MTA Seeking Companies to Build 2,390 Subway Cars, the Largest Subway Order Ever

Photo by Marc A. Hermann / MTA

New Cars Made Possible by Governor Hochul Fully Funding MTA’s 2025-2029 Capital Plan

MTA Capital Plan Includes the Largest Investment in New Subway and Railroad Cars Ever

New Cars Will Replace Fleets on the 1, 3 and 6 Lines; If Options Are Exercised Would Also Replace All Cars on the 2, 4 and 5 Lines

Continuing MTA’s Efforts To Modernize Rolling Stock and Improve Service Reliability

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is seeking proposals from rail car manufacturers for its largest subway car contract in history with a base order of 1,140 subway cars to replace the R62 and R62A fleets operating on the 1, 3, 6 lines, and if an option to purchase the additional 1,250 cars is exercised, to replace the R142 and R142A cars on the 2, 4, 5 lines.

In total, the contract includes 2,390 new subway cars — more cars than the Chicago Transit Authority subway fleet and Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority’s combined. The new cars, model R262, will be funded by the MTA’s 2025-29 Capital Plan, which received a historic $68 billion in funding from Governor Hochul and the State Legislature in the FY26 Enacted State Budget. This Capital Plan represents the largest investment in new rolling stock in the history of the MTA. The purchase also includes funds made available through the 2020-2024 Capital Plan, which is supported by congestion pricing revenues.

With a new Rolling Stock Program in place, the MTA has approached this contract differently, modernizing the terms and conditions and encouraging innovation by giving manufacturers greater flexibility to propose new ideas. More than 60 percent of the technical specifications are also now performance-based, rather than design-driven, and for the first time, the terms request proposers to submit total cost of ownership projections. These efforts result in a streamlined contract that adopts a balanced approach between the current challenges that contractors face and ensuring that the Authority retains the necessary tools at its disposal to ensure the timely delivery of quality cars that riders deserve.

This historic car contract could replace up to 36.4 percent of the subway’s entire fleet — 17.3 percent with just the base order alone. The subway’s entire fleet consists of 6,574 cars. The new cars will significantly improve reliability with a higher mean distance between failure (MDBF) — a measure of how long a car can operate without issues, repairs or maintenance. The R262 has an MDBF requirement of 200,000 miles, compared to the R62/R62A’s average of 89,000 miles. This upgrade will reduce the number of problems customers experience en route and decrease the amount of time cars are taken out of service.

The Request for Proposals (RFP) outlines other technical specifications that are designed to enhance efficiency, security, performance, and the customer experience. These include higher quality announcement systems, assistive listening devices that allow hearing-impaired passengers to connect to personal devices, like hearing aids. In addition, the RFP outlines that the future order will contain a to be determined amount of open gangway cars, which would be a first on the A-Division, the numbered lines. Efficiency upgrades include installation of automatic passenger counting (APC) system and electric braking control to achieve savings through fewer parts. Security specifications include onboard cameras like those currently installed on the existing subway fleet and onboard platform edge CCTV, along with an electronic lock to prevent unauthorized cab access.

Proposals are due Sept. 8, 2026, and a contract is expected to be awarded by early 2028.

This RFP follows last month’s announcement when MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber appointed Jessie Lazarus to build and lead a new organization that directs the MTA’s rolling stock strategy and ensures dedicated attention to the acquisition and lifetime costs for the MTA’s most strategic assets, including buses, subway cars and commuter rail trains. As chief of the new Rolling Stock Program, Lazarus and her team manages purchase of all new subway, bus, and railroad cars, including the $12 billion dollar investment from the 2025-29 Capital Plan to replace the MTA’s aging fleets.

This announcement also follows the MTA celebrating the opening of the first of its kind Railcar Acceptance and Testing Facility at the end of 2025. The facility enables the MTA to process new subway cars, work locomotives and other rolling stock more efficiently by completing onsite testing, and enabling cars to enter service more quickly. It ensures the MTA is prepared to receive the biggest infusion of new rail cars since systematic capital planning was first introduced more than a generation ago.