A Sad Day in Brooklyn for New Subway Cars?
TWU Local 100 members attended a “mock funeral” for 940 new subway cars that may never hit the rails because the MTA’s capital program remains largely unfunded. The funeral, which was conducted by the Straphangers Campaign in the Jay St/MetroTech station in Brooklyn, featured a bagpiper and a wreath for the high-tech R211 cars that would replace “clunkers” built in the 1970s now on the A, F and R lines.
Transit officials have urged the state and city to increase subsidies to help plug the $14 billion shortfall in the $32 billion capital plan. The 2015-2019 plan would fund system repairs and upgrades, expansion projects like the Second Ave. subway, and replacement of equipment like subway trains and buses. About a dozen Local 100 members, officers and staffers showed their support for capital plan funding by attending the proceedings.