Introduced in 1983, the R62 was the first stainless steel car design on the New York City Subway's division. They were built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries in Kobe, Japan and shipped by barge to Port Newark, New Jersey . They have spent the past 20 years of their lives on the , however with the arrival of the R142 cars in 2002-2004 most have been transferred to the .

The R62 were the first air conditioned cars for the IRT, and introduced a very controversial interior design - bucket seating . Bucket seating reduced the number of seats per car versus standard bench seating, but had a higher capacity for standing. This design continued with the R62A, R68 and R68A cars.

Unlike previous designs, the R62s were built as single cars. This remained the case until 1991, when the cars were linked into 5-car sets to save money and equipment.

History

In 1980, with the bus and train fleets in poor shape, the New York City Transit Authority was looking into capital maintenance and bond projects to replace its aging fleet from the 1950s and 1960s and rebuild or renovate older cars. The plan called for 325 IRT cars, under the R62 contract, ordered April 12, 1982 and awarded to Kawasaki Heavy Industries of Japan. This was the first time a foreign company was chosen to build cars for the New York City Subway.

The first set of R62s were delivered in October 1983. They entered service on the 4 on November 29. At that time these new cars were a great relief for IRT riders who were used to non-air conditioned and graffiti-filled trains. After several test runs in early 1984, the R62 cars began regular delivery to the 4. All 325 cars were in use by 1985.

Kawasaki did not want to build the additional cars the NYCTA wanted as a separate part of the R62 order, known as R62A. Bombardier, based in Canada, would win a contract to supply these 825 cars.

On August 28, 1991 a sleep-deprived and intoxicated motorman crashed a 4 express train at 14th Street-Union Square in Manhattan. Five riders were killed and several dozen were injured. R62 cars 1435, 1437, 1439 and 1440 were wrecked and scrapped.

On October 25, 2000, during the 2000 World Series, cars 1369 and 1370 were involved in a rear end crash on the Jerome Avenue el in the Bronx. 1369 was totaled.

Several R62s have been painted in New York Yankees' colors and logos, since the 4 serves Yankee Stadium at 161st Street.

Specifications

• Car numbers 1301-1625
• Length 51 ft 1/2 in
• Height 11 ft 10 5/8 in
• Weight 74,900 lb (odd-numbered cars); 74,540 lb (even-numbered cars)
• Seating 44
• Propulsion General Electric SCM 17KG1924A1
• Motors 4 GE 1257E1 115 horsepower
• Braking WABCO RT2

External links

• nycsubway.org - NYC Subway Cars: R62/R62A