Kawasaki PA-5 delivery status.

[HBLR]

Close to the end? Really? They still have several 7 and 8 car older trains. Today i saw the older trains randomly mixed, usually you see one every 4 trains or so, but not today, they were all over the place. In fact my longer route than normal via PATH to & from today i only sat in one PA-5, the other 4 trains were older.

[RedbirdR33]

I rode Path this past Thursday (4/21/11) and saw three trains of old cars still in operation. I was able to get the consists of two of these.
33-JSQ Lcl - 863-106-876-867-179-102-836. WTC-HOB Lcl 804-888-816-873-889-118-689. Its nice to see a few of the PA-1's are still hanging in.

Has anyone heard of a target date for all the PA-5's to be delivered?

Larry,RedbirdR33

[HBLR]

Last week i did indeed see a solid set of PA-4, though it may have been a shop move or some such.

[RedbirdR33]

This is just another update on the older PATH cars. I rode PATH on Thursday , 5.19/11 and observed two trains of the older equipment:

33-JSQ LCL : 819-145-818-801-614-825-827

WTC-NWK LCL : 883-628-814-865-866-150-120-875

Larry, RdbirdR33

[Head-end View]

Thanks for the update. I'll be trying for one more ride in a few weeks maybe.

[E-44]

Rolled by the Kawasaki plant in Yonkers on MN this afternoon. A string of cars was just being pushed out of the plant. There were maybe 20-30 cars already outside that appeared to be externally complete. Looks like they are working overtime to complete the order.

[R36 Combine Coach]

There was a PA1/PA4 train on the Newark line this afternoon.

[HBLR]

I feel they are trying to get every last mile out of the 2 door fleet till they need a repair or more PA-5 come & replace. I think we can safely say the PA-1 is the most successful rapid transit car ever made and has likely paid the order off many, many times. It will be sad to see them go, but the've served well and it's their time to go.

[Head-end View]

HBLR, I couldn't have said it better myself. And the new trains are very cool, but I'm just so angry about losing the view.

[OportRailfan]

I feel they are trying to get every last mile out of the 2 door fleet till they need a repair or more PA-5 come & replace. I think we can safely say the PA-1 is the most successful rapid transit car ever made and has likely paid the order off many, many times. It will be sad to see them go, but the've served well and it's their time to go.

While there are a handful of PA1's still floating around, they are definitely outnumbered by the PA4's as they're 20-25 years younger.

I know some of the older cars will be kept for parts and work trains.

[R36 Combine Coach]

I think we can safely say the PA-1 is the most successful rapid transit car ever made and has likely paid the order off many, many times. It will be sad to see them go, but the've served well and it's their time to go.

Some will say the same about the R32s, which are still running in daily service.

[Head-end View]

Interesting that those cars built in the mid-1960's turned out to be such good equipment. By the 1970's, American car builders were starting the downward spiral i.e. the R-46 debacle.

[Terry Kennedy]

Some will say the same about the R32s, which are still running in daily service.

Quite a few R32's have been scrapped at this point (I don't have an exact count). The R32's had full stainless bodies, while the PA-1 through PA-3 did not. So rust became an issue with those older PA cars.

Interesting that those cars built in the mid-1960's turned out to be such good equipment. By the 1970's, American car builders were starting the downward spiral i.e. the R-46 debacle.

Most of the R46 problems were due to the HPT-2 trucks, where someone seems to have said "This sounds like a great idea! Let's use them on the whole fleet order before testing any of them!"

PATH tended to create 1-off (or small numbers) of test configurations and run them in unmodified trains in regular service, and then see how they performed in comparison to the unmodified cars. This was mostly for things like LED side and end signs (different cars), faux-granite floor instead of vinyl, and so on. Insisting that all of the PA-1 through PA-4 cars be interopeable (post R-rebuild) helped this a lot. Due to the tech on the PA-5's being so different, that is no longer the case.

PATH did have its share of problems, though - remember the QC stickers and individual serial barcodes on the interior door indication lamps?

[R36 Combine Coach]

Some will say the same about the R32s, which are still running in daily service.

Quite a few R32's have been scrapped at this point (I don't have an exact count). The R32's had full stainless bodies, while the PA-1 through PA-3 did not. So rust became an issue with those older PA cars.

About 240 R32s remain in service. The older PA cars were painted aluminum.

[Terry Kennedy]

The older PA cars were painted aluminum.

The side panels are mostly aluminum, but there are enough ferrous parts that rust is a serious problem. Look at the exterior destination signs over the side doors and the gutters above them. Many of them were showing serious rust. There's also a problem where the car ends are attached to the side body. There's rust as well as galvanic corrosion there.