R62 (New York City Subway car)
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Introduced in 1983, the R62 was the first stainless steel car design on the New York City Subway's Template:IRT division. They were built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries in Kobe, Japan and shipped by barge to Port Newark, New Jersey. They have spent the past 20 years of their lives on the Template:NYCS 4, however with the arrival of the R142 cars in 2002-2004 most have been transferred to the Template:NYCS 3.
The R62 were the first air conditioned cars for the IRT, and introduced a very controversial interior design - bucket seating. Bucket seating reduced the number of seats per car versus standard bench seating, but had a higher capacity for standing. This design continued with the R62A, R68 and R68A cars.
Unlike previous designs, the R62s were built as single cars. This remained the case until 1991, when the cars were linked into 5-car sets to save money and equipment.
History
In 1980, with the bus and train fleets in poor shape, the New York City Transit Authority was looking into capital maintenance and bond projects to replace its aging fleet from the 1950s and 1960s and rebuild or renovate older cars. The plan called for 325 IRT cars, under the R62 contract, ordered April 12, 1982 and awarded to Kawasaki Heavy Industries of Japan. This was the first time a foreign company was chosen to build cars for the New York City Subway.
The first set of R62s were delivered in October 1983. They entered service on the Template:NYCS 4 on November 29. At that time these new cars were a great relief for IRT riders who were used to non-air conditioned and graffiti-filled trains. After several test runs in early 1984, the R62 cars began regular delivery to the Template:NYCS 4. All 325 cars were in use by 1985.
Kawasaki did not want to build the additional cars the NYCTA wanted as a separate part of the R62 order, known as R62A. Bombardier, based in Canada, would win a contract to supply these 825 cars.
On August 28, 1991 a sleep-deprived and intoxicated motorman crashed a Template:NYCS 4 express train at 14th Street-Union Square in Manhattan. Five riders were killed and several dozen were injured. R62 cars 1435, 1437, 1439 and 1440 were wrecked and scrapped.
On October 25, 2000, during the 2000 World Series, cars 1369 and 1370 were involved in a rear end crash on the Jerome Avenue el in the Bronx. 1369 was totaled.
Several R62s have been painted in New York Yankees' colors and logos, since the Template:NYCS 4 serves Yankee Stadium at 161st Street.
R-62 SPECIFICATONS
- Car Builder: Kawasaki Rail Car Company in Kobe, Japan
- Car Body: Pure Stainless Steel with fiberglass end bonnet
- Unit Numbers: 1301-1625
- Car Length: 51 FEET, 4 INCHES (15.6 m) long
- Car Width: 8 FEET, 7-3/16 INCHES (2.6 m) wide
- Car Height: 11 FEET, 10-5/8 INCHES (3.6 m) tall
- Total Weight: 74,900 IBS. (33,970 kg) A- Car (Full width Cab Car); 74,540 IBS. (33,810 kg) B- Car (Half-width cabs)
- Total Seating: 40 (A- Car), 44 (B- Car)
- Propulsion System: General Electric SCM 17KG1924A1
- Type of Motors: 4 General Electric 1257E1
- Power: 115 HorsePower (86 kW) / 4 per car
- Braking system: WABCO RT2
- BUILT IN 5 CAR SETS
- MAXIMUM TRAIN LENGTH: 10 Cars (2 Units)
External links
- nycsubway.org - NYC Subway Cars: R62/R62A (http://www.nycsubway.org/cars/r62.html)