New York Underground Line D began using the new R211 trains, the most recent cars purchased by MTA to renew a very old part of its fleet. The novelty is a line used by both commuters and by those who, in summer, go to Coney Island: the D connects Norwood-205 Street, the Bronx, Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue, passing through Manhattan and Brooklyn. The MTA presented the arrival of new trains on July 1, explaining that the D is the sixth line of the subway to receive them.
The new wagons do not change the path nor solve the problems of the metro alone, but change some things that passengers notice immediately. The doors are 58 inches wide, eight more than those of many old trains: they serve to get people up and down faster, reducing the time when the train remains stationary. Inside there are stronger lights, digital displays with more detailed information on the stops, more accessible places and security cameras in each car.
The replacement on the D relates mainly to the R68, which entered service in the mid-1980s and still used on some lines of the network. Then there are also the older R46s, used for decades on other lines and become the comparison term MTA uses to measure the reliability of new trains. According to the agency, the new R211 averaged about 294,221 miles before a mechanical failure requiring maintenance, against the 58,685 miles of the R46.
The R211 have already appeared on other parts of the network. In 2025 they replaced all R44s on the Staten Island Railway, while the models with open corridor – those in which you can pass from one car to another without internal doors – began to circulate on the G line. In June 2026 they also arrived on the Rockaway Park Shuttle, where they replaced the remaining R46s. The MTA says that on the lines where the R211 are circulating the satisfaction of the passengers for cleaning is higher than the average subway: on the G, for example, it climbed 14 points, reaching 78 percent in the Customers Count survey of autumn 2025.
The arrival on the D is therefore a piece of a longer renewal: in March 2026 the MTA started the search for companies to build up to 2.390 new wagons, the largest order of this type in the history of the New York metro: the basic order includes 1.140 wagons to replace the R62 and R62A on lines 1, 3 and 6, with an option for another 1,250 destined in the future to lines 2, 4 and 5.
L’articolo A mare con i nuovi vagoni della metro proviene da IlNewyorkese.
