In response to customers’ calls for more capacity, NJ Transit has rolled out the first expanded light rail vehicle on the Newark Light Rail system, New Jersey. This is the first of 10 expanded vehicles to come for the Newark Light Rail following prototype testing.
With 21 vehicles in the Newark Light Rail line, nearly half (10) will be the expanded type. Customers will enjoy a more comfortable ride as the larger vehicles provide a 50 percent increase in the number of seats per car.
To address the need for increased capacity, NJ Transit partnered with Kinkisharyo International, LLC, the original vehicle manufacturer of the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail’s existing fleet, and Twenty-First Century Rail Corporation. Kinkisharyo came up with a design for an expanded vehicle that adds two additional sections to the existing light rail vehicle, increasing the number of sections from three to five.
At approximately $1.55 million per car, the cost for converting vehicles is about one-third the cost of purchasing new vehicles at $4.6 million each. Further, more than 80 percent of the project costs are federally funded under the CMAQ Program jointly administered by the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration.
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