The MTA plans to order dozens more “open gangway” subway cars and redeploy some of the airy cars the agency already owns to the G line, transit officials announced Monday.
The modern cars do not have doors between them, offering riders roomier commutes as they can walk freely throughout their trains. The MTA last year received its initial purchase of 20 of the cars — enough for two 10-car trains — and rolled them out on the C line.
On Wednesday, the agency’s board is set to approve the purchase of 80 more of the open gangway models as part of a larger $1.3 billion order of 435 new train cars that are scheduled to be delivered by 2028, officials said.
And early next year, 10 of the door-less cars currently running on the C line will be moved over to the G train. That’s enough to cover two trains on the Crosstown Line, which uses shorter, five-car sets.
“It’s going to be ‘OG’ on the G: open gangway on the G train,” MTA Chair Janno Lieber told reporters Monday.
The redeployment of open gangway cars to the G train will still leave enough to run a single 10-car door-less train on the C line.
“As any G train rider knows, these new train cars will go a long way to making for a better ride,” Lisa Daglian, executive director for the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA, said in a statement. “The open gangways are as unique as the G itself, and we’re looking forward to a better Queens/Brooklyn ride.”
MTA officials pointed out the open gangway C trains do not run on weekends, but they will be able to service the G line every day of the week.
The open gangway trains are also not permitted to run on the express A line tracks due to safety concerns.
Officials said the additional 80 open gangway cars the MTA plans to order will be able to run on any of the city’s lettered subway lines. The agency plans to pay for the new train cars with money from the long-delayed congestion pricing, which is slated to launch on Jan. 5.
Lieber said the train car order will still go through even if the Manhattan tolls are undone by one of several federal lawsuits or an executive order by President-elect Donald Trump, who has promised to kill the program once he returns to office.
Lieber said the price for the 435 new train cars — about $2.9 million a piece — is relatively low because it’s based on an agreement made more than five years ago between the MTA and the manufacturer Kawasaki.
“The pricing on this … is honestly pre-COVID pricing before its supply chain issues have dramatically increased,” Lieber said.
