New car spotted…

[Taborite]

I think I may have seen a PA-5 in service around 8 AM today. I was sitting over on the track 3/4 island platform at Newark Penn, and from one of the cars of a passing PATH train (a few tracks over, obviously), for just a few seconds before it passed out of my field of view, I saw an amber LED sign in one of the side windows which said "World Trade Ctr". I didn't see the car number, nor enough of it to see any details unique to the PA-5 (I'm relatively sure that the window in question was wider than those on the PA-1-3 cars, and that the bodywork was stainless steel, so it might have been a PA-4 with the sign retrofitted -- but I doubt it)

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There are a couple of PA-4s with the destination sides added to the sides. I think if it were a PA-5, it would have stuck out even more than the PA-4's do now and you wouldn't have any doubt that you saw a PA-5.

[ctaman34]

There are a couple of PA-4s with the destination sides added to the sides. I think if it were a PA-5, it would have stuck out even more than the PA-4's do now and you wouldn't have any doubt that you saw a PA-5.

also some PA4'S have it in the front destination signs too 869 i remember has them what other PA4 cars have the front red LED signs ?

[tommyboy6181]

Some of the PA-4 cars have red LED signs that were added to the sides and front of the cars. They were done as a test for the new PA-5 fleet that should start running probably later this year.

On an unrelated note, anyone know if its going to be BBD, Alstom or Siemens propulsion on the new cars?

[Pablo M 201]

There are a couple of PA-4s with the destination sides added to the sides. I think if it were a PA-5, it would have stuck out even more than the PA-4's do now and you wouldn't have any doubt that you saw a PA-5.

also some PA4'S have it in the front destination signs too 869 i remember has them what other PA4 cars have the front red LED signs ?

I know of 819 for sure.

I used to know them all, I can't seem to remember them at the moment. I know there are about 4-5 for sure.

[B0000rt]

Saw a set of two cars this morning at 8:27am heading out westbound from the Harrison yard..

Distinctive blue colouring on the top ends... And shiny stainless steel colour throughout.

It was a 2 car set being pulled by one of those yellow utility cars.

[B0000rt]

Saw another single car today being pulled by a similar yellow utility car in the same area

5602

[tommyboy6181]

Turns out I found the answer to my own question earlier. Just like some of the new R160s, PATH is going to use Siemens AC propulsion on the new cars.

http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/s ... from_rss=1

[blasito]

I just came across this youtube video ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNWLW4SgY5Q

[hockeyman]

I had the pleasure of sitting next to the conductor between JSQ and Harrison when I heard a message about a "test run of the new babies tonight" I asked the guy and he said that they did have enough cars and they were going to test them out in the late evenings, but it would not be so great because they're making all the senior guys work night shifts for training and testing purposes. He also said we should probably start seeing the new sets mid september, they're going to be rotating sets in the beginning though, so it would do a NWK-WTC run, then a WTC-Hoboken run, Hoboken-33rd, 33rd-JSQ, JSQ-33rd and work their way around the system to try to qualify as many people in a short period of time before a big rollout in late nov-early dec.

[BuddSilverliner269]

The past 2 days there has been about 5-6 cars sitting outside the shops in Harrison alongside the shop. 1 of the cars is detached from the rest that are sitting there. Thought everyone would like to know. Take Care

[jamesrileyjr]

Attached I've got a pic I snapped this morning as I was on the 7:57a Newark to NYC NJCL express multilevel. I've been meaning to grab a pic like this but every time someone's been in the way.

As you can see, there's three that can be seen here, with the blue PATH wrap around blocking most of the railfan window. The cars are sitting behind the Harrison Yards, near the smaller maintenance building. No indication, at least not from here, if they're doing live trials right now. My father-in-law is an electrical engineer for PATH and has told me they're being trained on the new equipment (which includes Wifi, closed-circuit camera systems, LCD screens for the NBC broadcasts and upgraded automatic announcement systems) by the Kawasaki engineers and technicians.

I had to reduce the resolution a little in order to post it - anyone who wants a copy, let me know via PM and I'll email it to you.

[jamesrileyjr]

Also, from my observation and I'm not sure that you could make it out in the pic, the numbering is in the 5800 range. Those cars are 5801-6.

[B0000rt]

I've seen a 5602 as per above.

So since PATH is getting 300 cars or so, we can only assume they will range from 5600 to 5899 :D

[Head-end View]

Why would a small railroad like PATH use 4-digit numbers for a fleet of only a few hundred cars? The old cars only have 3-digit numbers.