Are cars from Toronto TTC compatible with NYCTA?

are the subway cars used in toronto ontario canada compatible with the nyc subway system

They would be, except that the wheel gauge in Toronto is NOT, again, NOT the standard United States/international gauge of 4' 8.5". The TTC gauge for their rail trucks is 4' 10", which is 1.5" too wide for use anywhere else.

Toronto is not the only Rapid Transit system with different gauge operation. The BART in San Francisco operates with a rail gauge of 5' 0" (five feet even).

SEPTA's Market-Frankford line and Subway-Surface cars are also broad gauge.

The only cars compatible with the NYC Subway are the ones currently operating on the NYC Subway.

-otto-

PATH cars are compatible. Broad Street Subway, Philadelphia. Chicago Transit Authority. Boston Cars too.

UpperHarlemLine4ever wrote:PATH cars are compatible. Broad Street Subway, Philadelphia. Chicago Transit Authority. Boston Cars too.

Only by gauge, but not width dimensions. Aren't PATH and CTA cars narrower than even IRT cars? And they are shorter in length too.

SEPTA's Braod Street Subway (physical plant and cars) were all built to IND/BMT standards and dimensions; they'd fit in New York with no problem at all. Back in the mid-1970's, the SOAC did demonstrations on lines both in New York and on the Broad Street Line in Philly.

Don't know about CTA, but for sure PATH cars are much wider than IRT cars and probably nearly the same length.

Believe it or not Arrow, CTA cars are a bit narrower in width than the IRT division and 3 feet smaller then the IRT's. CTA's length is 48 feet 0 inches (48' 3" coupled length), so they could have actually ran on the IRT tracks and see CTA cars in NYCTA land!

As for the IND/BMT, the MBTA Red Line cars are the longest in between the R1 thru R42, R143/R160 combo cars (60 feet) and the R44/46 combo and R68/68A comdo (75 feet). The MBTA Red Liners are 69"6 feet long (69' 9" coupled length) and also 122" wide. So at 600 feet, the NYCTA B division platfors could easily accomodate an MBTA Red line 8-car train! Any Red Line Model (01400 thru 01800). That's a great idea to compare

The original H&M cars and the IRT cars have the same dimensions. The current PATH cars have a midrift bulge but I believe could still be operated on the IRT. Platform clearances are the same.

If you are talking about true compatibility, we are talking about dimensions, braking systems, signal systems, electrical pick-up systems. None of the cars mentioned above are out-of-the-box compatible with the NYC Subway.

-otto-

especially not Toronto's cars as they are 75 feet in length

Actually, NYCTA has cars that are 75 feet long, like the R44/46 combo and the R68/68A combo, so the TTC cars could trainline with IND/BMT tracks, although their 4' 10' wheeltrucks may have to be swapped with the standard 4' 8.5" wheel support. They also have the same width, so it wouldn't be a problem with compatability.