Doors on pricey new subway cars opened mid-trip: MTA

The doors on one of the MTA’s newest subway cars burst open about four inches mid-trip last month — prompting the agency to yank the nearly 300 trains from service, officials revealed Thursday.

As a result, ancient cars — some dating back to 1964 — have been hauled back into service.

The transit authority’s decision on Wednesday to remove 298 pricey R179 trains — which run on the A, C, J and Z lines — began with the Dec. 24 incident in which doors on a southbound C Train opened in between stations, city transit boss Andy Byford said at a press conference.

That train lurched to a stop and riders had to be evacuated, Byford said.

Then, on Jan. 3., another R179 train stopped at Jay Street, MetroTech indicated that its doors were open — even though they weren’t.

Canadian manufacturer Bombardier Transportation alerted the MTA on Tuesday night that its evaluation of the two incidents found there was a mechanical problem with the doors, which it believed to be systemic, Byford said.

The MTA decided to pull the cars until the problem is fixed and Bombardier installs a new software on the trains, Byford said.

“We acted here out of an abundance of caution. We do not believe that any passenger was in harms way,” he told reporters.

Subway incident reports show that R179s have had at least four other incidents involving door issues — specifically related to display screens that say whether or not doors are closed — since they were launched in 2017.

“They always had door motor issues,” one train conductor told The Post. “They wouldn’t close right sometimes and you’d have to cut them out.”

“If the doors aren’t closed and locked you can’t proceed,” the conductor added.

As of Thursday, 24 of the cars had been inspected, Byford said. The MTA didn’t have an estimated time frame for when they would be back in service.

Until then, R32 trains, which were built from 1964 to 65 — and had recently been taken out of service — will run on the C Line. R46 trains, hailing from the mid-70s will run on the A line. And R143, R160 and R42 trains will run on the J/Z Line.

“At the end of the day, there’s a reason why we’re replacing older trains with new trains. It’s not ideal having these older trains still in service,” Byford said.

In December, city Comptroller Scott Stringer accused the MTA of shoddy oversight of its $600 million R179 purchase, which has suffered from years of costly delays.

Transit officials are exploring legal options for holding Bombardier accountable, Byford said. The company had already agreed to build an additional 18 trains as collateral for the previous delays.

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