R-142A To JFK.. On Saturday, March 9, 2024, Metropolitan Transportation Authority - MTA NYCT Subway operated a test train of R-142As to the test track at Broad Channel, New York to test out a new emergency brake package. The R-142A initial order was built by Kawasaki from 1999-2002, making the oldest cars 25 years old this year. The MTA learned from the massive effort involved in shipping cars off property for rebuild in the 1980s and 1990s, and unlike many other transit systems, performs complete rebuilds in-house at its own shops on regular cycles. The train was operated on the A Line to the test track, where revenue service is operated using 60'6" or 75' long/10' wide cars, by comparison an R-142A is 51'6" long/9' wide, making for these highly unusual scenes.
