Metro

MTA set to pay nearly $3 billion for old, overweight LIRR, Metro-North cars

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Social Links for Nolan Hicks
Published Jan. 17, 2023
Updated Jan. 17, 2023, 7:16 p.m. ET

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is preparing to spend nearly $3 billion to buy hundreds of overweight and overpriced train cars that will saddle riders with longer commutes — and the cash-strapped agency with higher costs for decades to come, The Post has learned. 

The MTA still wants to move ahead with another purchase of the steel dinosaurs even though federal authorities approved a massive regulatory overhaul in 2018 that now allows the agency to buy high-tech trains — common in Europe — that are dramatically faster, lighter and cheaper. 

“MTA rolling stock procurement is too conservative and is asking for trains that are less advanced than what the international vendors make — too heavy, for one,” said Alon Levy, who is part of a team at NYU’s Marron Institute of Urban Management studying why US transit agencies struggle to build and operate as efficiently as their major international counterparts. 

“So just building to these specs costs more than building to the specs of standard European regional trains.” 

An M9 train pulls into the Huntington Station. Switching to lighter train common in Europe would save money and speed commutes, a Post analysis found.
An M9 train pulls into Huntington Station. Switching to lighter trains common in Europe would save money and speed commutes, a Post analysis found. New York Post

So far, the MTA has spent $723 million to purchase 202 M9 cars for the Long Island Rail Road — a program that was first approved in 2013. 

That’s enough to add roughly 10 new, 10-car-long trains to its schedule when they all finally arrive, following a slew of delays chronicled in a report last year by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli.

Despite the problems, the transit agency hopes to double down and buy at least 432 more cars — lightly updated and known as the M9-A — for both the LIRR and MetroNorth, officials confirmed to The Post.

The value of the new order is at least $1.4 billion – and the likely cost rises to $2.8 billion when factoring in the cost of financing, a Post analysis found.

Officials are still pushing ahead even though federal officials OK’d the regulatory overhaul — known as alternative compliance — which allows railroads like the LIRR and Metro-North to operate train cars commonly used in Europe with only tiny modifications.

The European trains make extensive use of aluminum and other advanced materials, which makes them substantially lighter — reducing wear and tear on switches and tracks, dramatically improving acceleration and increasing energy efficiency.

A 10-car, steel-bodied M9 train weighs more than 660 tons — with each car clocking in at more than 131,000 pounds. A Post comparison against three comparably long European models — built by Siemens, Alstom and Stadler — with similar passenger capacities found that the heaviest one weighed in 450 tons, making the trains at least a third lighter.

The Stadler FLIRT is one train that's commonly used on commuter railroads in Europe, including in London. It's lighter and quicker and less expensive than the LIRR's M9, a Post analysis found.
The Stadler FLIRT is one train that’s commonly used on commuter railroads in Europe, including in London. It’s lighter and quicker and less expensive than the LIRR’s M9, a Post analysis found.

Estimates and real-world observations by Levy and Patrick O’Hara, a transit activist who runs the long-standing LIRR Today website, show the quicker acceleration would save at least 30 seconds per stop, which quickly adds up:

  • It would cut the 46-minute local service between Port Washington and Penn Station to 40 minutes, making it practically as fast as the express;
  • It would shave nine minutes off the 75 minute, 18-stop trip between Babylon and Penn, making it almost as quick as the 62-minute limited-stop service;
  • It would knock eight minutes off the 59-minute ride between North White Plains and Grand Central, making it nearly as fast as the express.

The European trains are also built for many railroads and in far larger numbers than the MTA’s highly customized train sets, so the costs are lower.

Opting for the European trainsets could save $800 million in purchase and finance costs alone, The Post’s investigation determined. That’s $27 million annually.

The figure could easily climb to $109 million or more when calculating the savings in energy and maintenance that would come from adopting lighter train fleets as part of the MTA’s overall fleet replacement and expansion program, The Post’s analysis found.

That’s roughly a quarter of the almost $400 million in potential savings uncovered by a seven-month Post investigation into the operations and management of the MTA’s commuter railroads as the agency seeks a rescue from Albany.

This Siemens train is another model that was included in the Post's analysis. It runs on the Thameslink, which is one of the busiest commuter lines in London. British authorities recently completed a massive program, including purchasing these new trains, to expand service and reduce crowding on the line.
This Siemens train is another model that was included in the Post’s analysis. It runs on the Thameslink, which is one of the busiest commuter lines in London. British authorities recently completed a massive program, including purchasing these new trains, to expand service and reduce crowding on the line. PA Images via Getty Images

Internally, MTA officials say, the commuter railroads have been hesitant to embrace the new European models because they operate as unified trainsets instead of single train cars that are paired together. 

At the MTA, officials say they view it as a potential liability: First, they argued it could decrease reliability by keeping an entire train out of service if something goes wrong on a single car; and they say their maintenance facilities and yards would likely have to be retrofitted.

European railroads view that as an asset because it allows them to fit more seats and makes it easier for passengers to move around on trains. 

So did the commuter railroad that links San Francisco to San Jose, CalTrain, which opted for European-designed train sets to overhaul its fleet.

“The LIRR appreciates the benefits of lighter cars,” said MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan. “We are open to working with the [federal regulators], manufacturers and other railroads to find ways to get safer, less expensive rail cars here more quickly.”