The MTA paid a massive $740 million for Bombardier to build 300 cars for the subway, it came to an emergency stop on its first day out thanks to detritus on the track and a faulty display screen. Here are all the details.
The Greek-tragedy (where, in the end, the protagonist dies through hubris and poor choices) that is the daily operation of the New York City Subway took a predictable hit last week.
In 2012, Bombardier won the contract to build 300 new cars for the NTC Subway. The MTA paid a whopping $740 million for the new trains. This year 70 of these cars were due to go into service on the J, Z and C lines, with the rest set to be in service in 2018. Sadly the Bombardier cars hit a little bump last week… literally.
On Sunday (November 19) the train came to an emergency stop during a routine test by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The Bombardier train halted at 12.15 pm when it ran over a blue bucket on the J line. Passengers were directed to leave the train at the next stop
I know what you’re thinking, “a bucket on the tracks is hardly the trains fault.” …there’s more. Later a display screen on the car indicated that the doors were open in one of its carriages. By at 7.30 pm, on its first day of running, the train had to be taken out of service.
A spokesperson for the MTA told the NY Daily News:
“The testing process involves putting cars into service and routinely reviewing their performance […] This testing will continue on Friday and we’re looking forward to fully deploying these trains.”
At this point, we don’t know whats worse, the service, or the MTA’s reputation… it’s the service.
H/T NY Daily News
Featured image source [Flickr | Metropolitan Transportation Authority]