MTA issues RFP for largest subway car order

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has issued a request for proposals (RFP) from rail-car manufacturers for the authority's largest ever order of subway cars for MTA New York City Transit (NYCT).

Available on the MTA Vendor Portal, the RFPs are due Sept. 8. The contract is anticipated to be awarded in early 2028, according to an MTA press release.

The contract calls for a base order of 1,140 model R262 subway cars to replace the R62 and R62A fleets on NYCT's 1, 3 and 6 subway lines, as well as an option to purchase an additional 1,250 subway cars to replace the R142 and R142A fleets on the 2, 4 and 5 lines, MTA officials said.

At a total of 2,390 new cars, the full contract order would replace up to 36.4% of NYCT's entire subway fleet, or about 17.3% with the base order alone.

Ahead of the RFP issuance, the MTA's newly created rolling stock program streamlined the proposal and contracting processes, MTA officials said. The new approach gives manufacturers greater flexibility to propose new ideas, they added.

Technical specifications in the RFP include automatic passenger counting systems, electric braking controls, onboard cameras and passenger experience features. A portion of the order will contain a to-be-determined number of open gangway cars, MTA officials said.

The new cars will improve system reliability with a higher mean distance between failure (MDBF), a measure of how long a car can operate without the need for repairs and maintenance, they added. The new R262 cars have a MDBF of 200,000 miles, compared to the existing fleets' average of 89,000 miles.

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.