The Port Authority unveiled the first of 72 new PATH train cars Thursday, part of a plan to increase service on the subway linking Manhattan and New Jersey.
Three shiny new train cars manufactured in Japan by Kawasaki Heavy Industries rolled into the system’s Hoboken station Thursday morning, mixed in with slightly older rolling stock.
“This is part of the bigger picture,” Port Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton said. “We intend to improve and expand capacity as ridership recovers from the pandemic.”
The new cars should give riders more room, said PATH director Clarelle DeGraffe. “We heard [riders] before COVID about the crowding on the trains,” she said. “We stuck to our commitment even through low ridership.”
Overall PATH ridership is currently about 60% of pre-COVID levels — but rush hour and weekend ridership is closing in on 2019 numbers. Peak-time ridership is above 80% of the pre-pandemic benchmark, and weekend ridership is at 90% of where it was in 2019, said DeGraffe.
The cars are the same model as the 350 PA-5 rolling stock currently in service, and the additional order will increase PATH rolling stock by 20%. DeGraffe said most of the new cars should be in service by the end of 2023.
The new stainless cars require a few days worth of additional shakedown before they’ll be put into passenger service in the trans-Hudson tubes, according to Peter Harris, superintendent of the PATH’s car equipment division.
The $172 million order of additional PA-5s includes only so-called “C” type cars, without driver controls.
PATH officials announced last month that they would begin running nine-car trains between Newark and World Trade Center, with the intention of making all rush hour trains longer by 2024 — a goal the additional cars are expected to enable.
New York subway riders are also getting new cars. Last month, the MTA unveiled new rolling stock it expects to run on the A line.
