MTA rolls out first R211 subway cars on D Line

MTA New York City Transit (NYCT) on July 1 entered new R211A trains into service on the D line, making it the sixth subway line to be served by the new train cars. The R211As will eventually replace all the R68 rail cars, which have been in the system along the B, D, N and W lines since the 1980s.

“These new trains will take customers where they want to go faster and more reliably. Riders have told us that they love the new designs and the extra space on the new trains, and we love the fact that R211s are much less prone to breakdowns," said Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chair and CEO Janno Lieber during a July 1 event at Coney Island.

The new rail cars have an average mean distance between failure (MDBF) of about 294,221 miles, compared to the average of 58,685 miles on NYCT's R46 fleet, which operate on six other subway lines and will also be replaced with R211s in the coming years, MTA officials said. 

The R211s' 58-inch-wide door openings — 8 inches wider than standard doorways on older NYCT rail cars — are designed to speed up boarding and reduce the amount of time trains sit in stations. The new cars also include security cameras, additional accessible seating, brighter lighting and signage and digital displays to provide detailed station-specific information.

The R211 cars are part of the MTA’s ongoing fleet modernization efforts. In March, the MTA issued a call for proposals from rail-car manufacturers for its largest subway car contract in history, with a base order of 1,140 subway cars.

The MTA allocated $12 billion in funding for fleet renewals across subway, bus and commuter-rail systems in its 2025-2029 capital plan, representing the largest investment in new rolling stock in the history of the MTA.