R46 (New York City Subway car)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The R46 is a New York City Subway car that operates on the IND and BMT routes of the New York City Subway. They were built by Pullman Standard in Chicago, Illinois in 1975–78. These cars, as well as the previous R44 were 75 feet long. While the R44 had Westinghouse propulsion, the R46 had General Electric propulsion.
The R46 order was 754 cars, numbered from 500-1278. After they were rebuilt in 1990–91, they were renumbered to 5482-6258. Only 752 cars were rebuilt by Morrison-Knudsen. Two of the cars had been scrapped, due to accidents.
The R46s currently serve on the F, G, R, V, and occasionally the E trains, and are based out of Jamaica Yard in Queens. Like the R44, they run in linked sets, ABBA. Even cars with cabs are A cars, odd cars (without cabs) are B cars.
[edit] R46 problems
The R46 problems began when the first cracked R46 Rockwell HPT2 truck was discovered in March 1977, just a few years after the R46s appeared on the subway, after a transom arm cracked off its parent-side frame casing, causing the traction motor to fall onto an axle. The lightweight trucks operated under stress forces three times greater than what they were designed to handle. Filters were installed in test instrumentation when Pullman Standard, the builder, tested the trucks in 1973, and these filters were used improperly, masking stress forces. The effect was that cracks developed in them, and these cracks could lead to a truck failure, possibly causing a derailment. In 1972, dubious New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) engineers had cautioned against buying the Rockwell trucks.[citation needed]
R46s placed on the BMT Brighton Line were retrofitted after residents complained about vibrations and higher noise levels than the previously used cars. In addition, part of the 754-car order was significantly behind schedule due to a strike at the builder, Pullman Standard. The NYCTA filed a US$112.3 million lawsuit against Pullman Standard and Rockwell International for compensation for both the flawed trucks and the delayed delivery. Rockwell, in its defense, claimed that the NYCTA terms for stress tests on the trucks were poorer than those the corporation wanted to run themselves. Charges of corruption by NYCTA officials for accepting poor quality subway cars were denied by the NYCTA, but were investigated by New York City’s Department of Investigation. When the R46s were acquired, the NYCTA did not buy a few samples of the trucks to test out on the subway first, which ran counter to its long standing policy to test out new components before making bulk purchases. MTA Chief William Ronan had allowed the purchase exclusive of the initial test model because he felt that the NYCTA urgently needed to get new equipment on the system. Years later, Manhattan Borough President Andrew Stein would accuse Ronan of making a highly suspect deal with Rockwell.
By 1978, the R46s had 264 trucks with a range of cracks, gouges and sand holes in them. As these trucks were pulled out of service for repair, the left-over R46s had to be checked three times a week. To make matter worse, the last R46s due in 1978 were postponed because of the Pullman Standard strike. In February of 1978, 889 cracks were found in 547 of the trucks. The cracking became so bad that on June 14, 1979, New York City Mayor Koch ordered 109 R46s with trucks that had two or more cracks out of service. As of that date, 1,200 cracks classified into seven special types were found to affect these trucks. The last of the R46s were deployed in December of 1978, three years behind schedule. An account called the R46s "the most troubled subway car ever purchased".
An arrangement to allow Pullman to repair rather than replace the trucks was suggested by Senior Executive John G. deRoos, but many officials felt this would let Pullman off the hook too lightly. The NYCTA found that welding the trucks would not resolve the predicament, and wanted them replaced irrespective of the cost. This was essentially why they filed the claim. The MTA ended up discarding the deRoos-backed repair plan.
In July of 1979 Pullman Standard informed the TA that the hand brake assemblies for the R46 could be faulty and they should be detached. The NYCTA decided not to get rid of them, but removed the R46s from any service that crossed the Manhattan Bridge and ran on the Sea Beach Express tracks. In late July 1979, inspectors reported that steel was wearing away in the spot where the car body is joined to the truck, and that this could be potentially unsafe.
By the end of 1979, twenty other flaws in the R46 were found, and the Transit Authority filed another US$80 million charge against Pullman Standard and a number of other subcontractors. This lawsuit negated an agreement made with Pullman by executive director John G. deRoos for US$1.5 million in spare parts to remedy the defects. It was the invalidation of this agreement that led to deRoos's resignation, amid disapproval of his handling the problem unsuccessfully. Also in late December, because so many R46s were out of service, the Transit Authority removed 100 R16 cars from storage, got them in running order, and placed them in service on the subway. Only a few years before, it was the R16 series of subway cars that were considered the least reliable in the system, and they were ironically taking the place of the newest cars in the fleet. The R16s suffered from controllers that frequently shorted out, preventing the cars from moving. Initially placed into service in 1955, the R16s were removed from service only 20 years later because of this problem. US$200,000 was spent, in total, in sprucing up and temporarily repairing the R16s. Just as the R44 put the St. Louis Car Company out of the passenger car business, the R46 order put Pullman Standard out of business. Only the Budd Company was still left.
The R46 Rockwell truck mess continued nonstop and unabated into 1980. This time, the number of cracks found on the trucks almost doubled, from 889 cracks logged in February 1979 to 1,700 in March 1980. The R46s had to be inspected several times a week at the NYCTA's cost. As of March 1980, 62 R46s were out of service due to cracks, and 112 were out of service for other reasons. In September 1980, two cracks of a type not seen before were found on the trucks. As a result, the NYCTA cut the R46 usage rate in half, and they would run only during weekday rush hours. Previously, they had run from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. every day. Moving the R46s in and out of the yards caused delays throughout all the IND–BMT lines. In an effort to reduce the mileage that the R46s ran, 144 of them were moved to the Brighton Line, but criticism from Brighton Beach residents about excessive vibration forced the NYCTA to shift them to the A and CC services. Ironically, R46s were run at all times during a sharp equipment deficiency during December 1980 through January 1981, due to very cold weather. In early 1981, R10s were making up the service. All of the R16s, the cars the R46s were intended to replace, were put back into service while the R46 troubles were sorted out. The problems were, besides the cracked trucks, heaters and wiring that posed fire hazards, faulty lighting, and door controls. There was even a NYCTA proposal to remove the cross seats from the R46s and replace them with side-facing seats, as found in the R27s through R42s. In late December of 1981, the NYCTA won US$72 million in damages from Rockwell International, but the City Department of Investigation indicted seven high-ranking transit officials in connection with the planning, purchase, inspection and acceptance of the R46 subway cars. Improprieties such as favoritism to certain contactors and mismanagement were cited. On March 8, 1982, Rockwell paid New York City US$80 million for damages that resulted from the faulty trucks.
By 1986, th R46’s Mean Distance Between Failure (MDBF) rating was a dismal approximate 10,000 miles. This was the worst rating ever for the NYCTA's history.[citation needed]
Improvements came on the NYCTA's General Overhaul Program (GOH) in the mid 1980s, which improved the life span of the present cars and integrated the improvements of state-of-the-art controls. From 1989 to 1991, Morrison-Knudsen was the rebuilder of the R46 project. Morrison-Knudsen provided the updated features and new technology add-ins to make the R46s comparable to new cars. With a new and updated look, it returned to service. The R46 updated look included LCD destination signs. The blue strip was removed, and replaced with pure stainless steel. Other improvements included driving, lighting, controlling, and air conditioning. Since the overhaul, the reliability of the R46 has vastly improved and is no longer considered to be the lemon that it once was. The R46s are expected to remain in service until about 2015.
[edit] R-46 specifications
| Car builder | Pullman Standard Rail Company; Chicago, IL | |
| Car body | stainless steel with carbon end bonnet | |
| Unit numbers | 5482-6258 | |
| Fleet of | 752 cars | |
| Car dimensions | 75 ft long 10 ft wide 12 ft 15⁄8 in high |
22.86 m long 3.048 m wide 3.7 m high |
| Track, standard gauge | 4 ft 81⁄2 in | 1.435 m |
| Doorway width (side—clear opening) |
4 ft 2 in | 1.27 m |
| Wheel diameter | 34 inches | 864 mm |
| Propulsion system | General Electric E-CAM, DC Traction motors | |
| Power (4 per car) | 115 horsepower | 86 kW |
| Brakes | New York Air Brake System (NYAB) "SMEE" Braking System | |
| Average car weight (empty) |
~90,000 lb | ~42,000 kg |
| Maximum speed | 65 mph | 105 km/h (Later Lowered) |
| Total seated passengers | (Cab Car) A car: 70 / (No Cab) B car: 76 | |
| Air conditioning system | Two Thermo King HVAC units each car. | |
| Maximum Train Length | 8 Cars (2 Units) | |
| Notes |
|
|
| Price per car (new, 1974) | US$275,381 | |
[edit] External links
|
|
|
|---|---|
| Current fleet | IND/BMT/SIR: R32 - R32A - R38 - R40 - R40A - R42 - R44 - R46 - R68 - R68A - R143 - R160A - R160B IRT: R62 - R62A - R142 - R142A - R142S |
| Retired fleet (R-type) |
IND/BMT: R1 - R4 - R6 - R7 - R7A - R9 - R10 - R11 - R16 - R27 - R30 - R30A - R34 - R110B IRT: R12 - R14 - R15 - R17 - R21 - R22 - R110A - (Train of Many Colors) Redbirds (IRT): R26 - R28 - R29 - R33 - R33 WF - R36 - R36 WF |
| Never built | IRT/BMT: R39 IND/BMT: R55, R83 |
| Retired fleet (private operators) |
IRT: Composite - Deck Roof - Gibbs - Hi-V - Lo-V - Steinway - World's Fair BMT: AB Standard - Bluebird Compartment Car - BU cars - C-type - D-type Triplex - MS Multi-section car - Q-type Queens car |
