Car Shortage?

I wrote e-mail replies to the NY MTA and they give generic responses as well. Last summer, when I tried to contact them about the Redbird cars, they replied saying that "all Redbirds would retired by the end of 2003/early 2004 except for 100 cars". The letter not mention facts or details about the cars, although it did mention how to buy one as surplus property.

I guess all transit agencies write generic replies. It's a mentality.

I just got a reply from NJT to my question sent on June 16 about new cars. It doesn't quite answer my question but it contains some stuff. Here's their reply:
Thank you for contacting NJ TRANSIT via the Internet.

Below is some information on seating capacity of our rail vehicles. We realized that the Comet V cars have less seats when the cars were ordered and longer trains were planed to keep the same number of seats on the trains. Also note that the multi-level cars on order have an approximate 20% increase in seating capacity over the Comet V cars.
Seating capacities of the new Multi-Level Cars compared to our present coaches:
Cab Cars Trailers with Toilets Trailers
Multi-Level Cars 128 Seats 132 Seats 142 Seats
Comet V 109 Seats 111 Seats 117 Seats
Comet IV 104 Seats 107 Seats 113 Seats
Comet III 103 Seats 108 Seats 118 Seats
Comet II (Overhauled) 131 Seats
Arrow III EMU A-Car-117 Seats B-Car-113 Seats Single Car-117 Seats

I trust this information proves helpful.


The only problem is, their answer says that "longer trains were planned to keep the same number of seats on the trains." So far, on my line (PJ) there have been the same number of cars, so there has been a seat reduction per train.

I definately see the shortage of cars on the NEC from time to time, seeing 3 cab cars on trains, with the RVL though there's nothing but 6 car consists anymore. There used to be several 5 car consists. About the MNCR V's here's the proposed roster I've got...
6700-6714 - Cab Cars
6750-6754 - Trailers (toilet)
6755-6799 - Trailers (no toilet)

njt5140 wrote:I definately see the shortage of cars on the NEC from time to time, seeing 3 cab cars on trains, with the RVL though there's nothing but 6 car consists anymore. There used to be several 5 car consists. About the MNCR V's here's the proposed roster I've got...
6700-6714 - Cab Cars
6750-6754 - Trailers (toilet)
6755-6799 - Trailers (no toilet)

Yeah, see that on the NEC, NJCL and on the M&E (with three midtrain cab cars.) Before, you saw a LOT of Comet V cab cars. You still do but now I also see midtrain Comet III and Comet IV cabs lately. About the MN cars, most, if not all of the cab cars and the non toilet trailers have been delivered. Also, how high will the Comet V non-bathroom trailers go up too? It was reported in here that 6601 was delivered about a month ago and I saw it in Perth Amboy on Sunday. We now have at least a hundred non-bathroom trailers on property (not including 6500.) That's a lot!

I think there are only 2 MN trailers and 1 cab left in line, then Bathroom trailers which ARE in production right now.

ABCD wrote:I think there are only 2 MN trailers and 1 cab left in line, then Bathroom trailers which ARE in production right now.

Cool. Thanks for the update.