NJ Transit's First New Multilevel III Rail Car Arrives

NJ Transit finally got something to celebrate Monday. The agency’s first Multilevel III rail car rolled into the Meadows Maintenance Complex in Kearny, and for commuters who’ve been packing into 50-year-old equipment, it’s not nothing.

Governor Mikie Sherrill, Congressman Rob Menendez, Congresswoman Nellie Pou, and NJ Transit President and CEO Kris Kolluri gathered April 13 to show off what $3 billion-plus in fleet investment looks like up close. The new car, a multilevel power car manufactured by Alstom in Plattsburgh, New York, is the first of 374 planned for delivery. It won’t carry passengers yet. It’ll spend several months in testing and commissioning before up to 40 additional cars join it for service later this year.

The specs matter here.

NJ Transit’s current Arrow III and Comet II and IV single-level cars, some built in the 1970s, break down roughly every 30,000 to 40,000 miles. The Multilevel III cars are built to go approximately 400,000 miles between mechanical failures. That’s ten times the reliability. For anyone who’s watched a board flip to “DELAYED” at Newark Penn and felt nothing because they expected it, that number hits different.

The new cars will also run up to 110 miles per hour, which is faster than most of what’s on the tracks now. Riders get more seating, better accessibility features, USB charging ports, and onboard information screens. The power car design means trainsets up to 14 cars long can move without locomotives, delivering faster acceleration and more scheduling flexibility for the agency.

So yes. It’s progress.

But one car in testing is still one car. NJ Transit is replacing some of the oldest commuter rail equipment in the country, and the full 374-car order won’t be complete overnight. The agency’s target for full fleet modernization is 2031. That’s five years away, and riders on the Northeast Corridor, Morris and Essex lines, and elsewhere are still dealing with the current fleet every single day.

Sherrill framed the investment in her budget as historic. “New Jersey commuters deserve a transit system that is reliable and state-of-the-art,” she said at the event. Her budget includes funding for 40 new rail cars and 250 new buses this year, and she pointed to larger infrastructure projects, including the Portal North Bridge and Gateway Tunnel, as part of a longer-term fix.

Monday’s event also showed off a new 40-foot bus with USB charging ports, LED interior lighting, and a low-floor ramp design meant to speed up boarding, especially for seniors and riders with disabilities. There was also a new Access Link paratransit vehicle and a new mobile police command center on display. Earlier this year, the agency rolled out the first of its fully renovated River LINE light rail vehicles.

The Access Link vehicle deserves a mention on its own. Paratransit riders are often the last to benefit from fleet upgrades, and the communities relying on that service, including elderly riders and people with disabilities across the state, have historically gotten the least attention when transit gets a glow-up. Worth watching whether the new vehicles actually improve service reliability for that program.

ROI-NJ first reported on the full scope of Monday’s event, including details on each vehicle showcased at the Kearny facility.

The Multilevel III cars are among the first of their kind built in the country, according to NJ Transit. Alstom’s Plattsburgh plant is doing the manufacturing, which means the jobs tied to this contract are at least staying in the Northeast.

The question riders actually ask isn’t whether the new equipment is good. It obviously is. The question is whether NJ Transit can hold together the decades-old infrastructure these new cars will run on, keep fares manageable, and get the fleet swap done on schedule without the usual delays and overruns that have defined the agency’s recent history.

The first car is in Kearny. Testing starts now. Riders will believe it when they’re sitting in it.