NYC subway cars to sleep with the fishes

Decommissioned New York City subway cars are slated to become artificial reefs:

NEW YORK - After years of rolling beneath the city, 1,600 subway cars are destined for a new life lolling undersea.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority board has agreed to convert the retired cars into artificial reefs. They'll be dispatched to the ocean floor off New Jersey, Delaware and other coastal states, starting this fall. [AP]

Good news for sea life and divers alike.

Comments

[Elayne Riggs]

Oh good, please let them decommission the "1" and "9" cars and get ones without the bucket seats so normal-sized and large-sized people can sit in comfort!

[AB]

Hopefully this ends a little better than all those tires they dumped in the ocean in hopes of becoming a reef bed. (Too bad tires release toxic chemicals after sitting in the ocean.)

[Josh Jasper]

\o You can swim the A train... \o

[Left_Wing_Fox]

Well, there are some environmental concerns about the use of artificial reefs. The Osborne Reef is a good example of an artificial reef that's become an environmental disaster instead of new habitat.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_Reef

The primary concern is whether these cars will create good reefs, or if it's just a way to dispose of trash while appearing to be environmentally conscious.

[mudkitty]

I see a reality design show in their future.

[TheaLogie]

I think this project is different primarily because a modern subway car stripped to its essentials is mostly metal. Metal shipwrecks have proven to be rather good reef fodder, with the reefs actually feeding off the rust rather than being poisoned by it, as with the tires.

Elayne, I too look forward to the day when the R-62s can be supplanted by, say, the R-142s (though for a different reason in my case: their a/c and bogie suspension is much more comfortable), but unfortunately, bucket seats apart, the older cars have proven to be amazingly serviceable on the 1/9 line. I think the only reason why the 4/5/6 line got the newer cars first was that their R-62s were wearing out more quickly on a much more heavily trafficked line.

But I do wonder whether someone will offer to buy up one of these defunct subway cars for use in their own "what's with *that* house?" DIY projects...

[Brian B]

Been done -- or, more accurately, has been and is still being done.

Nifty, says I.

[The Phantom]

TheLogie beat me to the punch--these things aren't even close to being trash. They are/were indeed metal, metal that served New York very well over decades. They served the people well for years, now they hopefully provide a service to the sea life.

I hated seeing these so-called Redbird model cars being disposed of a few years back. I'd frequently rode them virtually my entire life on trips to Shea Stadium. They were supposedly at the end of their service life, yet to the end, they had a better breakdown record than the more fancy cars that took their place.

[The Phantom]

--Sorry, bad link. This should work--

TheLogie beat me to the punch--these things aren't even close to being trash. They are/were indeed metal, metal that served New York very well over decades. They served the humans well for years, now they hopefully provide a service to the sea life.

I hated seeing these so-called Redbird model cars being disposed of a few years back. I'd frequently rode them virtually my entire life on trips to Shea Stadium. They were supposedly at the end of their service life, yet to the end, they had a better breakdown record than the more fancy cars that took their place.

[Uncle Kvetch]

Oh good, please let them decommission the "1" and "9" cars and get ones without the bucket seats so normal-sized and large-sized people can sit in comfort!

Hear hear. I remember when those cars first came online in the late 80s. The scuttlebutt (heh heh) was that they were designed by "the Japanese," and the seats were fitted for narrow little Japanese derrieres. Turned out to be pure urban legend, but it's interesting to remember that brief period when Japan was doing duty as our national boogieman...

Of course the whole reasoning behind the bucket seats to begin with was that they were inhospitable to (homeless) sleepers. I'm glad to see that this silliness has been done away with on the newer cars.

[Dave]

As a scuba diver I think it is a great idea, and hope that a few of these make their way into the Cape May reef!

[Car Loans]

Interesting article. Any idea on where I can get more information on this?

[The Phantom]

Car Loans

yo

The Redbirds have new neighbors.