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On Dec. 11, New Jersey Transit will begin operating its first multi-level train on the Northeast Corridor between Trenton, N.J., and New York.

The agency expects to have nine multi-level trains ready for service in December; car builder Bombardier Transportation will begin delivering the remaining 225 cars in February. As vehicles are delivered and tested, NJ Transit will replace single-level cars on its busiest lines — the Northeast Corridor, North Jersey Coast Line and MidTOWN DIRECT line.

The new cars have up to 20 percent more seating capacity compared with a single-level car, as well as an upper and lower seating level and mezzanine level. The cars also feature large, tinted windows, wider aisles, fully accessible restrooms, automated public-address systems, LED screens, external public-address speakers, and wheelchair, cart, stroller and luggage areas.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey contributed $250 million toward the first 100 multi-level cars, which eventually will operate through the Trans-Hudson Express Tunnel. The two agencies are building the tunnels beneath the New Jersey Palisades and Hudson River to a new station beneath Manhattan’s 34th Street that will connect to Penn Station.