R142 (New York City Subway car)

880 of the R142s are numbered 6301–7180, and the remaining 150 cars are numbered 1101–1250.

There are two types of cars: "A" (cab at one end) and "B" (no cabs). "A" cars are powered with four traction motors each, with the passenger doors opposite each other. The "B" cars are powered by two traction motors at the number-two end, and the passenger doors are staggered (car ends are numbered on the lower body just above the truck).[4][5] The trains are linked up in 5-car, A-B-B-B-A sets, but also can be linked in sets of 4 cars (A-B-B-A), 6 cars (A-B-B-B-B-A), 9 cars (one 5-car set and one 4-car set), or 11 cars (one 5-car set and one 6-car set).

Currently, most R142s are maintained at the 239th Street Yard and East 180th Street Yard and assigned on the 2 and 5, with the remaining sets maintained at the Jerome Yard and assigned to the 4.

The LCD sign of an R142 car

The R142 electronic strip map, used solely by the 4

The R142s feature Alstom ONIX AC propulsion systems, electronic braking, automatic climate control, electronic strip maps, and an on-board intercom system; the traction motors of the R142s (which themselves share some similarities with the traction motors of the Alstom Metropolis 98B trains on the Warsaw Metro) were later used on the majority of the R160 subway cars when they were first delivered. The R142 and the R142A were partly designed by Antenna Design.[6][7]

Like the R110As, the R142s feature wider doors than past A-Division equipment, with 54-inch side doors (about 9 inches narrower than the R110As' 63-inch doors, but 4 inches wider than the R62/As' 50-inch doors). All car ends have windows, allowing passengers to see through to the next car, except cab ends, where the cab walls prevent such visibility. The R142 car bodies are constructed from stainless steel.[8]

The R142s and R142As are the first New York City Subway cars to feature recorded announcements. All passenger cars built after them also use this feature. Newer, shorter announcements have been tested on some sets on the 2 and 5 since 2015 in an effort to reduce dwell times and subsequently reduce the likelihood of delays.[9] The R142s are visually very similar to the R142As and R188s.

On April 30, 1997, the Board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority approved the purchase of 680 cars from Bombardier (the R142s) and 400 cars from Kawasaki (the R142As). The original purchase order was for 740 cars, but because of the intense competition between the firms, the MTA was able to purchase 340 additional cars at the same price. The entire cost of the purchase was $1.45 billion. The new subway cars were based on the results of the tests from the R110A and R110B test trains. The historic deal came after round-the-clock negotiations, and the contract was the largest subway car purchase in the history of the New York City Subway up to this point.[10]

The first ten R142s, 6301–6310, were delivered on November 16, 1999. However, minor issues were reported to be found and have since been corrected during troubleshooting during the testing phase. After several months of testing and troubleshooting of all bugs, the R142s were placed into revenue service on the 2 on July 10, 2000, and the last R142s were delivered by mid-2003.[11]

Updated R142 electronic strip map shared between the 2 and 5

Between 2016 and 2018, the MTA replaced the individual strip maps for cars assigned to the 2 and 5 with combined strip maps showing both services, due to the two services having large amounts of route overlap on the IRT White Plains Road, Eastern Parkway, and Nostrand Avenue lines, and because the R142s assigned to the East 180th Street and 239th Street yards are shared between the two lines.[12]

In January 2019, the MTA proposed mid-life upgrades to several train subsystems in the R142/A fleets. These included changes to the HVAC, propulsion, and door systems; the addition of Ethernet on the R142 fleet; and conversion of the fleet to be compatible with communications-based train control, in conjunction with subway signal upgrades along the IRT Lexington Avenue Line. The R142 fleet would also be retrofitted with a "monitoring and diagnostics system".[13]^:23

On March 27, 2020, a northbound 2 train with operating lead consist 6346–6350 and trailing consist 6366–6370[14] caught fire while traveling from 96th Street to Central Park North–110th Street. While the trailing consist was relatively unscathed and eventually returned to service,[15] many of the cars in the lead consist suffered extensive damage. The fire erupted on board car 6347, damaging that car, as well as additional fire and smoke damage to the rest of the set, along with some moderate fire damage to the station as well. As a result, the whole set was taken out of service.[16] The train operator was killed, and 16 people were injured. The perpetrator who set the fire was arrested, but was not convicted until several months later.[17][18]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to R142 (New York City Subway car).

• Bombardier - R142 (click on "Metro R142")
• nycsubway.org - NYC Subway Cars: R142
• R142 Traction Motor
• Bombardier/Kawasaki Truck Comparison (Bomb on top and Kawasaki underneath)
• Car Status/Assignment
• Korman, Joe (December 4, 2017). "IRT Car Assignments". JoeKorNer.
• Korman, Joe (November 6, 2016). "New York City Subway Car Fleet June 2010 through November 2016". JoeKorNer.