R44 (New York City Subway car)

R44 (New York City Subway car)
#5398 on the A at Beach 67 Street.
Interior of an R44 car.
Constructed	1971-1972
Number built	352
Number in service	336
Number scrapped	16
Specifications
Car length	75 ft (22.9 m)
Doors	8
Braking system(s)	WABCO "SMEE" Braking System

The R44 is a model of passenger train car that operates on the New York City Subway and the Staten Island Railway. The R44 debuted in 1971.

The R44 was the first 75-foot (22.86 m) car for the New York City Subway. It was introduced for IND and BMT service because it was thought that a train of eight 75-foot (23 m) cars would be more efficient than ten 60-foot (18.29 m) cars. Even with an overall increase in length, the R44s only had eight sets of doors per car (Ten 60-foot (18 m) cars have 40 sets of doors whereas eight 75-foot (23 m) cars only have 32 sets of doors).

To be sure that the system could accommodate 75-foot (23 m) cars, two retired R1 cars (numbered 165 and 192; renumbered XC675 and XC575 respectively) were cut in half, lengthened to 75 feet (23 m) and sent to various places around the subway and the Staten Island Railway.[1][2][3][4][5][6] It was determined that the BMT Eastern Division (the J/Z, L and M services) would be too difficult to convert to 75-foot (23 m) length, so this was not done.

The R44s were the last subway cars built by St. Louis Car Company, which in 1974 left the rail transit car business after the order was completed, due to various technical problems that plague these cars to this day.

The R44s came in singles which needed each other to run, much like the "Protestant Marriages" of the R26/27/28/30s. These were later married after overhaul into ABBA sets of four cars. A cars are evenly numbered cars with operator cabs. B cars have odd-numbers and no cabs.

The interior design departed drastically from previous models. The R44 had orange and yellow plastic bucket seats, a feature which many later models would later incorporate. The seats were protected from the doorways by faux wood and glass panels. The walls were tan with "wallpaper" featuring the seal of the State of New York.

This system continued onto the subsequent R46 cars.

The R44 was the first subway car since the BMT Green Hornet to incorporate a warning tone that sounds immediately before the doors begin to close as the train prepares to leave the station. The tone consists of two notes which are often described as "bing-bong" since they are the same as the first two notes of the Westminster Chimes. This has become the signature sound of the New York City subway and is still used with new cars.

The R44 also set the world speed record for a subway car. On January 31, 1972, the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) used a train of R44 cars to conduct speed trials on the Long Island Rail Road's main line tracks between Woodside and Jamaica. The R44s set an official world speed record, for subway trains, of 87.75 mph (141.2 km/h), with NYCTA personnel noting that the train was still accelerating as it approached the end of the designated 5.9 mile (9.5 km) long test track. The NYCTA repeated the speed trial, this time purposely disabling two out of four motors per car, to indirectly simulate the effect of a rush hour crowd of passengers. The train still managed to reach 77 mph (124 km/h).

During the General Overhaul Program (GOH) from 1990–92, the R44's were rebuilt by NYCTA at 207 Street Overhaul Shop in Inwood, Manhattan; Coney Island Overhaul Shop in Brooklyn (cars 5342-5479); and Morrison-Knudsen (cars 5202-5341). The blue stripe was removed and painted gray. Since this stripe was carbon steel, it is now beginning to rust. The rollsigns on the sides of the cars were replaced with electronic LCD signs which remain today. The cars were also given four-digit numbers. They previously had three-digit numbers.

The R44 Staten Island Railway cars are also known as R44 SI or MUE-2. The Staten Island Railway's 64 R44 type cars are modified to FRA standards for passenger equipment running on a freight road. Cars are numbered 388-466, all single units with couplers (no permanent sets), with 436-466 even numbers only. 388-399 are transfers from the subway system.

The MTA is planning to replace the R44's with cars that are tentatively called the R179.

References

• Sansone, Gene. Evolution of New York City subways: An illustrated history of New York City's transit cars, 1867-1997. New York Transit Museum Press, New York, 1997 ISBN 978-0963749284

External links

• nycsubway.org - NYC Subway Cars: R44
• Operator's panel
• Car Status/Assignment