MTA opens new subway-car acceptance and testing facility in Sunset Park

The MTA formally opened its new rail-car acceptance facility in Sunset Park on Friday, turning the Third Avenue Yard into a modern, indoor facility for inspecting, joining together and testing newly purchased rolling stock.

“It’s going to be the first stop for every subway car that we purchase going forward,” MTA Chairman Janno Lieber told reporters Friday. “There are a lot of them coming.”

The MTA’s capital plan budgets for purchasing some 1,500 new subway cars in the next five years: more new R211 trains and their R268 variants for the lettered lines, and a slew of R262s expected to bring the same technology to the numbered lines.

“This is where they get a top-to-bottom inspection and their last adjustments made before they safely enter service,” Lieber said, speaking in front of two large R211 cars — car Nos. 3655 and 3656 — that were slated to enter the system soon.

The brightly lit, two-track facility connects to the Fourth Ave. line of the D, N and R trains — and Sunset Park’s larger 36th-38th Street Yard just beyond. It also connects via rail to the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, where rail cars can be delivered by barge.

NYC Transit President Demetrius Crichlow said he expects the facility to process 30 cars a month.

Train cars will be inspected, tested and linked into four- or five-car consists at the facility — a process that takes about a week — before heading into the required 30-day rail-testing period and entering revenue service.

Currently, those steps take place at various yards throughout the system. And, as Crichlow noted, the process typically takes place outside.

“This facility will make a world of difference to our employees,” Crichlow said.

“The fact that we can do this under a covered roof? Man, it’s fantastic,” he said. “No more having to do it out in the rain, freezing temperatures [or] sun beating down on you.”

“The consistency and efficiency this will afford employees translates to faster and more reliable trips for our riders,” he added.

At the back of the facility, a R255 hybrid diesel-and-battery-powered work-train locomotive sat on the tracks.

In addition to the 1,500 new subway cars expected in the coming years, the MTA is also expected to purchase 45 new work-train locomotives, meant to replace the many aging 1970s-era diesels that carry cargo and personnel around the system.

Asked about the new work-train fleet Friday, Crichlow said the bulk of the repair work budgeted in the capital plan is reliant on work trains.

“Most folks don’t see it — it happens in the night, it happens on off-tours, but the reality is it’s an important portion of what we do,” he said.

“These trains,” Crichlow said pointing to the R255, “are more efficient, they’re hybrids so they have lower emissions.”

The NYCT president also pointed to air scrubbers installed at the facility’s windows. “This shop is one of a kind in that you’re able to run a diesel in this location without an issue,” he added.

A work-train slowdown snarled traffic on the Broadway and 4th Avenue lines Friday morning after a 70s-era R52 diesel stalled out near the 60th St. Tunnel while assigned to track work, and had to be towed back to the Coney Island Yard by another work train.