MTA to get 120 new cars for $230M

Metro-North Railroad will acquire 120 additional cars after a state transportation committee Thursday approved the $230 million purchase.

Assemb. Catherine Nolan (D — Ridgewood) of the Capital Program Review Board had rejected the measure in February after Mayor Michael Bloomberg complained that it could tilt state funding toward suburban riders.

The pair dropped the objection after the MTA agreed to take over seven private bus lines that serve the outer boroughs and are subsidized by the city on the condition that the rail-car purchase be approved. The reversal allows Metro-North to speed up the manufacturing of additional cars for a total delivery of 300.

Metro-North had expected 180 new cars to update its aging fleet, hampered by this winter's ice and snow, and officials pressed legislators to take advantage of an opening in the manufacturer's production cycle to buy 120 more cars.

The entire delivery is expected by the end of 2005, said Metro-North spokesman Dan Brucker.

"It will virtually transform the reliability and dependability of this railroad," he said.