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The deal to purchase as many as 1,700 new subway cars for the BMT/IND divisions was signed on July 30, 2002, between MTA New York City Transit and the rail car builders Kawasaki Heavy Industries of Japan and Alstom of France. The R160 fleet will be nearly identical to the R143 cars built by Kawasaki. The initial contract for $961,687,121, to be funded by the Federal Transit Administration, covers 660 cars split between the two manufacturers (400 to Alstom, 260 to Kawasaki) . The contract includes an option for 620 additional cars and a second option for 380 to 420 cars. The deal, including all of the options, is worth over $2.3 billion and is probably the largest rapid transit purchase in history. On July 25, 2007, the MTA approved purchase of an additional 620 R160 cars from Alstom and Kawasaki, under the options previously negotiated, for a total value of $1.1 billion. Alstom received orders for 360 additional cars and Kawasaki 260 cars. These option orders would arrive in the 2008-2009 timeframe. The MTA has remaining options for a further additional 420 cars. On November 10, 2008, the MTA exercized second option orders on both the R160A and R160B fleets (242 R160A and 140 R160B). These cars are to arrive by the end of 2010. Potential third option orders are still pending, for approximately 130 R160A cars and 100 R160B cars. The first R160A cars were delivered from Alstom's Hornell, NY facility in December 2005 (car numbers 8653-8662). The remainder of Alstom's base order of 400 cars will be delivered through 2008. The body shells are being manufactured in Lapa, Brazil, and outfitted in Hornell, NY. The first of the R160B cars (car numbers 8713-8722) were delivered from Kawasaki Heavy Industries from their facility in Yonkers, NY, beginning July 20, 2005. Kawasaki plans to manufacture their share of the R160 order at plants in Nebraska and in Yonkers, NY. The R160A and R160B cars feature a new electronic interior route/stop display sign, called "FIND" (Flexible INformation Display). This is a multicolor LCD screen displaying the route and destination (and possibly, advertisements) and a multicolor LED strip map which displays the next ten stations, plus five "further stations". Each car will have multiple "FIND" displays. The programmable LED stip map replaces a plastic card overlay which had a fixed set of stations for a route printed on it, used in the R142 and R143 cars. The LED system allows the conductor to reprogram the route display on the fly. The R160 order is intended to replace the 60' "SMEE" cars, in classes R32, R38, R40/R40M, and R42. The first set of cars to be replaced were the 100 R42 cars overhauled by Coney Island shops, followed by the ten R32 GE overhauls and the R32 phase II cars. By the end of 2008, a large portion of the R38 and "Slant" R40 fleet had also been retired. Roster/Images by Car Number
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