway cars. That is a NYPD enforcement issue which the City should be held responsible for neglecting.
Can’t disagree. People are not griping against a shiny new train on principle. They’re just pointing out (“whining”, to some) the obvious real-world problems, even with such shiny new train, amidst the practical reality of neglect by other agencies. Someone obviously has to step up – and the politicians and leaders in the photo ops are not just MTA officials.
I’m surprised no one mentioned active shooters… and also mentally ill… now they can walk up and down the train conveniently without having to get off ever.
Am definitely excited about the new trains!
But in recent weeks, really disturbing to see an uptick in bicycles on the subway and many dogs of all sizes and not in carriers.
The subway is pretty crowded these days (not Covid near empty) and not ok for people to be bringing bicycles and dogs which aren’t allowed.
Both are allowed on the subway
Dogs must be in carriers.
Only actual service dogs are permitted on the subway not in carriers.
Looking forward to a ride on the new train. Do hope they’ve solved the public address system malfunctions that plague all too many trains: “Attention passengers” followed by garble and static.