Back in October, Lost City reported the sighting of a sleek new train ferreting through the F train tunnels, thus sending racing the pulses of subway geeks everywhere.
In-the-know trainophiles let people know that the trains, called R160s, were just being tested and it would be months until they were actually in service. Well, months have passed, and today we got this belated, completely unsubstantiated comment from the ever-popular Anonymous, crying, "HIPSTERS AND PARK SLOPE MOMS REJOICE! The R160s entered service in the (F) this morning!"
No telling if there's anything to this, but, what the Hell—let's go with it! Can anyone else verify? I'll be taking the train later today, and will report back.
I rode R160s on the F twice yesterday, and I do proclaim them to be durned spiffy.
ReplyDeleteOK, so it looks like the F R160s be running. Great. But, strangely, when I sent down to the Bergen Street stop this morning during rush hour to spot one, all I saw were the old type trains.
ReplyDeleteI believe they are slowly introducing them a few at a time. My friend works at the company that produces these just up north of the city and said they are going to be pretty neat. :)
ReplyDeleteI rode the R160 this morning. Flashy on the outside, not so flashy on the inside- it was all a little dirty. It looked like someone washed all the plastic covered adds with windex and a dirty rag. And I must say, I miss the seat arrangement of the old F. The yellow-orange L shaped clusters allow for more people to sit where as the new long bench system lends itself to seat-hogging. I didn't notice if it was faster or not- is that the point? They're supposed to be faster? I'll time my ride next time.
ReplyDelete@GABI - No, the speed of subway trains is governed by dispatchers, and I believe is a factor of track conditions and how many other trains are on the line. These new cars are simply meant to replace the oldest cars in the fleet.
ReplyDeleteAlso, they've been running R160s on the E line since the beginning of the year, so it's possible that the ones we're seeing on the F have already been in regular service for a few months now, hence the less-than-brand-spanking-new appearance.
Back in March got on one of the new trains F at 4th ave going to Ft. Hamilton Pkwy. it was a Saturday about 7 and there was a cop on board.
ReplyDeletei saw one today when i was on the D at W4th. around 11 a.m.
ReplyDeletegood news!