Background
NJ TRANSIT is purchasing 231 new multi-level rail cars. The new cars will enable NJ TRANSIT to meet and anticipate ridership demand on its busiest rail lines, while providing an unprecedented level of comfort for customers. The new multi-level rail cars were developed with extensive input from customers and employees and designed to be compatible with all existing equipment and operating requirements. A Customer Design Team, comprised of 14 NJ TRANSIT commuters from around the system, followed the multi-level design process and provided invaluable input.

Project Scope
The 231-car multi-level fleet, which will be comprised of 112 coach cars without restrooms, 86 coach cars with ADA restrooms, and 33 cab cars with ADA restrooms, will ultimately provide a total of 31,447 seats. Each multi-level car offers 15-20 percent more seating capacity than the single-level coaches. The cars will be fully compatible with NJ TRANSIT's existing Comet II, III, IV and new Comet V cars, ALP-46 electric locomotives, and the new PL-42 Diesel Locomotives, and with all of NJ TRANSIT's infrastructure, facilities and stations. The design of the car shell and interior layout is 2-by-2 seating, and meets all requirements for ADA accessibility including vestibule widths.

The cars' interior design features large tinted windows, indirect ceiling lighting and soothing blue tones to produce a restful and spacious passenger environment. Each car features an upper and lower seating level, as well as an open, intermediate "mezzanine" level at each end of the car, which has padded leaning stations, and areas for wheelchairs, carts, strollers, bicycles and luggage. Fully accessible restrooms with anti-skid flooring, a call-for-assistance button, refined finishes and a generous amount of space are found in this area on more than half of the cars.

On the upper and lower levels, customers will find seats in a 2-by-2 configuration - meaning that every seat is either a window or an aisle seat. This design ensures that 100 percent of the car's seats are usable and that there are wider aisles to facilitate passenger boarding and alighting, while also making it easier for customers and conductors to move about the train. Four doors on each side of the car will further expedite the boarding process. The multi-level cars provide 25.27 inches of knee room - an inch more than NJ TRANSIT's Comet V single-level cars. The seats provide 19.75 inches of width per passenger - 2.2 inches more than the Comet V.

Each multi-level car also will feature state-of-the-art heating, cooling and ventilation systems, high-tech automated public address systems and LED destination screens, external public address speakers, emergency intercoms, anti-skid flooring, luggage racks and retractable coat hooks, and waste receptacles that feature levers so that customers do not have to touch the flap.

Project Cost
NJ TRANSIT awarded the multi-level rail cars contract to Bombardier Corp.. The average cost per car is $1.9 million. The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey funded the initial 100-car order, and in July 2005, NJ TRANSIT's Board of Directors authorized the purchase of the additional 131 rail cars.

Current Status
The first prototype arrived on NJ TRANSIT property on August 30, and is now undergoing extensive testing on the system.

Next Milestone
The prototype that is currently on display is the first of seven coaches that will be provided to NJ TRANSIT for testing purposes. Three will be tested in New Jersey, while four will be sent to the Federal Railroad Administration test track in Pueblo, Colorado. Production cars, which will ultimately be used in revenue service, will only be mass-produced after extensive testing of the prototypes is advanced. The first production car is scheduled to arrive spring 2006, with cars targeted for revenue service in late 2006 on NJ TRANSIT'S busiest lines - especially on trains that operate to and from Penn Station New York on the Morris & Essex Lines, Northeast Corridor and North Jersey Coast Line. Official employee training will begin in early 2006, although teams of mechanics have already begun to learn about the new car.

Customers on other rail lines will see benefits, too. As the multi-level fleet enters revenue service, NJ TRANSIT will reassign modern Comet IV and V equipment to replace many 33-year-old Comet I-series cars, the oldest in the fleet. Currently, Comet I cars are used on the Raritan Valley, Main, Bergen County, and Pascack Valley lines.

NJ TRANSIT Department of Capital Planning and Programs
October 2005