New York City is getting rid of its iconic orange and yellow subway cars

After half a century, New York City is retiring its iconic orange and yellow subways. This year the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) will begin phasing out the R46 trains and replacing them with newer, sleeker models already running on some city lines.

“Old rail cars break down six times as often as new cars, so replacing them is more than just a matter of aesthetics,” MTA Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber said in a statement. statement. The decision will help “[make] makes the system more reliable and dramatically improves the passenger experience.”

The MTA recently purchased 435 R211 trains – including 80 “open gangway” trains, which allow passengers to transfer between cars – to replace the older models to which many New Yorkers have become attached.

The first R46 trains ran on the track in the summer of 1975. The 23-metre-long subway cars (marketed as ‘the best in the world’) were equipped with rubber floors, fluorescent lighting and plastic seats – a departure from older subwayswith rattan chairs. The interiors of the R46 are designed in a “convivial” style, with seats arranged in both long rows and double sofas.

“The change that’s happening now with this new kind of shift in the type of conversation to the long benches, and actually more standing room, feels a little bit seismic to people, because it is,” said Concetta Bencivenga, director of the New York Transit Museumtells the WashingtonPostby Karla Marie Sanford.

As of October, 696 of the original 754 R46 cars were still in service WashingtonPost. Some commuters are lamenting the model’s upcoming retirement, saying they will miss the cramped situation two-seater sofas.

“Sitting on the train with friends and sitting next to each other in the ‘love seats’ will always have a place in my heart,” Timmhotep Aku, a 45-year-old New Yorker, told the newspaper. WashingtonPost.

Other riders mourn the loss of the distinguishing mark warm colors of the R46 cars.

“One of the things that’s interesting about the orange and yellow seats is that it was a departure for our system,” as earlier models were decorated in cooler colors, says Jodi Shapiro, curator of the New York Transit Museum. Hyperallergicby Isa Farfan. The warm tones of the R46 reflected the “environmental consciousness and a return to nature” of the early 1970s.

The R46s are the oldest cars in the MTA’s fleet and have “reached the end of their service life,” according to a recent MTA report. The R211 cars will be equipped with more accessible seating, brighter lights, security cameras and better signage.

Most of the newer cars won’t arrive until 2027, so the R46s won’t disappear immediately. As Bencivenga tells WashingtonPostthe older trains have become icons of the city.

‘If you were to bring this up [train] without other identifying information, you could very likely guess you were in New York,” Bencivenga says. “In the real world these days, there are very few experiences that evoke such a visceral reaction, right? When you get on board you think, ‘Yes, I understand.’