Earlier this
summer I was heading toward
Bryant Park to catch
The Maltese Falcon. I'd heard that these new
subway trains were going to be rolled out shortly, but had yet to see one. (Years ago, as mentioned by
sockpuppet, I'd seen one of the
test cars at 34th Street, on the E line. Sadly, I was late for work and the train was heading
uptown so I couldn't hop on as I so wanted to.)
As we pulled in to the
Brooklyn Bridge station on the 4 line, I saw one of the newer trains on the local track. I immediately transferred, even though the
trip would be longer. Much to my
surprise it was the
first of the new trains! Several
news people with cameras and such were in the next car,
interviewing riders about the
redisgn. But that was what impressed me most, off the bat - the
windows between cars! In the older trains, you could only peer into the next car through a small window in the door that leads between cars. The newer models include windows on either side of this door, allowing a clear
line of sight and making the train feel more
spacious.
Otherwise, everything was as mentioned above. As a frequent rider of the 4/5/6 line, I hope to more of them soon - to date I've only been on them twice. That initial ride, and then, more recently I rode on one of the special Subway Series cars on the 4 line. It too was of the new design, but plastered with Yankees' and Mets' logos - much better than the aforementioned Dr. Zizmor though a bit overdone. :)