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R143
An R143 train on the L route entering Broadway Junction station
Interior of an R143 car
In service	2001–present
Manufacturer	Kawasaki Rail Car Company
Built at	Yonkers, New York, US Lincoln, Nebraska, US Kobe, Hyōgo, Japan
Family name	New Technology Train
Replaced	Displaced R40s and R42s on the L line
Constructed	2001–2003
Entered service	December 4, 2001 (acceptance testing) February 12, 2002 (official service)
Number built	212
Number in service	212 (176 in revenue service during rush hours)
Formation	53 4-car sets (2 A cars and 2 B cars)
Fleet numbers	8101–8312
Capacity	240 (A car) 246 (B car)
Operators	New York City Subway
Depots	East New York Yard
Service(s) assigned	As of June 30, 2024
Specifications
Car body construction	Stainless steel with fiberglass rear bonnets
Train length	4 car train: 240 ft 10.08 in (73.4080 m) 8 car train: 481 ft 8.16 in (146.8161 m)
Car length	60 ft 2.52 in (18,352.0 mm)
Width	9 ft 9.28 in (2,979 mm)
Height	12 ft 0.29 in (3,665 mm)
Floor height	3 ft 9.12 in (1,146.0 mm)
Platform height	3 ft 9.12 in (1,146.0 mm)
Entry	Level
Doors	8 sets of 50 inch wide side doors per car
Maximum speed	55 mph (89 km/h)
Weight	A car: 83,700 lb (38,000 kg) B car: 81,900 lb (37,100 kg)
Traction system	PWM 2-level IGBT–VVVF (Bombardier MITRAC)
Traction motors	4 × Bombardier 1508C 150 hp (111.9 kW) 3-phase AC induction motor
Power output	2,400 hp (1,789.680 kW) (4-car set)
Acceleration	2.5 mph/s (4.0 km/(h⋅s))
Deceleration	3.0 mph/s (4.8 km/(h⋅s)) (full service) 3.2 mph/s (5.1 km/(h⋅s)) (emergency)
Auxiliaries	SAFT 250AH battery (B car)
Electric system(s)	Third rail, 600 V DC
Current collector(s)	Contact shoe
UIC classification	Bo’Bo’+Bo’Bo’+Bo’Bo’+Bo’Bo’
AAR wheel arrangement	B-B+B-B+B-B+B-B
Braking system(s)	Dynamic braking propulsion system; WABCO RT96 tread brake system; safety brakes
Safety system(s)	CBTC, dead man's switch, tripcock
Headlight type	Incandescent light bulb
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge

The R143 is a class of New Technology Train subway cars built by Kawasaki Rail Car Company for the New York City Subway's B Division. Delivered between 2001 and 2003, the cars displaced R40s and R42s that operated on the L service in conjunction with the BMT Canarsie Line's signal system being automated.

The R143 was the first "B" Division order of the NTT series, and the first 60-foot (18.29 m) B Division car built for the New York City Subway system since the R42s delivered in 1969. A total of 212 cars were built, all arranged as four-car sets. The first cars (8101–8104) were delivered to the 207th Street Yard on April 30, 2001. 8105–8108 were delivered sometime later in the summer of 2001. The first R143s entered a 30-day period of revenue service testing on December 4, 2001, and officially entered service on the Canarsie Line on February 12, 2002. All cars were delivered by March 2003 with all cars being in service by April 2003.

Description and features

The R143s are numbered 8101–8312. The 212 cars were expected to provide enough service for years, but the fast growth of the Williamsburg neighborhood overloaded the L by mid-2006, which resulted in some R160s being placed on the line.

The R143s are the first 60-foot (18.29 m) B Division cars built for the New York City Subway system since the R42 from 1969, the first NTT model for the B Division, and the first automated fleet in the subway system. They are currently based at East New York Yard and assigned to the L, but also run on the J/Z. The R143s are very similar to the R160s and R179s, but the three car types are not interoperable with each other due to electrical incompatibilities between them.

Like the R142s, R142As, and R188s, the R143s feature electronic strip maps. Originally, they only depicted stops on the L, but since 2020, they were retrofitted to include the J/Z. These newer installations depict the L and J/Z routes using two separate maps side-by-side, using the same 63-light console.

Unlike the rest of the NTT fleet at the time, the R143s are equipped with interior LED screens, which take the place of the MTA Arts for Transit cards that are usually located there. These screens can display advertisements, public safety announcements, and other information. Several cars of the NTT fleet were similarly retrofitted with LCD screens after they were delivered, and all subsequent orders are built with these screens. However, the LCD screens have the capability to display multiple colors instead of only red, orange, and green.

Communications-based train control

The Transit Authority had projected that 212 Kawasaki-made R143 subway cars would be enough to accommodate ridership demands for years to come, but ridership has risen higher than expected. Therefore, sixty-four new R160A cars manufactured by Alstom were equipped with CBTC so they could run on the L along with the R143s. The CBTC equipment used in the Canarsie Line cars was manufactured by Siemens Transportation Systems.

History

Timeline of contract

The contract for the R143 was put out to tender in January 1998. The initial contract called for 100 60-foot (18.29 m) cars that would come in five-car sets. The new cars would be expected to have automatic PA announcements, high efficiency lighting, emergency intercom and customer alarms, AC propulsion motors, speedometers and event recorders, electronic information display signs, artwork, a central diagnostics monitoring system, microprocessor-controlled air compressor, brake and communication systems, roof-mounted microprocessor-controlled HVAC, and to be compliant with ADA requirements.

Kawasaki Rail Car Company was awarded a $190 million contract for 100 new B Division cars in late December 1998, with an option for 112 more cars. The new design was based on the A Division's R142A, which Kawasaki also built, and incorporated many features from the R110A and R110B prototypes. The cars were built with an average cost of about $1.5 million per car.

Delivery

Delivery of the cars began in late 2001. A 30-day revenue acceptance testing with one train of eight cars (8101–8108) began on December 4, 2001. According to Kawasaki, the test was "extremely successful". The cars began running on the Canarsie Line (L train) on February 12, 2002, where they have been assigned to. All 212 cars were delivered by March 2003.

Along with displacing older equipment from the Canarsie Line, the R143s also displaced the R42s on the now-extended weekend M shuttle service on the BMT Myrtle Avenue Line, when that line became the first BMT Eastern Division line to be placed in a weekend One Person Train Operation (OPTO) service. The R143s on the M were later displaced by the R160As in February 2008. OPTO service was also tested on the L during mid-2005, but it ended due to safety issues.

Post-delivery

Cars 8205–8212 were originally delivered with experimental Siemens SITRAC traction systems, that would be later found in R160B cars 8843–9102. These cars were eventually refitted with the Bombardier MITRAC traction systems found on all other R143s.

On April 18, 2004, an eight-car R143 train overshot the bumper at Eighth Avenue after the operator suffered a possible seizure. The lead car, 8196, presumably suffered damage while the rest of the consist did not. By 2007, it had been repaired and returned to service.

On June 21, 2006, another eight-car R143 train overshot the bumper, this time at the end of the tracks in the Canarsie Yard after the operator suffered a seizure. The first car, 8277, suffered significant damage and was stripped of damaged parts before being sent to the Kawasaki plant in Yonkers to receive repairs. The other cars in the set (8278–8280) suffered minor body damage and were moved to the 207th Street Yard and repaired. Eventually, 8277 was sent back to New York City Transit property and repaired. By 2016, car 8277 was finally recoupled with 8278–8280, but the consist needed component upgrades to become operational. The set returned to service in December 2017.

In 2017, a set of R143s was equipped with measuring gauges to test out the curve radius and gangway flex in the existing 60-foot (18.29 m)-long cars in order to collect data for evaluating the R211T order, which began running in revenue service on February 1, 2024.

In September 2020, the interior strip maps for these cars, which originally only depicted stops on the L route, were replaced with combined strip maps that includes stops on both the J/Z and L services.

References

1. "Car Assignments: Cars Required June 30, 2024" (PDF). The Bulletin. 67 (7). Electric Railroaders' Association. July 2024. Retrieved July 26, 2024.
2. • 'Subdivision 'A' Car Assignment Effective December 19, 2021'. New York City Transit, Operations Planning. December 17, 2021.
   • 'Subdivision 'B' Car Assignment Effective December 19, 2021'. New York City Transit, Operations Planning. December 17, 2021.
3. "Car Assignments: Cars Required June 30, 2024" (PDF). The Bulletin. 67 (7). Electric Railroaders' Association. July 2024. Retrieved July 26, 2024.
4. 'Subdivision B Car Assignment Effective June 30, 2024'. New York City Transit, Operations Planning. June 30, 2024.
5. ^ "New York City Transit Authority R143". Kawasaki Rail Car, Inc. Archived from the original on January 13, 2021. Retrieved April 14, 2007.
6. New York Daily News, Oh, L, not enuf trains! Archived March 24, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, July 7, 2006
7. Chan, Sewell (November 30, 2005). "New Subway Cars Promise All Kinds of Information". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 15, 2023. Retrieved October 27, 2007.
8. "Specifications for Furnishing and Delivering Passenger Cars for the New York City Transit System" (PDF). geniustransitchallenge.ny.gov. July 2017. p. R160 1–2. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 9, 2017. Retrieved August 6, 2017.
9. "Transit & Bus Committee Meeting May 2016" (PDF). mta.info. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. May 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 15, 2016. Retrieved September 10, 2016.
10. "Showing Image 3648". www.nycsubway.org. Archived from the original on April 25, 2018. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
11. "Volume 2, Part 3 - November 2008 MTA Financial Plan: Section IV-3 and section IV-12" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 10, 2017. Retrieved July 19, 2016.
12. "Capital Program Oversight Committee Meeting June 2011" (PDF). mta.info. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. June 27, 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 17, 2014. Retrieved September 11, 2016.
13. "Canarsie CBTC goes live". Railway Gazette. March 12, 2009. Archived from the original on January 7, 2017. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
14. "R34143 PURCHASE 100 CARS DIVISION 'B' OVER $10M". www.mta.nyc.ny.us. New York City Transit. January 27, 1998. Archived from the original on January 27, 1998. Retrieved September 18, 2016.
15. "Metro Business; Subway Job to Kawasaki". The New York Times. December 30, 1998. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved February 18, 2017.
16. Kawasaki wins new NYCT car order The Railway Age February 1999 page 23
17. "www.nycsubway.org". Archived from the original on June 14, 2010. Retrieved August 18, 2006.
18. "First run of the R143s". New York Division Bulletin. Electric Railroaders' Association. January 2002.
19. Kennedy, Randy (July 31, 2002). "1,700 Subway Cars to Be Built Under Largest Such Contract in New York History". The New York Times. p. B3. Archived from the original on May 10, 2017. Retrieved February 18, 2017.
20. "Kawasaki completes NYCT R143 order. (Market).(New York City Transit)(subway cars contract)". Railway Age. HighBeam Research. March 1, 2003. Archived from the original on February 20, 2016.
21. On L Train, Drivers Perform Solo, Without Conductors, June 20, 2005, page B3
22. Lee, Jennifer 8.; Rahimi, Shadi (September 24, 2005). "Conductors Are Returning to the Subway's L Line". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 20, 2013. Retrieved February 18, 2017.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
23. Samsone, Gene (October 25, 2004). New York Subways: An Illustrated History of New York City's Transit Cars. Baltimore, MD: JHU Press. p. 282. ISBN 0801879221. Archived from the original on March 15, 2023. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
24. "L train hits 8th Av bumper block, 2004". Archived from the original on October 24, 2021. Retrieved July 21, 2021.
25. "New York City Subway Car Update" (PDF). The Bulletin. Electric Railroaders' Association. April 2016. p. 19. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 15, 2022. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
26. "New York City Subway Car Update" (PDF). The Bulletin. Electric Railroaders' Association. February 2018. p. 7. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 14, 2022. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
27. "New York City Subway Car Update" (PDF). The Bulletin. Electric Railroaders' Association. May 2017. p. 20. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 15, 2022. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
28. Brachfeld, Ben (February 1, 2024). "New 'open gangway' R211 subway cars enter service on the C line between Brooklyn & Manhattan". amNewYork. Archived from the original on February 1, 2024. Retrieved February 2, 2024.

External links

• nycsubway.org - R143

• New York City Subway rolling stock
• Train-related introductions in 2001
• Kawasaki multiple units
• 2001 in rail transport